Doddsville

History

Daniel Doddsman Sr. and his eldest son, Daniel Jr. were early settlers who hauled logs in the area in 1888, and purchased of land where the town now stands in 1891. Oliver Eastland, grandfather of U.S. Senator James Eastland, bought a large tract of land near Doddsville in the 1880s, and his son Woods Eastland used black labor to clear the land to create a plantation. A landing called "Standing Stump" existed west of Doddsville on the bank of the Sunflower River. When river levels rose in the spring, boats from Vicksburg would follow the Yazoo River and then Sunflower River as far as Standing Stump, where a post office was located. When the Yazoo Delta Railroad was completed in 1897, a depot was located in the town and named "Doddsville", after the Dodds brothers. By 1898, Doddsville had five stores, and the Sunflower Lumber Company was founded. Doddsville was incorporated in 1920, and by 1922 the population was estimated at between 400 and 500. There was a hotel and rooming house, two drug stores with licensed pharmacists, two Chinese groceries, a Café, a dress shop, a school, two churches, a woman’s club, four doctors, and five passenger trains a day. The city hall was located inside the Doddsville Land and Mercantile Company store. A jail was built in 1952, and a town water system installed in 1963.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Most-observed species

• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  112
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  84
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  75
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  70
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  70
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  69
• Northern Shoveler

  Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  59
• Least Sandpiper

  Calidris minutilla (Vieillot, 1819) · Aves
  57

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2019-01-08
  8 km WNW of Hollandale, Mississippi
• M 3.1 — 2002-10-26
  3 km SE of Alligator, Mississippi
• M 2.8 — 2002-08-11
  8 km ESE of Darling, Mississippi