Clarke County, Mississippi

Clarke County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Quitman
Year Organized: 1812
Square Miles: 691

Court House:

P.O. Box 616
County Courthouse
Quitman, MS 39355-0616

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Clarke is named for first Mississippi state chancellor and judge Joshua G. Clarke.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Clarke County was established December 23, 1833 and was created from the Choctaw Cession of 1830. It was named in honor of Judge Joshua G. Clarke, the first Chancellor of the State. Its southern line which divides it from Wayne County marks the old Choctaw boundary.
The original act defined its limits as follows:

"Beginning on the State line of Alabama, at the point at which the line between townships four and five strikes said State line, and running thence west with said line between townships four and five, to the line between ranges thirteen and fourteen east; thence south, with said line between ranges thirteen and fourteen east to the southern boundary line of the Choctaw nation, thence east with said boundary line to the northwest corner of the Higoowanne reserve; thence to the northeast corner of the same; thence east along said boundary line to the point at which the southern boundary of township number one strikes the same; thence directly east to the State of Alabama, and thence north with said State line to the place of beginning."

The following is a list of the first officers of the county: David B. Thompson, Sheriff; George Evans, Treasurer; Henry Hailes, Probate Judge; William Covington, Clerk of the Circuit and Probate Courts; Norman Martin, Samuel K. Lewis, George Knight, Stephen Grice, Calvin M. Ludlow, members of the Board of Police.

The county seat is Quitman, located at the center of the county on the line of the Mobile & Ohio railway. The site was owned and laid off into lots by Gen. John Watts, afterwards Circuit Judge. It was named for Gen. John A. Quitman, second Chancellor of the State, afterwards governor and a prominent officer in the Mexican war. Two more of the important towns in the county are Stonewall and Enterprise, in the northern part of the county on the line of the Mobile & Ohio, containing 1,000 inhabitants. The Chickasawhay River flows through the center of the county, and, with its numerous tributaries, provides ample water facilities. All the waters of the county flow southward, and join the Pascagoula River in Greene County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 693 square miles (1,796 km²), of which, 691 square miles (1,790 km²) of it is land and 2 square miles (6 km²) of it (0.31%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Lauderdale County (north)
Choctaw County, Alabama (east)
Wayne County (south)
Jasper County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Enterprise	town	Incorporated Area
- Pachuta	town	Incorporated Area
- Quitman (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Shubuta	town	Incorporated Area
- Stonewall	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."