Morgantown, Mississippi

Morgantown is a community located on Highway 587 in northwest Marion County, Mississippi. Now unincorporated, the village was incorporated at one time with its own mayor and law enforcement officers.

Morgantown was first established by the LeNoir family from South Carolina shortly after the turn of the 19th Century. It was an early settlement on the Pearl River and was first known as LeNoir's Landing. William Thomas LeNoir settled the area, while his brother Hope Hull LeNoir settled a nearby area now known as White Bluff. Robert Baylor, a Revolutionary War veteran and contractor from Virginia, was hired by William Thomas LeNoir to construct a plantation home on the banks of the Pearl River. Baylor traveled to Mississippi with slaves owned by LeNoir. Initially, Baylor lived in a one-room house now known as the Newsom Home. The LeNoir House was completed in 1818. A family cemetery is located in the heart of what is now Morgantown, and a slave cemetery was located nearby.

Following the Civil War other families moved into the area, and by 1910 most members of the LeNoir family relocated elsewhere. In the early 1890s James Austin "Jim" Morgan and his wife, Samantha Dunaway Morgan, moved to the local area, becoming the first Morgans to settle in the community. They established the first store in the local community in 1896. Two years later they donated the timber for the construction of the community's first school.

In 1905 Will Russell was instrumental in the establishment of a local Post Office. He named the Post Office "Claude" after his daughter, Sallie Claude Russell. B.J. Morgan, a son of James Austin Morgan, was appointed to serve as the community's first Postmaster. As a result, the local community became known as the Village of Claude.

The railroad made its way through the community soon after the turn of the 20th Century. By 1914 construction began on a local train depot. When it was nearing completion, railroad officials were discussing a name for the community. Lizzie Dunaway Morgan overheard the discussion and exclaimed, "Hmph! Seems like to me they'd call it Morgantown with all the Morgans living here!" On February 27, 1915 the name of the Post Office and community was changed to Morgantown.

The community has its own church, Morgantown Church Of God, and a local volunteer fire department and water association.

Coordinates: 31°34′34″N 91°21′05″W / 31.57611°N 91.35139°W / 31.57611; -91.35139