History of Horn Lake

Horn Lake received its name from an ox-bow lake, lying three miles west, which was a former riverbed of the Mississippi River.  The river changed course in the late 18^th century leaving a stranded body of water resembling a cow horn.  It became known as Horn Lake. Old maps indicated the date must have been between 1765 and 1796.             

  In historical times the Chickasaw Indians inhabited the area.  Hernando DeSoto and his party, the first Europeans to encounter the Chickasaws wintered with them at the time of his discovery of the Mississippi River.  The French Explorer, La Salle, solicited their help on his journey down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.  The area passed through successive Spanish and English rule, finally coming under American governance after the Revolutionary War.  In 1832, the Chickasaws relinquished all claims to land east of the Mississippi River by the terms of the Treaty of Pontotoc.       

Settlers moving into the area cleared the wilderness and began cultivating subsistence crops.  Cotton became the major cash crop.  The building of the railroad, the Memphis and Grenada (now the Illinois Central), stimulated growth in the area.  Freight marked “Horn Lake”, intended for the families who lived in the lake region, was dropped off on Goodman Road and delivered by horse and wagon.  Eventually, the freight stop acquired the name “Horn Lake” and a community grew up as residents built stores, cotton gins, a stockyard, black smith shops and gristmills near the tracks.  The first post office was opened December 13, 1853.

Horn Lake is home to several historical sites.  The most outstanding of these are the following two homes, which exist today.  The Walker Home:  This residence of misses Mattie, Mary and Effie Walker, is located three and one-half miles southeast of Horn Lake on Walker Road.

 It was originally a four-room log house, one and one-half stories built by Mr. Shannon, a nephew of Mrs. Jewell Walker.  She and her family came to this county from Franklin, Tennessee in 1844.  Mrs. Jewell Walker, grandmother of the Misses Walker, first lived in a log cabin a few yards from the present house.  Logs and bricks used in building the house were hewn and made on the place.  Among the historic furnishings of the home is an interesting piano purchased when the first carpetbagger government was overthrown in 1875.  On being forced to leave in a hurry, a carpetbagger, living at the site of the Winn D. Brown home, had an auction of his household goods and the mother of the Misses Walker bought the piano.