Historic Canton, Mississippi, a typical small southern town and the county seat of Madison County.  Canton is located in the exact geographic center of Madison County and has the American Indians to thank for its founding — but even historians can’t agree on whom to thank for its Oriental name. It’s impossible to find traces of either the Indian or Oriental influence. How the name "Canton" was picked still puzzles even the old timers; you’d think that with an extraordinary name like that, there’d be some record but it isn’t in the books. One story is that it’s a jumbled derivation of the name of the family who owned the land, the Walton’s; another is that Canton means center and after all the difficulty the county board had determining the center, this sounds reasonable. Still another story is that the town lies directly in line with Canton, China, and at its founding the only contacts with the outside world was by boat on the two rivers, not unlike the Chinese City.

    A more popular story is that a family moving from Bolton to Kirkwood had a Chinese servant named Canton who died during the trip; he was buried where he died, which was on Mr. Walton’s 40 acre tract which was later chosen as the town site. It seems there was a grave marker erected with "Canton" inscribed on it, and in looking around for a name, the officials saw the board saying "Canton." Why anybody back in those days would be lugging around a Chinese servant is something else, but it makes a good story.

    In 1833 the Madison County Board of Police (a governing body similar to our present day supervisors) appointed surveyor John B. Peyton to select a geographical center for a new county seat and to lay it out in blocks. In 1834, the land for the town was legally incorporated — a lively community of 400. The first recorded ordinance made it a misdemeanor to gallop a horse, mare, or mule on any street or alley.

    By 1838, Canton boasted two banks, two hotels, ten dry-goods stores, a drugstore, three groceries, a bakery, a tin shop, a livery stable, three tailor shops, and two watchmakers. The public buildings were a courthouse, a jail, a church and a female academy. The town was already famous for having been visited by a traveling show with the celebrated original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, who ordered two suits from a local tailor.

    This was the beginning of our town, now molded by 160 years of history into its present distinctive character. It was an early farming center with cotton fields worked by many slaves--a fact that later caused the area to be the only county outside the Delta with blacks outnumbering whites four to one. Some of its affluent citizens built beautiful antebellum homes. It became a big railroad, lumber and saloon center.

Sherman's Oak.

    Battered by two Union invasions in the Civil War; challenged by the financial and political chaos of the Reconstruction; decimated by the yellow fever epidemic of 1870; rocked economically by the collapse of the lumber and sawmill heyday in the Depression of the Thirties; torn by racial strife in the 1960’s: our town has survived to remain a friendly, progressive community, still appreciative of its colorful past. Proud to share the humor and the romance of it’s distinctive Southern personality.

    The very center and glory of our town is the beautiful Greek Revival Courthouse—the cornerstone for which was laid in July, 1855 by the members of the local Masonic Order. The Board of Police paid $26,428 for it. The new Courthouse was the scene of a huge Fourth of July celebration in 1857 but was not legally accepted until 1858. The beautiful iron fence was added later at a cost of $5, 250. The large dome (twenty feet in diameter and thirty feet high) has twice been threatened with removal for security reasons. Each time the women of the town were the saviors who insisted that "beauty prevail over reason."

    The 160 year-old town has come a long way in restoring structures and attracting new businesses to the central business district. In 1982, the Canton Courthouse Historic Square District was officially entered in the National Register of Historic Places and declared one of the three best examples of Greek Revival architecture in the state. The Register cited the beauty of the diverse cornices, facades, and pediments of the original buildings with their neoclassical and Italianate architecture.

    A combination of work, organization and money through the Canton Redevelopment Authority, the Chamber of Commerce/Main Street Association and public and private investors who have attempted to restore this quaint Madison County town. It is estimated public and private funds invested in Canton today amount to $20 million, including the new and old courthouses.

    The city-wide Redevelopment Authority opened in April 1987 to address those areas that had deteriorated within the city, and the Main Street program, focusing on the downtown area, was a product of the Authority. Although the Canton Chamber of Commerce/Main Street Association came together in June 1991, Canton was ahead of its time, having already joined the national movement in August 1990 and formed a Main Street program a few years before Mississippi adopted the program.

   There is also a low interest loan fund of $10,000 available through three banks: Merchants and Farmers Bank, BankPlus and Trustmark National Bank. Borrowers who repay the loan within one year pay no interest. Also, property owners may take advantage of tax exemptions and tax credits in certain restoration and rehabilitation projects within the National Register District.

    Through the partnership created with the public and private sector, Canton has recaptured the feeling of "stepping back in time" while re-creating a Central Business district that is positioning Canton for its place in the twenty-first century.

2007 Canton Chamber of Commerce/Main Street Association, Inc.
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