Hernando, the seat of justice of De Soto County, on the Illinois Central railroad, has a population of six hundred and twenty. It is a busy town full of men of vigorous enterprise, and was incorporated in 1839. E. W. Caldwell was its first mayor. Joseph Payne its first marshal.
It has five churches for whites and two for colored people. The Methodist Episcopal South, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterians and Cumberland Presbyterians have houses of worship.
There is a good school for white and another for colored pupils. The town has twenty business houses and an ax-handle factory.
Back to: Mississippi Counties, Cities and Towns, 1891
Source: Biographical and Historical Memories of Mississippi, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891