The Town began to grow with an influx of settlers from Virginia, the Carolinas, Alabama, and others seeking a better life for themselves and their families. There were 397 residents of Coldwater according to the 1890 census. Educating their children was obviously important to the early settlers. By 1884, there were 96 small schools in Tate County, 54 white and 42 black. They were mostly one teacher, one-room log houses with split logs for seats.
Coldwater opened its first public library in April 1951 to serve the 949 people who lived there according to the 1950 census. The Library was located in the office of the C.O. Pate Insurance Office on land where the present post office is located. At that time, the Library was open during the office hours of the insurance office. The Town of Coldwater provided the shelves for the Library.
The Library operated under the contract between Tate County and the First Regional Library, headquartered in Hernando. Mrs. Mabel Burford was named the first Librarian of the Coldwater Public Library, followed by Mrs. Katherine Bourland who served from April 1953 until September 1976. Mrs. Mabel McGee served as Head Librarian from October 1976 until early 1981. Mrs. Viola Brown served as Librarian from April 1981 until her unexpected death in September 1997. The Library was physically moved to renovated quarters in May 1981 to a building on Central that was, at one time, the home of the superintendent of the Coldwater School System. Mrs. Tenise Faulkner is the current Head Librarian, a position she has held since late 1997.
Today, Coldwater celebrates the grand opening of its brand new, 6,000 square feet, modern public library building. The Jesse J. Edwards Public Library is a splendid example of what community planning and dreaming can accomplish. The Library offers twelve computer stations for the public, complete with access to the Internet, two meeting room spaces and a special amphitheater for the children.
Over the years, Coldwater has produced a number of outstanding citizens. Jesse J. Edwards, Jr., for whom the new library building is named, is certainly one of those individuals. Born and raised in the Coldwater area, he served as the first African-American mayor of Coldwater. It was because of the vision of Dr. Edwards that this new Library building came into being – and that it would house a special collection of materials about the history of Coldwater.
Other famous people who hail from the Coldwater area include Dr. Dumas Malone, Pulitzer prize-winning historian and noted Jeffersonian scholar, born in Coldwater on January 10, 1892. Dorris Bowdon Johnson, a Coldwater native, was a screen actress who played in several motion pictures in the 1930’s and 1940’s alongside such Hollywood legends as Henry Fonda. Thomas Webber Wilson, a three-term U.S. Congressional Representative from Mississippi from 1923-1929, was born in Coldwater on January 24, 1893. Congressman Webb Wilson died in Coldwater in 1948 and is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery.
The broadcasting pioneer Hoyt B. Wooten was also a Coldwater native. By 1919, Wooten had started his first commercial radio station in Coldwater, WKNG. He moved the radio station to the Peabody Hotel in 1929. On January 1, 1956, his WREC-TV, Channel 3 began regular programming to the Mid-South community. His father, Spencer D. Wooten, known affectionately as “Mr. Spencer,” served the Town as an alderman, as Mayor, as president of the school board, and as undertaker, among other things. The log house that his father (also named Spencer D.) built is still standing on Hwy 306 near the Antioch Church of Christ, currently occupied by Mrs. Kathryn Gaines.
Coldwater’s first recipient of a Rhodes scholarship (and the first African-American from Mississippi to have won) is C. Damon Miguel Moore, M.D. Before becoming a Rhodes scholar, Moore graduated as valedictorian of Coldwater High School in 1982. Dr. Moore graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi in 1986. After completing his studies at Oxford University in England, he completed his medical training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Over the course of its history, Coldwater steadily grew in numbers. However, periodic river flooding plagued the town, as the river would all too often swell its banks, spilling onto area farmland. When the Arkabutla Lake and Dam project was built in the early 1940’s, the Town felt it had to move. So, in 1942, the Town of Coldwater moved – lock, stock, and barrel, to land just about a mile and a half south of its original location. Today, there are over 1,600 people enjoying life in this “new” location.
Truly the Town of Coldwater has an interesting and rich history, a record of which now exists in the new Coldwater Room of the Jesse J. Edwards Public Library. This special room contains historical materials that have been collected, cataloged, and now made available to researchers of all ages eager to learn about “the big move” or to those trying to trace their ancestors.
Coldwater is a town in Tate County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,674 at the 2000 census.
Arkabutla LakeArkabutla Lake is one of four Flood Damage Reduction reservoirs in North Mississippi. Located less than 30 minutes south of the Tennessee state line, Arkabutla Lake is the nearest U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to the Memphis metropolitan area. With an annual visitation exceeding 2 million people, Arkabutla Lake accommodates a wide variety of recreational interest throughout the entire year.
The Arkabutla Lake project includes 57,250 total acres of land and water. The dam is 11,500 feet long with an average height of 67 feet. There are 37,700 acres of land at the project which are open to the public for hunting.
Notable Citizens:
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor of film and stage well known for his deep basso voice.
Jones was born in Arkabutla, Tate County, Mississippi, the son of Ruth (née Connolly), a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones (1910-2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family before James Earl's birth. Jones and his father reconciled many years later in the 1980s and 1990s. Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, farmers Maggie and John Henry Connolly, and is of African American, Irish, Choctaw and Cherokee descent.
He moved to his maternal grandparents' farm in Jackson, Michigan at the age of five, but the adoption was traumatic and he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. When he moved to Brethren, Michigan in later years a teacher at the Brethren schools started to help him with his stutter. He remained functionally mute for eight years until he reached high school. He credits his high school teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him out of his silence. The teacher believed forced public speaking would help him gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class each day. "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school."
