| Tutwiler, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
| — Town — | |
| Location of Tutwiler, Mississippi | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Tallahatchie |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.3 sq mi (3.5 km2) |
| • Land | 1.3 sq mi (3.5 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 154 ft (47 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 1,364 |
| • Density | 1,020.6/sq mi (394.0/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 38963 |
| Area code(s) | 662 |
| FIPS code | 28-75040 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0678994 |
Tutwiler is a town in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,364 at the 2000 census.
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In 1899 Tom Tutwiler, a civil engineer for a local railroad, made his headquarters seven miles northeast of Sumner. The town of Tutwiler was founded and named for him. When the railroad was built the first depot erected was a two story building and the town was given the top floor for a school. Captain H.B. Fitch built and operated the first store. His wife took charge of the school, which began with five pupils.
In 1905 the town was incorporated, and W.E. Fite was Mayor, and J.O. Clay was the depot agent. In 1900 the Illinois Central Railroad, running from Yazoo City to Lambert, crossed at Tutwiler where the company built a railroad yard.
In 1928 a high school was built at a cost of $40,000. The town grew rapidly until 1929 when the railroad yard was moved to Clarksdale. At that time the population and business began to decline. The population in 1929 before the railroad yard was moved was 1,010 people.
Like many other towns in the Mississippi Delta, Tutwiler stakes a claim to being the "birthplace of the blues". This is the site where W. C. Handy reportedly "discovered" the blues in 1903, on a train platform in the town. Handy had heard something akin to the blues as early as 1892, but it was while waiting for an overdue train to Memphis that he heard an itinerant bluesman (legend says it was a local field hand named Henry Sloan) playing slide guitar and singing about "goin' where the Southern cross the Dog," referring to the junction of the Southern Railway and Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad farther south. (The Y&D railroad was locally called the "Yellow Dog".) Handy called it "the weirdest music I had ever heard." A Mississippi Blues Trail marker honoring Handy was erected at the site on November 25, 2009. [1]
Tutwiler was also the childhood home of seminal Memphis bluesman Frank Stokes.
Tutwiler is located at (34.014797, -90.431642)[1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2), all of it land.
Tutwiler is 70 miles (110 km) south of Memphis, Tennessee.[2]
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 1,364 people, 410 households, and 316 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,020.6 people per square mile (393.0/km²). There were 429 housing units at an average density of 321.0 per square mile (123.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 11.80% White, 87.32% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.37% Asian, and 0.22% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.44% of the population.
There were 410 households out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% were married couples living together, 34.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.7% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.82.
In the town the population was spread out with 33.6% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 80.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $18,958, and the median income for a family was $22,857. Males had a median income of $21,364 versus $17,222 for females. The per capita income for the town was $7,177. About 32.1% of families and 38.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.5% of those under age 18 and 31.1% of those age 65 or over.
Peter T. Kilborn of The New York Times said in 2001 "Except for cotton, there has never been much to Tutwiler's economy." As of 2001, Tutwiler residents work in prisons located throughout the Mississippi Delta, casinos in Tunica, and poultry and chicken processing plants in the surrounding area.[2]
The town's sole bank and the town's grain elevator closed in 2000. As of 2001 Tutwiler does not have any clothing stores, drugstores, and restaurants.[2]
Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, a private prison operated by the Corrections Corporation of America on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, is located in an unincorporated area in the county, near Tutwiler.[4][5] Due to the town's economic status and reliance on charity from Christian officials, around 1998 the leaders of Tutwiler decided to allow for the construction of a prison. To help facilitate the prison, the Town of Tutwiler constructed a sewage lagoon and a water tower. The State of Mississippi and Tallahatchie County paid half of the cost of training of the correctional officers at the new prison.[6] Kilborn said that when the $35 million facility opened in 2000 with 351 prisoners, including 322 from Wisconsin, it "seemed the salvation of" Tutwiler.[2] Some area residents quit their jobs and began working as prison guards at the facility. After the prison's opening its monthly payroll was $467,000.[6]
In March and April 2001 Wisconsin moved its prisoners out of the prison, leaving about 20 to 125 prisoners per period.[2] Before the move the prison had 208 employees.[7] The prison's employees were reduced to 40 people.[2] Some people who worked at the prison were laid off. As of 2001, per year, the prison paid $600,000 to the county in property taxes and $5,350 per month to the town for water. By 2001 the total monthly payroll decreased to $80,000.[6] Kilborn said that by November 2001 the prison "left the town little better off than it ever was."[2] In June 2003 the prison received 1,423 inmates from Alabama, and the prison hired 250 employees during that year.[8]
As of 2001 Robert Grayson, the mayor of Tutwiler, is a prison guard at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) in Sunflower County, Mississippi.[2]
The United States Postal Service operates the Tutwiler Post Office.[9]
Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, a private prison operated by the Corrections Corporation of America on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, is located in an unincorporated area in Tallahatchie County, near Tutwiler.[4][5] As of 2010 the prison serves as the Tallahatchie County's jail facility, in addition to housing prison inmates sentenced in California.[10]
The Town of Tutwiler is served by the West Tallahatchie School District. Residents are zoned to R.H. Bearden Elementary School in Sumner and West Tallahatchie High School in Webb.[11][12]
As of 2002 some children in Tutwiler attended the North Sunflower Academy in unincorporated Sunflower County.[13]
As of 2001 all of Tutwiler's churches are Protestant. As of the same year, seven Catholic nuns and their staff operate community services in the town.[2] The services include the operation of the site of town meetings and voting, the direction of outreach programs for children and senior citizens, the operation of a health clinic, and the maintenance of the grave of Sonny Boy Williamson. In November 2010 the nuns opened a gymnasium, funded by donors not from the area. Peter T. Kilborn said that the facility was "worthy of a university."[6] In 1983,[14] one of the nuns, Anne Brooks, came to Tutwiler to manage the Tutwiler Clinic after she earned a medical degree.[15] Before Brooks came, the clinic had two waiting rooms marked as being reserved for different racial groups, with one for whites and one for blacks.[14] As of 2010 the clinic had been in operation for 27 years.[15]
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