Odd's Creek

Lake Creek is on Lake Creek at the intersection of Farm Roads 198 and 1335, six miles northeast of Cooper in north central Delta County. The area, originally part of the George W. Cox survey, was settled as early as March 1848, when the original post office opened under the name Odd's Creek with John Wood as postmaster. The facility closed after six months. After the Civil War more settlers arrived to farm the rich land along the creek. These included John W. and Sarah Ann Wilson, who arrived late in the 1860s. Wilson was a Methodist circuit rider and cotton farmer, who soon built one of the first gins in Delta County. In 1873 Thomas Wilson Stegall, a Baptist minister and Confederate veteran, constructed a blacksmith shop, around which the community developed. The post office was reopened under the name Lake Creek in 1885, and by 1888 the mail was delivered daily. That year postmaster W. C. Yeager reported his dry goods and grocery store, a general store, one blacksmith shop, a corn mill and gin, a hardware store, a jeweler, and two grocers. W. H. Rase was justice of the peace, and W. B. Chambers was constable. The town had a population of 200, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and First Christian churches, and two doctors. L. M. Miller was principal of the local school, Evergreen Academy.

In 1890 the population had decreased to 100, and many businesses had closed. Postmaster William H. Sandridge, who owned a candy store and a blacksmith shop, delivered the mail three times a week. Other businesses included a gristmill and a grocery and dry goods store. S. T. Johnson served as justice of the peace. Cotton remained the most lucrative crop, and the town supported two large gins. Farmers who had embraced the Populist movement (see PEOPLE'S PARTY) formed a cooperative that opened the Lake Creek Cooperative Association General Store.