Yazoo City, MS (YAZ)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$287,333

Station Ridership

FY 2011

3,626

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

Yazoo City is a flag stop along the route of the City of New Orleans. If there is a reservation for a passenger boarding or detraining here, the train will stop. If not, it simply continues through. The facility is an unstaffed shelter on the platform.

Yazoo City was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle. “Yazoo” is said to be a Native American word meaning “River of Death.” In Yazoo City, rolling hills meet fertile delta flatlands. Yazoo City was founded in 1824 and was originally named Hannan’s Bluff. It was later renamed Manchester, then Yazoo City in 1839. In 1849, Yazoo City became the Yazoo County seat.

During the Civil War, a makeshift shipyard was established on the Yazoo River in Yazoo City after the Confederate loss in New Orleans. The shipyard was destroyed by Union forces in 1863, and shortly after the city fell back into Confederate hands. In 1864, Union forces took Yazoo City and burned the majority of the buildings.

A fire ravaged the city in 1904 when a boy set a house ablaze while playing with matches. Local lore blames the fire on the “Witch of Yazoo,” who was avenging her death. Three fourths of the city was destroyed, but the courthouse and ten antebellum homes were spared.

A train collision that killed Illinois Central Railroad engineer Casey Jones took place in Yazoo County near Vaughan on April 30, 1900. Jones died while trying to stop his passenger train from colliding with a stopped freight train. He was the only fatality of the collision. His heroic effort made him a folk hero, and he is immortalized in a well known ballad by his friend Wallace Saunders.

Yazoo City is mentioned in a wide array of movies. Parts of the Coen Brothers’ film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? were filmed in Yazoo City. The city is referenced in the 1986 movie, Crossroads, and was the setting of the book and film, My Dog Skip. Miss Firecracker, starring Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins, was filmed on location in Yazoo City in the 1980s.

Attractions in Yazoo City include the Oakes African American Cultural Center, the Triangle Cultural Center, Glenwood Cemetery, the B.S. Ricks Memorial Library, and the Confederate Memorial Monument.

Comedian Jerry Clower spent much of his life in Yazoo City. Other notable residents include actress Stella Stevens, authors Willie Morris and Zig Ziglar, and blues singers Gatemouth Moore and Jack Owens.

Amtrak provides neither ticketing nor baggage services at this facility.

Yazoo City is served by two daily trains.