Swiftwater, Mississippi

Swiftwater, Mississippi
Unincorporated community

Cotton fields at Swiftwater, c. 1885-1898. Photo by William Henry Jackson.
Swiftwater, Mississippi
Coordinates: 33°20′15″N 91°3′35″W / 33.33750°N 91.05972°WCoordinates: 33°20′15″N 91°3′35″W / 33.33750°N 91.05972°W
Country United States
State Mississippi
County Washington
Elevation 121 ft (37 m)
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
  Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code 38701
Area code(s) 662
GNIS feature ID 692252[1]

Swiftwater is an unincorporated community located in Washington County, Mississippi.[1]

History

Swiftwater began as Swiftwater Cotton Plantation, founded by Alexander Barckly Montgomery, who built a mansion there in either 1850[2] or 1845.[3] Montgomery sold the plantation to Col. Ed Richardson, the world's largest cotton plantation owner in the 1870s and 1880s, and owner of plantations across the south.[3]

Swiftwater was a stop on the now-abandoned Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad,[4] completed in the 1880s.[5]

Located on the rail platform was the Swiftwater Store, owned by the E.E. Richardson Company. The store was still in operation in 1910.[3][5]

Swiftwater was never incorporated, but had a post office from 1886 to 1932.[5]

Notable people

Pete Shields, a professional baseball player with the Cleveland Indians, was born in Swiftwater.[6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Swiftwater, Mississippi
  2. Miller, Mary Carol (1996). Lost Mansions of Mississippi. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-87805-888-4.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Hall, Russell S.; Nowell, Princella W.; Childress, Stacy (2000). Washington County, Mississippi. Arcadia. pp. 29, 37.
  4. Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 761.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Howe, Tony. "Swiftwater, Mississippi". Mississippi Rails. Retrieved March 2014.
  6. "Pete Shields". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 2014.