 |
Henry
Simpson McComb, a self-made man from Wilmington, Delaware, was the son of a
blacksmith. With a minimum of formal schooling, he would become a Union Colonel
of the Fifth Delaware Regiment during the Civil War. After the war, McComb
became interested in railroads. By 1868 he had quickly worked his way to the
presidency of the Mississippi Central Railroad. |
| When he took over the New
Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad, he decided to move the shops to a
more isolated area away from moral temptations and the high cost of living. He
selected the present-day McComb. On April 5, 1872, McComb was chartered as an
incorporated city. The colonel offered building lots in the new city at low
prices on easy credit and urged his employees with families to build their homes
there. |
|
