[2] In 1879, the Jesse James gang, based in Missouri, raided southwest Mississippi, robbing a store each in Washington and Fayette.

The outlaws absconded with $2,000 cash in the second robbery and took shelter in abandoned cabins on the Kemp Plantation south of St. Joseph, Louisiana.

In 1890, the white Democrat-controlled Mississippi legislature passed a new constitution, which effectively disenfranchised most black people in the state,[4] crippling their integration into society and the Republican Party of the time.

[7] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2), all land.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,445 people, 510 households, and 291 families residing in the city.