West Point City Hall is located at 204 Commerce Street, West Point, MS 39773.
Phone: 662‑494‑2573.
Beginnings [1]
West Point had its beginning in 1857 when the Mobile & Ohio Railroad laid tracks through northeast Mississippi. At that time there was no settlement on the present site of West Point, but it did not take long for businesses to spring up around the depot which the railroad constructed to serve surrounding agricultural communities. Growth was rapid. Incorporation for the town came during the following year, and, according to local tradition, the name West Point was chosen since it was then located in the "western-most point" of Lowndes County.
Almost immediately West Point became a chief cotton shipping center for area plantations. More than 22,500 bales were shipped in 1859, and claims were made that the amount was greater than that shipped from any other M & O station. This flourishing trade continued until military action during the Civil War virtually brought commercial activity to a standstill.
After the war the process of rebuilding brought growth and a resumption of commerce back to West Point. During the Reconstruction Era in 1872, land was taken from Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Chickasaw, and Monroe Counties to form a new county Colfax County named for the Indiana Republican senator, Schuyler Colfax. West Point was chosen as the seat for Colfax County, adding political importance to the town's commercial significance. In 1876, following the collapse of the state's "Carpetbagger" government, citizens of the new county voted to change its name to honor a southern statesman, Henry Clay.