Wilbanks wants City to prepare for its bicentennial
By Randy Bell
Clinton will mark its bicentennial in 2028, and Ward 4 Alderman Chip Wilbanks says it’s not too soon to start making plans. He’s hoping the City will include funding for the celebration in its next two budgets.
“I don’t know what kind of money we’re talking about to do those things,” Wilbanks says. “Maybe we just incorporate a lot of the things we already do. But I think [we should] add some things.”
Clinton received its charter as a city in 1828.
“I think we ought to have a big celebration,” Wilbanks says. “I think we could call attention to the great things about our city. There’s a million of them. We appreciate the people who came before us, all that we’ve built to propel us to the future.” He calls the bicentennial “an opportunity we won’t want to miss.”
During a budget meeting at Brighton Park August 19, Wilbanks told Mayor Will Purdie, City Clerk Jimmy Baldree and fellow members of the Board of Aldermen that he’d like to see money included in the FY27 and FY28 budgets to help get the celebration organized.
“It kind of stunned me that it was this soon,” said Wilbanks. “2028 sounds like a long time away, but it’s a year and a half or less. So, we’ve got to budget some things and spend some time planning. I think it could be a fun year.”
The City’s website provides a brief summary of Clinton’s early history:
“Originally known as Mount Salus, the City of Clinton was settled in 1805 at the junction of the Natchez Trace and Old Vicksburg Road. By 1823, the area had become home to many settlers when Mississippi Governor Walter Leake purchased land in the area to build his home.
When the governor’s home was completed, it was christened Mount Salus, meaning ‘mountain of health,’ since it was built near a large, flowing spring. Soon after Governor Leake took residence, the surrounding community adopted the name of his manor home. The Mount Salus community became well-known to travelers along the Natchez Trace for its many healthful and refreshing springs.
In 1828, Mount Salus was under consideration to be the capital of the newly-formed state of Mississippi. Town planners felt that the name of the proposed capital should be more prestigious; thus, the City of Clinton was born (named for former New York Governor DeWitt Clinton.)
Unexpectedly, Clinton was defeated in its bid to become the capital. During the 1830s, however, Clinton experienced a building boom, which qualified it as the third-largest city in Mississippi, surpassed only by the (Mississippi River) port cities of Natchez and Vicksburg.”
According to the 2020 Census, Clinton’s population was 28,100. The website Biggest U-S Cities says, based on those numbers, it was ranked as Mississippi’s tenth-largest city.
