page_title: Friars Point, Mississippi
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Friars Point, Mississippi / History
caption_attribution_description: Collection: Painter (Milton McFarland, Sr.) Collection Call number: PI/1988.0006 System ID: 97419. Link to the catalog View from top of court house looking north. Please see our profile page for information on ordering. Scanned as tiff in 2008/03/12 by MDAH. Credit: Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
context_page_description: Friars Point is a town in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,200 at the 2010 census, down from 1,480 in 2000.
  Situated on the Mississippi River, Friars Point was once a busy port town, and remains the only place in Coahoma County with public access to the river's shore.
context_section_description: Friars Point is one of two hypothesized locations where Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto may have crossed the Mississippi River (the other is Commerce, Mississippi).
  The town was founded in 1836 and originally called "Farrar's Point". When the town incorporated in 1852, its name was changed to "Friar's Point" to honor Robert Friar, an early settler, legislator, and businessman who sold fuel to passing steamboats. In 1850, the county seat was moved from the nearby town of Delta to Friars Point.
  Strategically situated at a bend in the Mississippi River, Friars Point flourished before the Civil War as the largest shipping center for cotton south of Memphis.
  During the Civil War, Union troops occupied and burned portions of the town. The Robinson-Slack-Marinelli House (now the Minie Ball House), which still stands and bears the mark of shelling from gunboats, was used as a headquarters by Union General Napoleon Bonaparte Buford. General William Tecumseh Sherman and Admiral David Dixon Porter used Friars Point as a rendezvous for 45 transport ships in December 1862, prior to attacking Vicksburg. Friars Point was also home to Confederate Brigadier General James L. Alcorn, whose grave and former plantation, Eagles Nest, are located a short distance east of the town. Alcorn turned from Whig to Republican after the war, and went on to become governor with the support of the large number of carpetbaggers who had settled in Friars Point.  In 1875, when Reconstruction was fighting for its life against a campaign of violence from the Democrats, Alcorn led a white force against black Republicans at Friar's Point. The battle led to a number of people being killed, and served to suppress the black vote, allowing conservative Democrats to regain political power.
  The famous gunman and train robber Jesse James came to Friars Point one evening during the 1880s. He visited with the Methodist minister, then played poker and had some drinks at the local saloon. The next morning he was gone.
  The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad was completed to Friars Point in 1887.
  In 1888, the county jail at Friars Point was completely destroyed by fire, killing five prisoners.
  Charles Lindbergh ran out of gas while flying his plane over Friars Point in 1924, and landed at a place he later called "The Haunted House".
  As nearby Clarksdale grew in population and influence, it challenged Friars Point's hold on the county government. In 1892, Coahoma County was divided into two jurisdictions, one going to Friars Point and the other to Clarksdale. In 1930, the county seat was given exclusively to Clarksdale. Historian Lawrence J. Nelson wrote that by that point, "Friars Point had receded into a sleepy river community."
  In the 1930s there was ferry service between Friars Point and Helena, Arkansas. The cost was one dollar for a car and driver and 25 cents per passenger.
  On April 26, 2011, a tornado—part of the 2011 Super Outbreak—hit Friars Point. The tornado was rated EF0, with estimated wind speeds of 75 mph (121 km/h).
  Time magazine wrote in 2013:
  Once a thriving port town and the county seat, economic decline has left Friars Point with a lone elementary school, a few churches, a city hall, a post office, a small general store, a museum that opens only sporadically, a nightclub called Show T Boat where a man was shot to death in 2011, and a bank. The town no longer has a doctor or health clinic, a drug store, a sit-down restaurant, a recreational center, a library, or any businesses to speak of. Kids travel 15 miles to Clarksdale for junior and senior high school.
caption: Looking north, c. 1900
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