Established in 1834, Enterprise
was once the most prominent community in Clarke County, serving
as the county seat and enjoying fame as a progressive place
in the antebellum period. A middle class neighborhood of
single-family homes was developed in East Enterprise between
1855 and 1935 with the greatest building activity occurring
in 1855. Another building spree took place from 1895 to 1910.
These two distinct phases of construction reflect the time
when the Mobile & Ohio Railroad was built through the
area and when Clarke County’s lumber industry began
to develop. Enterprise’s population remained fairly
steady during the postbellum period up to about 1912, but
eventually declined. Many of the resources dating from Enterprise’s
period of significance have been lost due to natural disasters,
Civil War, demolition, and neglect. Others have been drastically
altered over the years, thus losing their original integrity.
This great loss increases the significance of the existing
residential resources, which illustrate the progress and
prosperity brought to the town and Clarke County at large
by railroads and industry. The most intact and architecturally
significant cluster of these resources is found in the East
Enterprise Historic District.
Historical places to visit in Enterprise, MS:
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • Second
house on County Road 367 on east side of
Highway 11.
This house is said to have served as the Federal Headquarters during the occupation
of Enterprise, and its historical significance derives from this association.
Riverside is architecturally significant as one of two, two-story Greek Revival
plantation houses in Clarke County.
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Lovely old cemetery with more than 400 soldiers
buried here. Some monuments date to the 1700's.
Yellow-fever section. Originally established
and cared for by Oddfellows. Overseen by Enterprise
Woman’s Club since 1930.
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Circa 1890 • Queen Ann • 107
North River Road.
Locally important example of rectilinear mode of Queen Anne style. The house
retains a high degree of architectural integrity. Judged within the local
context of Clarke County, it is important both for its architecture and as
a symbol of the development patterns that occurred in West Enterprise because
of the construction of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad in the 1880's.
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Circa 1820 & 1860 • Greek
Revival • River Road.
The site is said to have been the location of the Catholic Mission to the Choctaws.
The rear gabled section with shed roof, constructed in 1820, originally had a
log ell on its northeastern end that was supposedly a part of the Choctaw Mission.
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Circa 1925 • Bungalow/Craftsman.
One of the most significant examples of the bungalow in Clarke County and thus
a locally important work of early twentieth century residential design. On
west side of N. River Road and second building from the northwest corner
of State Highway 513 and N. River Road.
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Circa 1856 Greek Revival vernacular • River
Road.
Local legend says this was the Choctaw village site. The street on which this
house lies was originally lined with Indian wigwams. |
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| Methodist
Parsonage House |
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Circa 1856 • Greek Revival • Olliphant
Street.
This house is still known as the Parsonage House. The first Methodist Church
was on a lot behind this house. The lot for the church was donated by Charles
E. Mayeroff around 1830. Historical significance comes from its long association
with Enterprise Methodist Church. |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • River
Road.
This home is said to have served as a hospital during the Civil War. It
is one of the most architecturally significant of the antebellum houses
of the county because it is a well-proportioned moderated-sized Greek Revival
country residence. |
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Circa 1820-1830 • Greek Revival • River
Road.
Cottage-style antebellum home. Said to have housed doctors and nurses
working in the hospital in the Hunter-Frost House during the Civil
War. |
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| Judge
John L. Buckley House |
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Circa 1920 • Bungalow/Craftsman • Bridge
Street (Highway 513).
One of the most sophisticated articulations of the bungalow in Clarke
County, thus a locally important work of early twentieth century
residential design. It illustrates how the people of Clarke County
preserved traditional architectural elements, incorporationg them
into modern residential design. |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • River
Road.
This house served as headquarters for Confederate officers in the area
during the Civil War. In addition, the house was acquired around the turn
of the century by Laura Stephenson, a prominent citizen of the community
and compiler of Clarke County’s Works Projects Administration source
material. It has been owned by her family for almost 80 years. |
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Circa 1895 • Queen Anne III • Main
Street.
One of the best examples of Spindle-work mode of Queen Anne style architecture
in Clarke County. The interior features 14-foot ceilings and beaded board
wainscoting. In the central hall is a spindled frieze. |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • Highway
11.
The Brown-Wilson House is architecturally significant in its application of Greek
Revival details to the classically inspired form of the structure. One of four
antebellum houses in the county of the pyramidal roof with inset gallery type. |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • Second
building from southwest corner of South Stonewall
and Bridge Streets.
