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Clay County Agricultural High SchoolClay County Agricultural High School · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0
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History · Pheba

Pheba’s post office opened in 1890, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 4 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1959 on.

1890first post office
2on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Pheba began

When was Pheba founded?

1890

The Pheba post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 160136 years
Founding year: the first Pheba post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pheba’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Pheba are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pheba’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Pheba came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pheba.

Read it all →

Pheba was named for Mrs. Pheba Robinson. The community is located on the former Southern Railway and was incorporated in 1890.

A post office first began operation under the name Pheba in 1890.

In 2000, Pheba was the site of the first sporting event in which an all-black team participated in a contest sanctioned by the Mississippi Private School Association (MPSA), which was founded as an organization for segregation academies that originally existed to avoid integration of whites and blacks in public schools when Hebron Christian played against the all-black Christ Missionary and Industrial College High School (CM&I). CM&I had previously not played football for decades and fielded a team of only 14 players.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pheba, 1890 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Pheba post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Born hereBilly Jefferson is born here
  5. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Pheba on the map, 1959 to 1987

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

Pheba on the 1959 USGS mapPheba on the 1987 USGS map1959Pheba 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 Pheba.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Pheba

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1991
Clay County Agricultural High School
Clay County Agricultural High SchoolPheba Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Craftsman1
Victorian1
Commercial Vernacular1
Clay County Agricultural High SchoolVernacular
All 2 listings
Pheba Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1991

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

Questions about Pheba’s history

What year was Pheba founded?

The Pheba post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Pheba?

Two places: the Clay County Agricultural High School (listed 1991) and the Pheba Historic District (1991).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.