Ackerman, MS

Ackerman arrived with the railroad. The town was chartered in 1884 when the Canton, Aberdeen and Nashville line reached the area, and it took its name from William K. Ackerman, the railroad’s president. By 1896, Ackerman had become the seat of Choctaw County, a role it still carries along Mississippi Highway 15. The town is near the headwaters of the Yockanookany River, with Highway 12 linking the area toward Starkville and Kosciusko. That mix of rail history, county offices, and river country gives Ackerman its shape. It is the kind of place where the map makes sense once you know which railroad arrived first.