Dr. Paul Lee built this house and was living here when the Civil
War began. According to local tradition, a covered walkway connected
Lee’s house to the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Lee cared for the
wounded soldiers at the church. The Lee family sold the house to
Charles G. Swan, who came to Enterprise with the Brookpark Lumber
Company between 1900 and 1906. |
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Circa 1900 to 1906 • Queen Anne/Free
Classical Mode • Third building from
southwest corner of
South Stonewall and Bridge Streets.
The Swan-Mitts house was constructed on the site
of the E.B. Gaston Homestead that may have dated
from the late 1700’s. L.J. and Olive Swan
came to Enterprise from Minnesota with the Brookpark
Lumber Company and built
this house sometime between 1900 and 1906. Shortly thereafter, the Swans
moved back North. George and Jane Mason and their children, who were
another Minnesota family associated with Brookpark,
had moved into the house by
1908. Corrine “Dutch” Mason grew up in this house, and by
1919, she and her husband F.W. Mitts, Sr., had purchased the property.
F.W. Mitts,
Sr., was a prominent business and community leader. “Dutch” Mitts
was a businesswoman and civic and political leader in Clarke County.
Other structures associated with Swan-Mitts House
include:
The Taylor Smith Cabin (circa 1920), built by and was the residence of an African-American
named Taylor Smith who was the butler of F.W. and Corrine “Dutch” Mitts;
a smokehouse (circa 1855), which is a single-pen log building; a carriage house
(circa 1855); and a barn (circa 1855). |
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Circa 1898 • Greek Revival • East
Enterprise Historic District.
A two-story antebellum home originally built by the Pauley family from Minnesota.
Some distinguishing features include double parlors with French doors and transoms. |
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| Smith-McLain-Buckley
House |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • Stonewall
Street.
W.S. Smith built this house around a log cabin prior to the Civil War. The historical
significance of this house is attributed to its association with its past owner,
Colonel Robert McLain, for whom the Civil War’s Camp McLain at Enterprise
was named. The house is also known as “Twin Gables.” |
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Circa 1850 & 1877 • Greek Revival
• Second building from the northeast
corner of Church
and South Stonewall Streets, East Enterprise
Historic District.
As originally constructed by William Johnson, the house was a one-story, Greek
Revival cottage with a central hall plan. The house passed through many owners
until 1887 when it was purchased by R.M. Buckley, a prominent Enterprise merchant
and cotton buyer. At that time, the house was a two-story structure with a two-tier,
front gallery. In 1899, a front wing with a large birthing room was added. The
wing was later removed. |
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| McCrory-Deas-Buckley
House |
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Circa 1855 • Greek Revival • Southwest
corner of Bridge and St. John Street, East Enterprise
Historic District.
Also known as “Twistwood,” the house has been in the Deas family
since 1876. |
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| St.
Mary’s Episcopal Church |
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1874 • Gothic Revival • Approximately
500 feet north of St. John and Bridge Street
and intersection,
east side of St. John Street, East Enterprise
Historic District.
Located in the woods on St. John Street, St. Mary’s is a chaste gable-oriented,
frame building with Gothic arched, stained glass windows. The one-story,
three-by-four bay church, rests on high brick piers. Both a water table
and a plain frieze encircle the church. The interior of the church was
completed circa 1855 and features wainscoting of vertical beaded board
and walls of horizontal beaded board. |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival • Highway
514.
Pilgrim’s Rest is architecturally significant in its application
of Greek Revival details to the classically inspired form of the structure
although the roofline has been altered and the rafters exposed. |
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Circa 1850 • Greek Revival
• Highway 514.
The Compton-Short House’s historical significance is attributed to its
Civil War associations. It is architecturally significant as one of two “costal
cottage” type houses in the country. During the Civil War, the small room
at the northwest end of the house was used as a stockade when fighting erupted
between two Confederate regiments of General O’Farrell’s brigade
camped near Enterprise. The only entrance to this room is from the front gallery.
The house is now named “September Song” by the present owner, Sue
Horton. |
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| Enterprise
Community House |
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Circa 1935 • National
Park Service Rustic Architecture • Southeast
corner of Bridge and St. John Streets, Enterprise
Historic District
One story, three-by-two bay building of log construction. |
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Circa 1896 • Queen Anne/spindlework
mode • Second building from southeast corner
of Bridge and St. John Streets,
East Enterprise Historic District.
Elaborate form of the Queen Anne cottage. Designed by Fred Bushman of Meridian
for Helen Wahrendoff. |
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