Bogue Chitto takes its name from the nearby
Bogue Chitto River, the name of which is a
Choctaw word,
Bok Chito, meaning "big river". 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. 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. == Geography ==