Winchester is a
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
in
Wayne County, Mississippi
Wayne County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,747. Its county seat is Waynesboro. The county is named for General Anthony Wayne.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau ...
, United States.
Once a center of political influence and
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
, the former settlement is today covered by forest.
History
Winchester was one of the first significant communities in eastern Mississippi. It was located about east of the
Chickasawhay River
The Chickasawhay River is a river, about long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. It is a principal tributary of the Pascagoula River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Chickasawhay's tributaries also drain a portion of we ...
, and south of "Three-Chopped Way", a pioneer road completed in 1807 connecting Georgia and the Carolinas, via
St. Stephens, Alabama, with
Natchez Natchez may refer to:
Places
* Natchez, Alabama, United States
* Natchez, Indiana, United States
* Natchez, Louisiana, United States
* Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States
* Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...
in eastern Mississippi.
The town "was situated on a beautiful level site, covered with large oak and other shade trees", and Meadows Mill Creek flowed through Winchester, "a beautiful and never-failing creek of the purest water".
A military post—Patton's Fort—was erected at Winchester in 1813 during the
Creek War.
Winchester became "a place of considerable importance in the territorial period and in the days of early statehood",
and was Wayne County's first county seat.
Incorporated in 1818, Winchester flourished and in 1822 a court house was built "of pine lumber of the best quality".
A jail was built in the 1840s, with walls "three feet thick of heavy hewed pine".
Winchester was described as "a center of political influence, second only to Natchez".
It had between 20 and 30 businesses, and became a successful commercial center, "having no competing trading points near".
Decline
In the early 1840s, a writer noted that Winchester "is literally tumbling to pieces, and one finds only a skeleton of the flourishing Winchester which existed twenty years ago".
When 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 Mobil ...
was completed in the 1850s, the track passed a distance north of the town, and a station was erected there. This necessitated a distinction between "Old Winchester" and the new settlement near the railroad.
In 1867, the county seat moved to
Waynesboro.
A writer noted in 1902 that the courthouse in Old Winchester "was still standing a few years ago, 'solitary and alone' and unoccupied. Except that building, not a vestige of the town remains to be seen."
Meanwhile, New Winchester had developed, and by 1907 had a population of 300, and contained a school, stores, two churches, a grist mill, two saw mills, a cotton gin and a turpentine distillery.
Some reasons offered for the decline of Old Winchester include "want of hotel accommodations".
Another may have been the 1830
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was a treaty which was signed on September 27, 1830, and proclaimed on February 24, 1831, between the Choctaw American Indian tribe and the United States Government. This treaty was the first removal treaty wh ...
which forced the removal of the
Choctaw people from Mississippi and opened up large areas to the north which drew off the populations of Wayne and
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
Counties.
Still another reason may have been offered by a writer in 1894 who stated about Winchester:
There was no church in the town until forty years after it was settled. After it lost its trade and importance as a town: after other towns were established in the county: after the railroad came through the county in 1854, then the people paid some attention to the building of a church. It appears that the morals of the people who lived in the town were averse to churches... liquor was sold openly on the Sabbath and here wasmuch drunkenness on that day.
Old Winchester today is covered by forest, while New Winchester has some residential homes located along its rural routes. A historic marker is located along
U.S. Route 45
U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as .
US 45 is notable for incorporatin ...
at Winchester Cross Road which reads: "About one mile to the West. Site of Patton’s Fort, 1813. Chartered 1818. Near old road from Natchez to Georgia. Became a thriving trade center, serving as county seat until 1867."
Notable people
*
Powhatan Ellis
Powhatan Ellis (January 17, 1790 – March 18, 1863) was a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, United States senator from Mississippi, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Mississippi ...
, U.S. Senator from Mississippi and U.S. federal judge; moved to Winchester in 1816 to practice law.
*
James A. Horne, Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1852 to 1854.
*
John J. McRae, member of Mississippi House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Mississippi, and 21st Governor of Mississippi. Located to Winchester as an infant.
*
James O'Gwynn
James Leroy O'Gwynn (January 26, 1928 – January 19, 2011) was an American country music singer. Between 1958 and 1962, he recorded for the D and Mercury labels, charting six times on the Hot Country Songs charts. His work on the D label was p ...
, country music singer.
*
James Patton, Lieutenant-Governor of Mississippi from 1820 to 1822.
References
{{authority control
Former populated places in Wayne County, Mississippi
Former populated places in Mississippi