Thalmus Rasulala (Jack Crowder)
Thalmus Rasulala (November 15, 1939 - October 9, 1991) was an American actor who was an original cast member of ABC's soap opera One Life to Live from its inception in 1968 until he left the show in 1970.
Born as Jack Crowder in Miami, Florida, he appeared in many films and made guest appearances in TV shows. Notable roles include Lt. Jack Neal in One Life to Live, Roy in Bucktown, Blake Tarr in Friday Foster, Bill Thomas in What's Happening!!, Omoro Kinte in Roots. He also appeared in The Twilight Zone and Sanford and Son.
He died of heart failure in Albuquerque, New Mexico, aged 51.
History of the Town of Coldwater
The current town square of Coldwater, Mississippi is located about two miles south of the Coldwater River, hence the name. The original town actually began as the village of Elm Grove in 1856. With the coming of the Mississippi-Tennessee railroad in 1858, rows of stores and other businesses developed on both sides of the tracks, along with houses of worship. Coldwater was officially incorporated in 1872. At that time, the Town was located in DeSoto County and was a mile square with the railroad depot at the center. When another Mississippi county was created in 1873 from land originally located in DeSoto, Marshall, and Tunica counties, Coldwater found itself to be a part of the newly formed Tate County.
The Town began to grow with an influx of settlers from Virginia, the Carolinas, Alabama, and others seeking a better life for themselves and their families. There were 397 residents of Coldwater according to the 1890 census. Educating their children was obviously important to the early settlers. By 1884, there were 96 small schools in Tate County, 54 white and 42 black. They were mostly one teacher, one-room log houses with split logs for seats.
Coldwater opened its first public library in April 1951 to serve the 949 people who lived there according to the 1950 census. The Library was located in the office of the C.O. Pate Insurance Office on land where the present post office is located. At that time, the Library was open during the office hours of the insurance office. The Town of Coldwater provided the shelves for the Library.
The Library operated under the contract between Tate County and the First Regional Library, headquartered in Hernando. Mrs. Mabel Burford was named the first Librarian of the Coldwater Public Library, followed by Mrs. Katherine Bourland who served from April 1953 until September 1976. Mrs. Mabel McGee served as Head Librarian from October 1976 until early 1981. Mrs. Viola Brown served as Librarian from April 1981 until her unexpected death in September 1997. The Library was physically moved to renovated quarters in May 1981 to a building on Central that was, at one time, the home of the superintendent of the Coldwater School System. Mrs. Tenise Faulkner is the current Head Librarian, a position she has held since late 1997.
Today, Coldwater celebrates the grand opening of its brand new, 6,000 square feet, modern public library building. The Jesse J. Edwards Public Library is a splendid example of what community planning and dreaming can accomplish. The Library offers twelve computer stations for the public, complete with access to the Internet, two meeting room spaces and a special amphitheater for the children.
Over the years, Coldwater has produced a number of outstanding citizens. Jesse J. Edwards, Jr., for whom the new library building is named, is certainly one of those individuals. Born and raised in the Coldwater area, he served as the first African-American mayor of Coldwater. It was because of the vision of Dr. Edwards that this new Library building came into being – and that it would house a special collection of materials about the history of Coldwater.
Other famous people who hail from the Coldwater area include Dr. Dumas Malone, Pulitzer prize-winning historian and noted Jeffersonian scholar, born in Coldwater on January 10, 1892. Dorris Bowdon Johnson, a Coldwater native, was a screen actress who played in several motion pictures in the 1930’s and 1940’s alongside such Hollywood legends as Henry Fonda. Thomas Webber Wilson, a three-term U.S. Congressional Representative from Mississippi from 1923-1929, was born in Coldwater on January 24, 1893. Congressman Webb Wilson died in Coldwater in 1948 and is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery.
The broadcasting pioneer Hoyt B. Wooten was also a Coldwater native. By 1919, Wooten had started his first commercial radio station in Coldwater, WKNG. He moved the radio station to the Peabody Hotel in 1929. On January 1, 1956, his WREC-TV, Channel 3 began regular programming to the Mid-South community. His father, Spencer D. Wooten, known affectionately as “Mr. Spencer,” served the Town as an alderman, as Mayor, as president of the school board, and as undertaker, among other things. The log house that his father (also named Spencer D.) built is still standing on Hwy 306 near the Antioch Church of Christ, currently occupied by Mrs. Kathryn Gaines.
Coldwater’s first recipient of a Rhodes scholarship (and the first African-American from Mississippi to have won) is C. Damon Miguel Moore, M.D. Before becoming a Rhodes scholar, Moore graduated as valedictorian of Coldwater High School in 1982. Dr. Moore graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi in 1986. After completing his studies at Oxford University in England, he completed his medical training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Over the course of its history, Coldwater steadily grew in numbers. However, periodic river flooding plagued the town, as the river would all too often swell its banks, spilling onto area farmland. When the Arkabutla Lake and Dam project was built in the early 1940’s, the Town felt it had to move. So, in 1942, the Town of Coldwater moved – lock, stock, and barrel, to land just about a mile and a half south of its original location. Today, there are over 1,600 people enjoying life in this “new” location.
Truly the Town of Coldwater has an interesting and rich history, a record of which now exists in the new Coldwater Room of the Jesse J. Edwards Public Library. This special room contains historical materials that have been collected, cataloged, and now made available to researchers of all ages eager to learn about “the big move” or to those trying to trace their ancestors.