Basic, Mississippi

Basic is an unincorporated community in Clarke County, Mississippi, United States.^[1]

Basic, Mississippi
Unincorporated community
Basic Show map of Mississippi Basic Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 32°13′07″N 88°46′09″W
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Clarke
Elevation	269 ft (82 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area codes	601 & 769
GNIS feature ID	666554

History

Basic is located on the former Mobile and Ohio Railroad and was once home to two sawmills and two general stores.^[2]

A post office called Basic was established in 1900, and remained in operation until 1945.^[3] A variant name was "Basic City".^[1] The origin of the name "Basic" is obscure.^[4]

In South and West: From a Notebook, Joan Didion notes that when she visited the town in the 1970s, it was "not on the map."^[5]

A member of the Tallahatta Formation known as Basic City Shale is named for Basic.^[6]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Basic
2. Howe, Tony. "Basic, Mississippi". Mississippi Rails. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
3. "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
4. Moyer, Armond; Moyer, Winifred (1958). The origins of unusual place-names. Keystone Pub. Associates. p. 141.
5. Didion, Joan (2017). South and West: From a Notebook. London, U.K.: 4th Estate. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-00-825717-0. Basic City, Mississippi, a town not on the map.
6. Merrill, Robert K.; Sims, James J.; Gann, Delbert E.; Liles, Kenneth J. (1985). "Newton County geology and mineral resources" (PDF). Mississippi Bureau of Geology Bulletin. 126: 25. Retrieved May 21, 2020.