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History · Edwards

Edwards’ post office opened in 1883, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1900.

1883first post office
2on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
8famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Edwards’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Edwards began

When was Edwards founded?

1883

The Edwards post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Edwards Depot (1842), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 586 in 19002020 census: 995143 years
Founding year: the first Edwards post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Edwards’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1920 and 1930, then more than doubled.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1893 to 1909, drew every building in Edwards.Famous sons and daughtersCharley Patton, Otis Harris and 6 more were born here.
★ What stands out · People over time

Edwards, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001900192019401960198020002020727 in 1920Low: 456

Lost a third of its people between 1920 and 1930, then more than doubled.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edwards’ Wikipedia page.

Every building

Edwards, building by building, 1893–1909

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Edwards fire insurance map, 1893, sheet 11893Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Famous people

8 famous people were born in Edwards

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Charley PattonAmerican Delta blues musician · b. 1891
O
Otis HarrisAmerican athletics competitor · b. 1982
Betty CurriePersonal Secretary to Bill Clinton · b. 1939
J
Johnny FullerAmerican electric blues and West Coast blues mu… · b. 1929
G
George W. LeeAmerican minister, grocer, civil rights activist · b. 1903
A
Aurelius Southall ScottAmerican journalist and political candidate · b. 1901
The story

How Edwards came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Edwards.

Read it all →

Edwards is named for Dick Edwards, owner and proprietor of the Edwards House in Jackson, Mississippi.

Edwards was originally named "Amsterdam" and settled in the 1830s. In 1832, it suffered from a cholera epidemic and was then bypassed by the Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad. This happened in 1839 when R. O. Edwards' plantation became a stop on the railroad known as Edwards Depot.

The depot was burned to prevent its use during the Civil War in 1863. The current site of Edwards was chosen in 1866 and was incorporated in 1871.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Edwards in 1922

Passages that mention Edwards, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Edwards is an old, incorporated town of Hinds County on the Alabama and Vicksburg Railway, 26 miles by rail west of Jackson, 18 miles east of Vicksburg, and one mile from the Big Black river. The lands lying around it are fruit and vegetable soils, and its people are thrifty and progressive. It is …
History of Hinds County, Mississippi, 1821-1922. Published in commemoration of the centenary of the city of Jackson ... by Mrs. Dunbar Rowland (Eron O. Rowland)1922Read the page →
Read the text

Edwards is an old, incorporated town of Hinds County on the Alabama and Vicksburg Railway, 26 miles by rail west of Jackson, 18 miles east of Vicksburg, and one mile from the Big Black river. The lands lying around it are fruit and vegetable soils, and its people are thrifty and progressive. It is an interesting place, set as it is in the historic campania lying between Jackson and Vicksburg,

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Edwards, 1842 to 1982

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1842Post officeThe Edwards Depot post office opens
  3. 1883Post officeThe Edwards Depot post office closes
  4. 1883Post officeThe Edwards post office opens
  5. 1891Born hereCharley Patton is born here
  6. 1893BuiltA. J. Lewis House is built
  7. 20th century
  8. 1929Born hereJohnny Fuller is born here
  9. 1936In the archiveVicinity of Edwards, Mississippi
  10. 1938On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1939Born hereBetty Currie is born here
  12. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 1,515
  13. 1982Born hereOtis Harris is born here
By decade

Edwards, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s3 items
Vicinity of Edwards, Mississippi1936Vicinity of Edwards, MississippiMain street storefronts. Edwards, Mississippi1936Main street storefronts. Edwards, MississippiView of railroad station. Edwards, Mississippi1936View of railroad station. Edwards, Mississippi
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown2 to date
Messinger HouseDate?Messinger HouseCoker House, Champion HillDate?Coker House, Champion Hill
Today1 recent
Lambs2006Lambs
On the map

Edwards on the map, 1938 to 1972

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edwards. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Edwards on the 1938 USGS mapEdwards on the 1972 USGS map1938Edwards sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Edwards.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Vicinity of Edwards, Mississippi
Retake this viewVicinity of Edwards, Mississippi, 1936

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Edwards’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 listings protect 7 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
A. J. Lewis House
A. J. Lewis House, built 1893
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Colonial Revival1
A. J. Lewis HouseQueen Anne · Built 1893
Southern Christian InstituteColonial Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Edwards’s post office has been open since 1883. Another post office, Edwards Depot, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Edwards Depot
1842–1883
Edwards
1883–today
18401930today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Edwards’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Edwards’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewVicinity of Edwards, Mississippi: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Edwards’ history

What year was Edwards founded?

The Edwards post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Edwards?

Two places: the A. J. Lewis House (listed 1983) and the Southern Christian Institute (2007).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.