Wahalak is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in central

Kemper County Kemper County is a county located on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,456. Its county seat is De Kalb. The county is named in honor of Reuben Kemper. The county is part ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, United States.

History

The community is named for Wahalak Creek. Wahalak likely comes from a

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

word meaning "to spread". The community was originally founded in 1837 on Wahalak Creek three miles east of the present location and had a bank and male and female academies. The Wahalak Female Academy first opened in 1839. The original community was located on the 1842

post road A post road is a road designated for the transportation of postal mail. In past centuries, only major towns had a post house and the roads used by post riders or mail coaches to carry mail among them were particularly important ones or, due ...

. After the founding of the

Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile ...

, most of the town's inhabitants and businesses moved to be closer to the railroad. The new community was then named Wahalak Station and the original community became known as Old Wahalak. Wahalak is located on the

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...

. A post office operated under the name Wahalak Station from 1860 to 1871 and under the name Wahalak from 1873 to 1951. In late December 1906, Wahalak and

Scooba, Mississippi ("Reed brake") , leader_title = , leader_name = , leader_title1 = , leader_name1 = , established_title = , established_date = , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footno ...

, were the sites of white rioting against African-Americans. In the various conflicts, a total of twelve African-Americans and two whites were killed by December 26. The county sheriff called in the state militia for assistance."Whites in Race War Kill Blacks Blindly/ Innocent Negroes Shot in the Mississippi Trouble"
''New York Times'', December 26, 1906; accessed May 28, 2017. The murderer

Kenny Wagner William Kenneth (Kinnie) Wagner (February 18, 1903 – March 9, 1958) commonly known as Kinnie Wagner (although Kennie and Kenny were also used) was a bootlegger in Mississippi, who murdered five people, including three lawmen. He escaped fro ...

was captured in Wahalak on January 30, 1956.

References

Unincorporated communities in Mississippi Unincorporated communities in Kemper County, Mississippi Unincorporated communities in Meridian micropolitan area Mississippi placenames of Native American origin {{KemperCountyMS-geo-stub