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History · Utica

Utica’s post office opened in 1837, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1900 on and old-book passages.

1837first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Utica’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Utica began

When was Utica founded?

1837

The Utica post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 636189 years
Founding year: the first Utica post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Utica’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Utica.Famous sons and daughtersLindsey Hunter, Alonzo Bradley and 7 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Utica’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewJewett Hall: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Utica, 1837 to 1987

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Utica post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveJewett Hall
  5. 1926Born hereCharles H. Griffin is born here
  6. 1936In the archiveNYA:Utica Industrial Institute:Negro:Hinds County, Mississippi:students raising prize hogs
  7. 1953Born hereAlonzo Bradley is born here
  8. 1970Born hereLindsey Hunter is born here
  9. 1987Born hereDerek Newton is born here
Famous people

9 famous people were born in Utica

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

See all →
Lindsey HunterAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1970
A
Alonzo BradleyAmerican basketball player · b. 1953
Charles H. GriffinAmerican politician · b. 1926
Derek NewtonPlayer of American football · b. 1987
M
Marcell YoungAmerican football player · b. 1987
S
Sonny Boy NelsonAmerican blues musician · b. 1908
The story

How Utica came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Utica.

Read it all →

Utica was originally an area known as Cane Ridge. In 1837, it was given the name Utica at the suggestion of the then postmaster, Ozias Osborn, who came from Utica, New York. The town was incorporated in 1880.

Utica was located on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. A weekly newspaper, the Herald, was established in 1897. In the early 1900s, Utica had several churches, eight hotels, a public school for white students, and an industrial college for black students. Agriculture consisted of watermelons, cotton and timber. The settlement had a sawmill, three cotton gins, and a brick plant. The population in 1907 was nearly 1,000.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Utica in 1922

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

Utica, in the southwestern part of the county, is an incorporated post-town. It is situated on the Y. & M. V. Railroad, 32 -miles southwest of Jackson. It is hilly, well-drained and surrounded by a rich farming section. All kinds of fruit and vegetables, especially watermelons, grow in abundance in…
History of Hinds County, Mississippi, 1821-19221922Read the page →
Read the text

Utica, in the southwestern part of the county, is an incorporated post-town. It is situated on the Y. & M. V. Railroad, 32 -miles southwest of Jackson. It is hilly, well-drained and surrounded by a rich farming section. All kinds of fruit and vegetables, especially watermelons, grow in abundance in the soil. The town is accessible to a large amount of fine hardwood timber. It ships annually about 10,000 bales of cotton. It has two banks

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Utica, in the southwestern part of the county, is an incorporated post-town. It is situated on the Y. & M. V. Railroad, 32 miles southwest of Jackson. It is hilly, well-drained and surrounded by a rich farming section. Ail kinds of fruit and vegetables, especially watermelons, grow in abundance in …
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

Utica, in the southwestern part of the county, is an incorporated post-town. It is situated on the Y. & M. V. Railroad, 32 miles southwest of Jackson. It is hilly, well-drained and surrounded by a rich farming section. Ail kinds of fruit and vegetables, especially watermelons, grow in abundance in the soil. The town is accessible to a large amount of fine hardwood timber. It ships annually about 10,000 bales of cotton. It has two banks

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.

By decade

Utica, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1930s2 items
Jewett Hall1900Jewett HallNYA:Utica Industrial Institute:Negro:Hinds County, Mississippi:students raising prize hogs1936NYA:Utica Industrial Institute:Negro:Hinds County, Mi…
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
Today2 recent
MSMap-doton-Utica2007MSMap-doton-UticaA Noticeable Monument - Utica Cemetery, Utica (Hinds County), Mississippi2005A Noticeable Monument - Utica Cemetery, Utica (Hinds …
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.

Jewett Hall
Retake this viewJewett Hall, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Utica’s history

What year was Utica founded?

The Utica post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

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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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.