Red Bay, in the northwest corner of the state in Franklin County, was originally inhabited by Chickasaw Indians when the area was part of the Mississippi Territory. Settlers made it their home after the Illinois Central Railroad came through the area. Named for its rich red clay and abundance of bay trees, Red Bay was officially incorporated on July 17, 1907. In 1908 the first banking institution was established and businesses opened to serve the farming and lumber community at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Citizens worshipped in a brush arbor that became the site of the first school. Oak trees planted by the Garden Club in 1937 created the Main Street “tunnel of trees.” Historic preservation and progressive leadership have reflected the town’s spirit, and many descendants of its founding families still live there alongside several home-grown industries, including two Fortune 500 companies. The Red Bay Museum, Arts and Entertainment Center, Bay Tree Council for the Performing Arts, Cypress Cove Farm, and the town’s school, hospital, churches, library, newspaper, radio and television, civic organizations, and golf course connect past and present. Bear Creek Lakes are popular recreational areas near land once inhabited by Native Americans, while Freedom Hills rises to the north. In 2007 Red Bay began its centennial celebration with an official proclamation during High Noon in the Park, followed by mini-celebrations, Founders Fest, and the Big Picnic 100th Birthday Party, and a time capsule placed in Bay Tree Park with artifacts from that commemorative year is to be exhumed in 2058.