In the April 12, 1900, edition of The Democratic Herald, published in Charleston, is a Page 1 story about “The Tallahatchie Bill,” a law soon dividing the county into two judicial districts, as passed by the Mississippi Legislature.
The law designated the establishment of two circuit and chancery court districts for the county — to be called the First and Second districts — thus creating the dual county seats we have today.
At the time, Charleston (population 480) was the only county seat for Tallahatchie's 19,600 residents and 651 square miles of territory.
A great impediment to the operations of government in Tallahatchie County was the tiny little fact that a river ran through it. The Tallahatchie River was a formidable natural barrier to the commingling of the populations on the east and west sides.
So the Legislature ordered formation of two districts — one on either side of the river — and construction of a courthouse and jail for what would become the 2nd District on the west side of the river.
The two-district scenario was met with mixed results locally, and in the May 24, 1900, edition of The Democratic Herald, an unbylined story noted that a May 15 election among voters in the proposed 2nd District had failed, by a 99-83 vote, to support the measure.
The author, possibly Publisher T.B. Dudley, noted that the Legislature’s adoption of the law was prompted by “a desire for better social conditions as well as for the convenience and protection of the people in all parts of the county. ... The county was already divided by nature, and the customs and habits of the people were in many respects very different. There is no interchange of business relations of any consequence between the sections ...”
One reaction to “The Tallahatchie Bill” plan was penned by an unnamed author in the Oct. 10, 1901, edition of The Democratic Herald.
Headlined “They are all right,” the piece begins, “The call for a mass meeting has provoked some discussion as to what the people in the hills will say about giving the other part of the county a court house. There has been a great deal of talk about ‘lopping off,’ ‘dismemberment,’ and things of that kind; but this has very little effect on the average man in the hill section. If the cane-biters want a court house, the people in the hills are willing to do what is right about it. It is not necessary for the boys on the bayou to say that if you don’t give us a court house we’ll pull loose from you and stop paying the freight. The hill people had an idea that a bottomite didn’t mind mud and water, or anything else; but if he wants a court house and is tired of coming around by Memphis to Charleston, and will say so, he can have this court house. The people in the hills are all right.”
The citizenry went back and forth on the issue, but the matter was pressed by the state. The only question remaining to be answered was the location of the second county seat of Tallahatchie.
“The Tallahatchie Bill” had set the de facto site of the new seat of government for the 2nd District as “the village of Webb,” which was founded in 1883 — about 50 years after Tallahatchie County itself was organized — and had a 1900 census population of 128 citizens.
North of Webb was Sumner, which was not incorporated until 1900. While there is no official 1900 census figure for Sumner, that town was the faster growing municipality and had a census population of 364 residents by 1910. Webb had 292 citizens at that time.
A railroad community for nearly 20 years, Tutwiler, just north of Sumner, was not organized until 1905 and apparently was never in the county seat conversation.
In a Nov. 14, 1901, newspaper story, it was reported that the "leading candidates for the location of the court house are Sumner, Webb and Glendora."
On May 6, 1902, residents of the newly-designated 2nd District of Tallahatchie took the question of the second county seat to the ballot box.
Both Sumner and Webb were up for consideration. Sumner won, 161-115, with votes recorded from precincts at Graball, Philipp, Sumner, Tutwiler and Webb.
Noted a May 8, 1902, story in The Democratic Herald about that election, “The result has been a matter for much conjecture and has been the occasion of many wagers either way and the rather overwhelming majority for Sumner was a surprise to many, inasmuch as it was estimated by the most conservative, level headed men that fifteen votes was a liberal figure for the winner.
“The citizens of both towns, together with their respective sympathizers throughout the district, have worked diligently as only the Delta people can in an election, and while the result will no doubt be a thorn in the flesh to the Webbites for sometime to come; it is to be hoped that they will take it philosophically; that the hatchet will be buried, and that the towns will work in unison, as far as practicable, for the further development of the wonderful resources of west Tallahatchie. To the untiring efforts of Sumner’s citizens great credit is due for a hard fought victory, and to the capital of the Second court district we doff our hat. With a handsome court house and jail building assured her, she will surely increase rapidly in size and importance.”
In the Aug. 13, 1903, Democratic Herald, a Page 3 item reads, “The good citizens of Tallahatchie county’s second judicial district are rejoicing in the possession of a beautiful new court house, the board of supervisors having accepted the building in Sumner last week on behalf of the county. The new court house is a substantial two-story gray pressed brick structure, with clock tower 100 feet high, and is a model of modern architecture. It is one of the handsomest public buildings in the State.”
An Oct. 22, 1903, Democratic Herald story told that the furnishings for the new courthouse had arrived at the site, adding, "The furniture is of excellent quality, and when placed in the handsome court house the citizens of the Second district of the county will have one of the handsomest and best furnished court houses in the State."
The Sumner courthouse and much of the town were destroyed by a fire of unknown origin during the early-morning hours of Sept. 4 or Sept. 5, 1908. The building was valued at $40,000 but for some reason was insured for only $22,500. The insurance policy had been purchased only two months before the fire.
According to a Sept. 9, 1908, opinion piece in what was by then The Tallahatchie Herald, there was "some talk, since the fire at Sumner, of making an effort to abolish the second district and thereby not rebuild the court house at Sumner." The article continued, "It is true that since the building of a railroad to Charleston the necessity of a second district is not as great as it was when the district was established, and possibly the expense is greater than with only one court house, but an effort to consolidate would very naturally bring about a hard and long drawn out fight, that would ultimately result without success and would do the county more harm than good."
In the end, of course, the 2nd District remained, and in the Nov. 11, 1908, edition of The Tallahatchie Herald, it was reported that the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors had voted to advertise for plans and specifications for the rebuilding of the courthouse at Sumner.
In 1909-1910, the courthouse was redesigned and rebuilt by the same architect and contractor duo who had collaborated on the first structure.
Tallahatchie’s 2nd District courthouse has been the setting for many newsworthy events over its better than 120-year history, but it may be most noted as the site of the 1955 five-day trial that led to the acquittal of two white men charged with killing Black Chicago teenager Emmett Till. An all-white, all-male jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning their verdict. The two exonerated men later admitted to their guilt in a magazine story.
The Till murder case is often referred to as “the spark” that ignited the national Civil Rights Movement, and its genesis traces to the "miscarriage of justice" that occurred in the courtroom of the Sumner courthouse.
In 1990, the 2nd District courthouse was designated a Mississippi Landmark. In 2007, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Also in 2007, in a ceremony on the north side of the Sumner courthouse grounds, Tallahatchie County issued a public apology to the Till family for "what was done in this community to your loved one."
Between 2010 and 2014, the Sumner courthouse underwent stabilization and restoration projects that included restoring the courtroom to its 1955 appearance. In the 1970s, the courtroom had undergone a complete renovation that hid all visible traces of its history.
In 2023, former President Joe Biden proclaimed the courthouse part of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, which also includes two other sites.
The courthouse is now the property of the U.S. government and was added to the National Park System through a series of 2023 agreements and transactions between multiple parties, including the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation and the nonprofit NPF Schoodic Woods LLC.
The county has been allowed to lease the facility and conduct operations of government there for three years pending construction of an annex on the south side that is being paid for with $1.5 million in grant funds.
The new courthouse annex is now rapidly nearing completion.
By summer, Tallahatchie’s 2nd Judicial District will have a new seat of government in a familiar town, where history will continue to be made.
