Ellisville, Mississippi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ellisville, Mississippi
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Jones County courthouse in Ellisville
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Location of Ellisville in Mississippi
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 Ellisville, Mississippi
Location in the United States
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| List of countries | United States | |
| State | Mississippi | |
| County | Jones | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | City | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 10.55 sq mi (27.32 km2) | |
| • Land | 10.44 sq mi (27.04 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.11 sq mi (0.28 km2) | |
| Elevation | 253 ft (77 m) | |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 4,652 | |
| • Density | 445.59/sq mi (172.05/km2) | |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) | |
| ZIP code |
39437
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| Area code(s) | 601, 769 | |
| FIPS code | 28-22020 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 0669746 | |
Ellisville is a town in and the first county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 4,448 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,465 at the 2000 census. The Jones County Courthouse is located here, as is much of the county government.
The state legislature authorized a second county seat at Laurel, to the northeast, which developed as the center of lumber and textile mills, with a much larger population. Ellisville is part of the Laurel micropolitan statistical area.
History
The city is named for Powhatan Ellis, a former U.S. Senator for Mississippi who identified as a descendant of Pocahontas and her father, Chief Powhatan in Virginia. Ellisville was designated as the county seat, and it became the major commercial and population center of Jones County through the early decades of development in the nineteenth century.
During the American Civil War, Ellisville and Jones County were a center of pro-Union resistance. The county had mostly yeomen farmers and cattle herders, who were not slaveholders. Slaves constituted only 12% of the county's population in 1860, as conditions generally did not support cultivation of large cotton plantations. It had the lowest proportion of slaves of any county in the state in 1860. Many local men resented going to war to support slaveholders, and worried about the survival of their families, where women and children worked to keep subsistence farms going. They resented Confederate tax collectors who took the goods and stores their families needed to live.
Confederate deserters and refugee slaves formed a resistance group known as the Knight Company, led by Newton Knight (self-appointed captain), First Lieutenant Jasper Collins, and Second Lieutenant William Wesley Sumrall. They were known to take refuge in a swamp along the Leaf River. Along with as many as 100 other southern men, they fought several skirmishes with tax men and other Confederate units eventually sent to crush the resistance. In 1864 they took control in Ellisville, raising the United States flag over the courthouse in place of the Confederate flag.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ellisville lost primacy to nearby Laurel, Mississippi, which became a center of the timber industry and cotton textile mills. Its population in the mid-20th century was nearly six times that of Ellisville. Laurel has attracted other industries and is the center of a Micropolitan Statistical area. The Jones County Sheriff's Department is based in Laurel. But the county government is still based in Ellisville, at the Jones County Courthouse.
Ellisville reflects the demographics of the county, and is majority white. Laurel is majority African American in population, reflecting the migration of agricultural workers to the city for industrial and urban jobs.
Geography
Ellisville is located at 31°36′4″N 89°12′8″W / 31.60111°N 89.20222°W (31.601068, −89.202123). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.6 square miles (15 km2), of which 5.5 square miles (14 km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) (1.61%) is water.
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
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| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 37 | — | |
| 1890 | 967 | 2,513.5% | |
| 1900 | 1,899 | 96.4% | |
| 1910 | 2,446 | 28.8% | |
| 1920 | 1,681 | −31.3% | |
| 1930 | 2,127 | 26.5% | |
| 1940 | 2,607 | 22.6% | |
| 1950 | 3,579 | 37.3% | |
| 1960 | 4,592 | 28.3% | |
| 1970 | 4,643 | 1.1% | |
| 1980 | 4,652 | 0.2% | |
| 1990 | 3,634 | −21.9% | |
| 2000 | 3,465 | −4.7% | |
| 2010 | 4,448 | 28.4% | |
| 2020 | 4,652 | 4.6% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
|---|---|---|
| White (non-Hispanic) | 2,502 | 53.78% |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 1,722 | 37.02% |
| Native American | 12 | 0.26% |
| Asian | 24 | 0.52% |
| Pacific Islander | 2 | 0.04% |
| Other/Mixed | 92 | 1.98% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 298 | 6.41% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,652 people, 1,264 households, and 810 families residing in the city.
Education
Ellisville is served by the Jones County School District and is also home to Jones County Junior College.
Notable people
- Lance Bass, pop singer and member of 'N Sync, raised in Ellisville, Mississippi.
- Harry Craft, MLB player and manager, first manager of the Houston Colt .45s and minor league manager of Mickey Mantle
- Les DeVall, former head coach for McNeese State Cowboys football team
- Redd Foxx, actor, comedian. Raised by his grandmother during formative years.
- Henry McCall, former Negro league first baseman
- Chris McDaniel, State Senator, attorney and host of the nationally syndicated The Right Side Radio Show
- Buddy Myer, two-time All-Star second baseman for the MLB Washington Senators in the 1930s, batting and stolen base titles
- Arnett Nelson, jazz musician
- Scottie Phillips, former National Football League running back
- Jeremiah Price, professional football player in the National Arena League
- Donnie Scoggin, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
- Bobby Shows, former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
- Jason Simpson, head coach of the UT Martin Skyhawks football team
- L. C. Ulmer, delta blues musician
See also
In Spanish: Ellisville (Misisipi) para niños
