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Mississippi State...
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Mississippi Counties
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Mississippi Counties
There are 82 counties in Mississippi. |
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Clay County, Mississippi
Clay County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: West Point
Year Organized: 1872
Square Miles: 409 |
Court House: P.O. Box 815
County Courthouse
West Point, MS 39773-0815
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
Clay is named for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Henry Clay. Henry Clay, Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June
29, 1852) was a nineteenth-century American statesman and orator who represented Kentucky in both the House of
Representatives and Senate.
He was a dominant figure in both the First Party System to 1824, and the Second Party System after that. Known as
"The Great Compromiser" and "The Great Pacifier" for his ability to bring others to agreement, he was the founder
and leader of the Whig Party and a leading advocate of programs for modernizing the economy, especially tariffs to
protect industry, a national bank, and internal improvements to promote canals, ports and railroads.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Clay County was erected May 12, 1871, during the administration of Governor Alcorn, and marks the southern boundary
line of the old Chickasaw Indian territory. It was originally organized from parts of Chickasaw, Lowndes, Monroe and
Oktibbeha Counties, and named Colfax after Schuyler Colfax, a Republican. In 1876, after the Democrats came into power
and had thrown off carpetbag rule, the name was changed to Clay in honor of the great Kentuckian.
Its county seat is West Point, located at the junction of three lines of railway—the Illinois Central, the Southern,
and the Mobile and Ohio. Within easy distance of the Alabama coal fields and possessed of excellent railroad
facilities.. There are no other large towns in the county, though there are a number of thriving small ones, among
which may be mentioned Cedar Bluff, Pheba, Montpelier, Abbott, Griffith and Siloam. The Tombigbee River washes a
part of its eastern border and the Tibbee, Line Houlka, Sun, Chewah and Chuquatonchee creeks, tributaries of the
Tombigbee, afford it ample water. The three lines of railway above mentioned give the county excellent shipping
facilities and many northern settlers are now coming into this region.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 416 square miles (1,077 kmē), of which, 409
square miles (1,058 kmē) of it is land and 7 square miles (19 kmē) of it (1.79%) is water.
Neighboring Counties:
- Chickasaw County (north)
- Monroe County (northeast)
- Lowndes County (southeast)
- Oktibbeha County (south)
- Webster County (west)
Cities and Towns:
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- West Point
(County
Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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Online High Schools
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our 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." |
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