Wahalak is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in central Kemper County,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, United States.

History

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

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

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. After the founding of the

Mobile and Ohio Railroad Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * 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 operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...

. 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 Scooba is a town in Kemper County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1858, the population was 744 as of the 2020 Census. Etymology Scooba is a Choctaw word meaning "reed brake" (i.e., a farming tool used on reeds), and the early settle ...

, 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 fr ...

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