Causeyville Historic District

Established in 1833, Lauderdale County has always been one of the most prosperous counties in Mississippi. Meridian, the county seat, is located at the intersection of several major railroads and thus served as a transportation hub for early Lauderdale County. Locals in the farming and timber industries sent their products to Meridian to be loaded onto the trains and shipped to other cities. With the exception of Meridian, Lauderdale County is mostly rural, remaining largely as it was at the turn of the 20th century and even earlier. Before automobiles and personal transportation became widespread, many of the early settlers of Lauderdale County grouped into small population clusters that relied nearly entirely on local resources, each community isolated from the others. Some communities like Causeyville had a store, and some had post offices and other infrastructural institutions, but many did not have any of these buildings. ==Contributing properties==

Raynor's store The R.S. Raynor store is the oldest of the four buildings in the district, built around 1860, and it still retains most of its original board and batten siding. The building also retains the original design of the undercut porch, which runs along the southern and eastern sides of the buildings, although it was reconstructed in the latter half of the 20th century. It is rumored that the pine boards used to construct the inner walls of the store were cut at the sawmill that used to exist behind the store. Many maps still use "Increase" for the community. T.J. Bostick's store The T.J. Bostick Store has sold merchandise continuously since it was built in 1895. Over its lifespan it has more than tripled in size, being home a different points throughout its history to a post office, a barbershop, a doctor's office, a drug store, the town hall, a voting precinct, a Ford dealership, a residence, a feed and fertilizer storage area, a theater, and a storage area for merchandise. The post office was moved from Raynor's store when Bostick's was built in 1895, and it remained in Bostick's store until 1929. The building was split into two halves in the 1930s and later recombined in 1983. Though the store originally began as a general store, it has slowly morphed into something akin to a convenient store as culture has evolved to be more automobile-centered. When the Hagwood family bought the store in 1942, their son Leslie remembers people buying an entire month's supply, but by the 1980s, that no longer happened. Hagwood told the Kentucky New Era in 1988 that the store could no longer be defined as a true country store because his main competitors were convenient stores. James E. Smith house The James E. Smith house was built in 1895 in the Queen Anne Cottage style. Smith, the house's original owner was a partner of Bostick's in his store. Smith's son, Grady W. Smith, was the first president of the East Mississippi Electric Power Association (EMEPA) and helped bring electricity to Causeyville through the Rural Electrification Act. Will Bostick, one of T.J.'s sons, rented a room in the house for a few years while managing the lumbermill onsite. J.W. Grantham house When the Bosticks moved to Meridian in about 1905, J.W. Grantham bought the Bostick store as well as this house across the street from the Raynor's store. Grantham continued to operate the store until the 1930s. ==References==