Cooper, Delta County
In 1875 brothers David, Harrison, Madison, and Addison Hobbs left Mississippi and settled here in what was then known as the Big Creek Thicket. A settlement named Hobbs Thicket emerged and in the early 1880s the 2-room Hobbs Thicket Schoolhouse was built. Although travel over the area's muddy roads was difficult, Hobbs Thicket grew and in 1894 local store owner Robert A. Nickolson applied for a post office. The U.S. Postal Service turned down the initial name request of "Hobbs" and substituted "Amy." Nicholson was selected Amy's first postmaster. By 1920 Amy consisted of a post office, doctor's office, telephone switchboard, general store, two churches, barber shop, blacksmith shop, and cotton gin with two large boilers fired by wood and coal. The gin burned down in 1924 and was never rebuilt. The cotton gin's closing precipitated a steady decline in the town. In 1928 the school merged with the nearby Mulberry School System, and in the 1950s Amy's last remaining church and general store closed. For many years after the town of Amy no longer existed a number of its former residents and their relatives continued a tradition established about 1920 of gathering together for homecoming activities.