Incorporated in 1859, Magnolia replaced Holmesville as the county seat in 1872. Magnolia’s nineteenth-century wealth rested on the resort trade made possible by the railroad, which was completed to Magnolia by 1855. New Orleans residents began to summer here, escaping yellow fever and enjoying the clean waters of the Little Tangipahoa River. By 1900, hotels lined the tracks, and more resorts spread out into the countryside around Osyka and Chatawa. The Magnolia Cotton Mill, established in 1903 to the south of Minnehaha Creek, also provided employment. The town has maintained a stable population of around two thousand, and its historic core is intact. A wealth of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman houses, great and small, line the streets named after trees.
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