In 1836, the state legislature made Houston (named for Texan Sam Houston) the first county seat for Chickasaw County, and in 1837 surveyor Thomas Williams laid out the town on a grid plan with a courthouse square. While its companion county seat (designated in 1866), Okolona, quickly thrived, Houston had to wait until the arrival of railroads in 1904–1905 for a period of heightened prosperity. On the square, the facade of the commercial building (c. 1885) at 109 Washington Street is virtually intact, including its cast-iron supports and lintel, wooden store-front frames, and pressed-metal cornice.
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