Clarksdale is a new town, having been built up since the advent of the railroad in 1884, but is now the metropolis of the county, with eight hundred. It is a railroad junction of importance, and its site is well chosen, beautiful and advantageous, on high ground above overflow at the head of navigation of Sunflower River. Clarksdale, Coahoma County, has grown up since 1884. Until then its site was occupied by only the store of John Clark, the owner of a plantation including the site. The advent of the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas railway, about that time, caused the beginning of the growth of a town which now has a population of eight hundred and is incorporated. Clarksdale lies in the very heart of the great delta region, one hundred and seventy-seven miles from Memphis and three hundred and eighty-three miles from New Orleans. The amount of cotton handled reaches fifteen thousand bales per season, with good prospects for from eighteen thousand to twenty thousand bales during the present one, based upon the increased acreage and unusually fine crop prospects. Clarksdale has recently been made an interior town by the New York cotton exchange, something unusual for a place of its population. One among the largest and most complete cotton- seed oilmills in the South is located there, and a cotton compress has been built. There are also a large sawmill, public gin and gristmill in Clarksdale, and a substantial banking house, the Clarksdale Bank & Trust company, the successors of the Central City Bank, organized in 1888. The civic societies, Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor and others, have flourishing lodges and strong memberships.
Friar’s Point, the seat of justice of Coahoma County, is located on the Mississippi River and on the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas railroad, and has a population of seven hundred and seventy-six. Coahoma County was established February 9, 1836, and its courthouse and public offices have been located at various times at Delta, Port Royal, again at Delta and at Friar’s Point, where good county buildings have been erected. Since the construction of the railroads, of which several lines intersect the county. Friar’s Point has greatly improved, and is now, with a good hotel, several manufacturing establishments and the bank of Friar’s Point, Friar’s Point Improvement Company, and the Friar’s Point Building & Loan association, and many large mercantile houses, one of the busiest towns of its size in any state.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memories of Mississippi, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891