Harrison County, Mississippi

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

County Seat: Gulfport
Year Organized: 1841
Square Miles: 581

Court House:

P.O. Box CC
County Courthouse
Gulfport, MS 39502-0860

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Harrison is named for U.S. President William Henry Harrison. William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military leader, politician, the ninth President of the United States, and the first President to die in office. The oldest President elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, Harrison had served 30 days in office, still the shortest tenure in United States presidential history, before his death in April 1841. His death created a brief constitutional crisis, but ultimately resolved many questions about presidential succession left unanswered by the Constitution until passage of the 25th Amendment.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Harrison County was created on February 5, 1841 Hancock, Jackson and Perry Counties, with the following described limits:

"Beginning at the point where the line dividing ranges 13 and 14 strikes the bay of St. Louis, then with said line due north to the northern boundary of township 3, south, thence due east to the center of range 9; thence south to the bay of Biloxi; thence southeast to the point of Caddi; thence westwardly with the seashore and the shore of the bay of St. Louis to the beginning."

The tier of townships in Perry County, which adjoined Harrison on the north, were added to the county January 24, 1844. It took its name in honor of Gen. William Henry Harrison, then President of the United States. Its early history is embodied in that of Hancock and Jackson counties, from which it was principally formed. In 1916 most of the northern half of Harrison County was taken to form the new county of Stone.

Gulfport is the County seat. Biloxi is historically the oldest town in the State and was settled by the French in 1721, being the capital of the Province of Louisiana until 1722, when Bienville, then Governor, decided to move the capital to New Orleans.

The Courthouse had a Record loss in 1916. The county was severely damaged from both Hurricane Camille in August 1969 and Hurricane Katrina on August 28-29, 2005, causing catastrophic effects.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 976 square miles (2,528 km²), of which, 581 square miles (1,505 km²) of it is land and 395 square miles (1,023 km²) of it is water. The total area is 40.48% water.

Neighboring Counties:

Stone County (north)
Jackson County (east)
Hancock County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Biloxi	city	Incorporated Area
- D'Iberville	city	Incorporated Area
- Gulfport (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Long Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Pass Christian	city	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."