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Named for Wiggins Hatten, the father of Madison Hatten, one of the town’s original homesteaders, the city of Wiggins is the county seat of Stone County, Mississippi. Prior to that time, the community was known as Niles City, in honor of Judge H.C. Niles. In 1896, when a post office was about to be established there, the postal authorities refused to name the post office Niles City, as there was a town by that name in Michigan, so another name was chosen. The city was incorporated in 1904 and, in January of 1910, more than half of the town’s business district was destroyed by fire, which was confined to the east side of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad tracks. More than forty businesses, including the railroad depot, were destroyed, although only a few homes were burned. After the fire, and until the 1960s, the city’s center of commerce developed on both sides of Pine Avenue, sloping downward and eastward. Small shops built during that period were mostly made of brick, and connected to one another. In the late 1960s, US Route 49 bypassed the city’s downtown area, and several businesses moved from the historic Pine Hill area to other locations within the town. Pickle production was an important industry to Wiggins for several years, although its pickle processing facility is now closed. Its timber industry has declined considerably in recent years, but continues to be an important part of the city’s economy. The city is surrounded on all sides but the east by portions of the DeSoto National Forest. Adjacent communities include Bond, Perkinson, and Whites Crossing. Other nearby communities include Barbara, Batt Place, Big Level, Cames, Deep Creek, Fruitland Park, Maxie, McHenry, Pistol Ridge, Ramsey Springs, Silver Run, Texas, and Young. Lumberton, Mississippi is about twenty-five miles northwest of Wiggins.

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