Bogue Chitto takes its name from the nearby Bogue Chitto River, the name of which is a Choctaw word, Bok Chito, meaning "big river".[4][5] Originally before Lincoln County was formed, the north part of the community was in Lawrence County and the southern portion in Pike County. There is a plat of the Pike portion filed in the courthouse with the name Atopisaw. The Atopisaw plat also has the name Boguechitto in the notes on the plat. It is likely the community was known as Atopisaw prior to the arrival of the railroad and it is believed that the railroad used the name Bogue Chitto for its depot. It was not uncommon for a depot name to be different from the town name. By 1866 the spelling Bogue Chitto was common for the community instead of Boguechitto.
The population in 1900 was 582. At that time, the settlement had telephone and telegraph services, a school, and several churches. The local economy involved the lumber industry, and a lumber mill and cotton gin were located there.[5]
The settlement is located on the main line of the Illinois Central Railroad, which is owned by the Canadian National Railway. The railroad was originally built by the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad in 1857. The railroad established stations every 10 miles with Bogue Chitto being one of them.[5]
Geography
Bogue Chitto is in southern Lincoln County, west of the Bogue Chitto River and east of Interstate 55, which provides access to the town at Exit 30 (Bogue Chitto Road). I-55 leads north 65 miles (105km) to Jackson, the state capital, and south the same distance to Hammond, Louisiana. U.S. Route 51 runs through the community, just west of the center of town and parallel to I-55. US 51 leads north 10 miles (16km) to Brookhaven, the Lincoln county seat, and south 14 miles (23km) to McComb.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bogue Chitto CDP has an area of 2.2 square miles (5.8km2), all of it recorded as land. The Bogue Chitto River flows south past the community, then southeast into Louisiana, where it joins the Pearl River.
Bogue Chitto CDP, Lincoln County, Mississippi – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 437 people, 110 households, and 80 families residing in the CDP.
Education
Bogue Chitto is part of the Lincoln County School District. The Bogue Chitto School serves area students in grades K-12. The community's first school was the Bogue Chitto Academy located on the southwest corner of Morgan and South Streets in 1897. In 1923 a new school was built at the current location on Monticello Street. The original Art Deco-style building was demolished in 2003 by Jackson Salvage Company.
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