Editing Houston, Mississippi (section)

==History==
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] groups had long used the future Chickasaw County for millennia before the coming of European adventurers. Eventually the natives were essentially forced out of the area. An [[Treaty of Pontotoc Creek|1832 treaty]] finally made the area secure for settlement, and emigrants rapidly moved in. The formation of Chickasaw County was authorized on February 9, 1836, and a few days later a committee was authorized to determine the location of the county seat. Judge Joel Pinson offered to donate land for development of this seat, and on July 8, 1836, his offer was accepted. Pinson named the settlement Houston in honor of [[Sam Houston]], a childhood friend.

Construction began that year on a brick courthouse on the village square, and a jail one block north. The city of Houston was incorporated on May 9, 1837, and its first post office was authorized on December 5 of that same year. This means that Houston, Mississippi actually predates [[Houston|Houston, Texas]], because the latter was incorporated one month later, on June 5, 1837.

The [[American Civil War|Civil War]] brought widespread ruin and loss to the county, including an incident when Union troops burned nearly all the county's records as workers tried to move them out for safekeeping. During the following decade, the nearly-moribund economy slowly recovered, but poor roads across the area continued to hamper commerce and daily life. To address this shortcoming, in 1866 the state authorized a second judicial district to be based in Okolona, while allowing the existing facilities in Houston to continue. Thus, the county became one of the few in the nation to host two bases for its court system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.msgw.org/chickasaw/chickasawcohistory.html|title=Chickasawco History|website=Msgw.org|access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref>

In 1909, Houston became home to the first [[Carnegie library]] in the state, after local school superintendent L. B. Reid's request for a public library was approved by philanthropist [[Andrew Carnegie]], who had created a matching program for libraries. Also in 1909, an African American man, Robbie Daskin, was [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]] for allegedly killing a preacher.<ref>{{cite news |title=Judge Lynch claimed 90 victims in 1909 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43968457/judge_lynch_claimed_90_victims_in_1909/ |access-date=10 February 2020 |via=newspapers.com |newspaper=The Anniston Star |date=Dec 18, 1909 |location=Anniston, Alabama |pages=1}}</ref>

Houston hosts the Mississippi Flywheel Festival in April and September of every year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/festivals-events/event/14-mississippi-valley-flywheel-festival.html|title=Mississippi Valley Flywheel Festival|website=NatchezTraceTravel.com|access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref>