| Oktibbeha County is a community
closely connected to its past, with landmarks coloring its landscape and
illustrating its history to a revolving population of students and
teachers at Mississippi State University. Beyond the classrooms
and corridors is a small, Southern community with a rich and varied
history, shaped by the great legacy of the Choctaw Indians, the
plantation owners of the nineteenth century, the farmers who struggled
through the Great Depression, and the educators who sought to develop an
institution of higher learning for the youth of Mississippi. |
Captured within these pages are the memories of
Oktibbeha County as it once was, before America dove headfirst into an
era of chage and progress. Seen are simpler times, when policemen
could place telephone calls from a light pole in the middle of town, and
stores closed at noon on Wednesday so that the local businessmen might
spend the afternoon fishing together. The treasured photographs of
days gone by provide residents of Oktibbeha County, as well as visitors
to the area, with a refreshing glimpse of life in the old days.
Included are the county's earliest schools, homes, and churches, as well
as the residents who studied, lived, and prayed in them. |
Author and local historian James
S. Cole is a lifelong resident of Starkville, and has compiled this
engaging visual history as a tribute to his parents, Shuler and Bena
Cole, who owned and operated Western Auto of Starkville from 1939 to
1965. He has drawn photographs from his private collection as well
as the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum and several local residents to
complete Oktibbeha County, a book sure to find a treasured place in the
homes of county residents for years to come. |