Stone County Courthouse 1922
Tag: Stone County Enterprise
Fun Fact: Cupid Missing in Stone County
From the Stone County Enterprise:
CUPID NEGLECTS STONE COUNTY DURING 1922
Stone County has the least number of marriages of any county in Mississippi. It comes in at the bottom of the state with only 72 marriages. Bolivar County led in the number of marriages with 1,100.
Fun Fact: Cucumber Growth Encouraged
From Stone County Enterprise, February 15, 1928 (An announcement)
GROW CUCUMBERS
We have examined and considered the America Pickle and Canning Company proposition to the farmers in the Wiggins Territory and give it our endorsement and support.
We urge every farmer in the Wiggins territory to put in some cucumbers for the factory
KENNEDY & COMPANY, KEW MERCANTILE, CO-OPERATIVE COMPANY, WIGGINS DRY GOODS CO., E.A. BOND GROCERY, JITNEY CAFE, BANK OF WIGGINS, BRELAND MERCANTILE CO., WIGGINS DRUG STORE, DUGGAN’S RESTAURANT, FARMER’S DRUG STORE, JOES THE TAYLOR, MARTIN BROTHERS, L.A. WALLER, JEWELER, E.R. SMITH HARDWARE, STONE CO. ENTERPRISE
Fun Fact: Perk Bulldogs Win Championship
From the Stone County Enterprise …. Oct. 13, 1927
PERKINSTON JUNIOR COLLEGE NOTES
“Bull Dogs Defeat Goodman“
The first championship game was played Saturday on the court at Perkinston, Miss. between the Perk Bull Dogs and Goodman Junior College. The Goodman boys put up a hard fight, but were defeated in the end, the score being thirty-one to nothing, in favor of Perk.
The weather was so unpleasant that everyone was afraid the game would be postponed, but upon questioning Coach, the following answer was given as the boys yelled over the campus… “we are going to play if we have to swim”. The rush began and the students could not be checked… Then standing in a torrent of rain, every student put his heart and soul in the game, and showed a clean one, and everybody enjoyed it.
Fun Fact: Local News from August 5, 1916
Another Fun Fact from the August 5, 1916 edition of Stone County Enterprise:
LOCAL NEWS
“C.H. Lindsey, representing X.A. Kromer, Architect of Magnolia, was here Tuesday for the purpose of showing plans and specifications for a new courthouse.
W.R. Smith, member of the county board from beat 5 was in town Tuesday.
Miss Roberta Simmons will return to Purvis today after a week here with Miss May Boone. Miss Boone will return to Purvis with Miss Simmons to visit friends.for several days.
B.T. Price is nursing a bad hand caused by sticking a splinter in it a few days ago.”
Fun Fact: Wiggins Professionals 1916
From Stone County Enterprise August 5,1916
This listing was entitled PROFESSIONAL:
H.D. Pickering
Lawyer
Wiggins
E.R. Davis
Lawyer
Wiggins
W.C. Batson
Attorney-At-Law
Wiggins
A.W. Bond
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Wiggins
U.B. Parker
Lawyer
Office in Post Office Bldg
Dr. J.A. Leggett
Dentist
Wiggins
Dr. J.S. McWilliams
Dentist
Second Floor Drug Store Building
Wiggins
Dr. Barber
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist
Carter Bldg. Hattiesburg
Dr. W.M. Shepherd Dr. Z Causey
Office on Pine Street
Fun Fact: Bethlehem Baptist Church
Fun Fact: The following article was printed in April 1, 2004 edition of the Stone County Enterprise as an an insert Celebrating 100 Years of Progress.
BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH
Bethlehem Baptist Church of Wiggins was organized around 1896 by Brother John Moore and Sister Mary Moore and a few other individuals. The first preacher was Reverend Ford from Alabama. The first church was built above the Pickle Canning Factory, (became the Pickle Factory). Some time after its constructions, the building burned. The church members then held church services in the Methodist Church (located between what is now Danzey Tire Service and First National Bank. )
In 1903 the church called Rev. R.G. Gray as pastor. He served until April, 1947. During that time he and the congregation built three churches. Today the church building and family life center is located on Magnolia Drive in Wiggins.
“ Through the years, Bethlehem Baptist Church has remained a steady beacon to Wiggins and the surrounding communities.”
Fun Fact: Bill Sawyer
From the W.P.A. Research Project
Subject: Local Press and Other Publications
During the year of 1919, a person known to the readers of the Stone County Enterprise only as Bill Sawyer wrote some very interesting and entertaining letters to the paper. Mr. Sawyer ‘s true identity was never established except , perhaps by the editor of the paper.
Below is an excerpt of Bill Sawyer’s entertaining letters to the paper. Date: June 21, 1919
Bill wrote that a reader had asked him why he didn’t get into politics and he gave his reply. He said he had “throwed his hat in the ring “several years ago and made a race for a county office. At the beginning of the race, he decided to keep a close tab on everything he did and what it cost him. He wrote it all down in little black book. Here are some of the items he listed:
Lost 4 months, 23 days canvassing
Lost 1,1013 hours of sleep thinking about the election
Lost 23 acres of corn and my entire potato crop
Donated $11.00 to church and other charities
Gave away 2 pair of suspenders, 4 calico dresses, and 13 baby rattlers
Kissed 123 babies
Kindled 100 kitchen stoves
Cut eleven cords of wood,
Walked 920 miles
Shook hands 986 times
Told 10,101 lies and talked enough to make, in print, 1,000 volumes the size of a patent office report
Got baptised 4 different times by “emersion” and sprinkled twice
Gave $50.00 to foreign mission
Got dog bit 39 times
And then got defeated.
Fun Fact: Speed Limits
The following reminder appeared in the Stone County Enterprise,
August 5, 1916:
“Automobile drivers should remember that there is an ordinance governing the speed limit to TWELVE MILES PER HOUR on the streets and six miles per hour turning corners in Wiggins and should govern themselves accordingly.”
Fun Fact: Wednesday Afternoons In Wiggins
“Why do stores close on Wednesday afternoon in Wiggins”? Mike Cain found the answer in the Wiggins 100th birthday edition of the Stone County Enterprise. It was written in a timeline… “1933 Merchants of Wiggins voted unanimously to close their places of business on Wednesday afternoon of each week through the months of May, June, July and August. Drug stores, filling stations and restaurants would remain open.”
Later, “1943 –In view of shortage of help and scarcity of merchandise the merchants of Wiggins agreed unanimously to continue closing on Wednesday afternoon on a year round basis.”
No one knows why some merchants continue this tradition today.
The Old Firehouse Museum 