City and state officials celebrated McComb’s 150th birthday on Tuesday.
The city was chartered April 5, 1872 and named after its founder, Col. Henry Simpson McComb, president of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad.
Before Tuesday’s city board work session at city hall, officials celebrated with cake and ice cream, and state lawmakers read proclamations that the state House and Senate passed marking the occasion. Reps. Sam Mims, R-McComb, and Daryl Porter, D-Summit, sponsored the House proclamation, and Sen. Kelvin Butler, D-McComb, sponsored the Senate’s.
Sesquicentennial committee chair Vickie Webb read the House proclamation, and committee member Mac Gordon read the Senate proclamation. Both reflected on the city’s history, beginning with Col. McComb needing the land for expansion of his railroad company.
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley reflected on the history at the celebration.
“I just want to acknowledge as mayor of the City of McComb that it’s a privilege to stand before the citizens and to let them know that we’re glad to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the City of McComb, often referred to as the sesquicentennial,” he said.
“In 1872, the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad wanted to extend service south of Summit, where Col. Henry Simpson McComb, serving as the president of the Illinois Central Railroad, incorporated a city three miles south of Summit.”
Lockley said McComb wanted to name the city Elizabethtown in honor of his wife. However, at the suggestion of his friends, the city was named after him.
Throughout the past 150 years, Lockley said generations have come to McComb from New Orleans, Memphis and Chicago to build and work at the railroad.
He said there have been factory workers, business people, artists, educators, health care providers and innovators who have helped shape the community.
Gordon gave some of his thoughts about McComb after reading the Senate proclamation.
“McComb has got to realize how many people from the arts, athletics and other fields that this place has produced,” he said. “I just don’t believe that hardly any city in America has produced what the people who have come from McComb have.”
Gordon talked about when The Beatles came to America in 1964 and John Lennon mentioned McComb native Bo Diddley.
“When The Beatles came to America for the first time and got off the airplane in New York City, almost immediately, some reporter asked John Lennon what he wanted to see in America, what he wanted to do in America,” Gordon said. “The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘I want to meet Bo Diddley.’ Does that say everything about McComb right then and there? That tells you immediately about this place about what has happened here and who is produced here.”
Lockley commended Webb for all she has done chairing the sesquicentennial committee, noting the celebration will continue for the entire calendar year.
“I do want to commend Ms. Vickie Webb and Mr. Mac Gordon for obtaining those two proclamations from the House and Senate,” Lockley said.
Webb brought a gift the sesquicentennial committee was working on to the work session.
“I brought you some azaleas as a gift from our committee hoping you will plant them maybe on either side of city hall,” she said.
Webb said 55 McComb banners have been put up around town for the celebration. She said another 20 will likely be put up in the near future.
“It’s going to look good,” she said. “Hopefully, this is just the start of good things to come.”
