In the year 1848, John J. McRae, later to be Governor, came to the county as agent for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The company wantd to build a railroad line somewhere west of the Tombigbee River. The citizens of Chickasaw County subscribed and paid by taxation for assistance in building the railroad. The tracks were completed to Okolona and beyond in 1859. The railroad quickly became the driving factor in commerce. The economy of the community rested largely on ginning cotton and moving the ginned cotton off to market.

Early commercial development occurred on the Main Street axis perpendicular to the railroad; however, all commercial buildings from this period, and the original depot, were burned during the Civil War.