Panola County, Mississippi

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

County Seat: Batesville
Year Organized: 1836
Square Miles: 684

Court House:

151 Public Square
County Courthouse
Batesville, MS 38606-2220

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Panola is a Native American word meaning cotton.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Panola County was established February 9, 1836, and is one of the twelve large northern counties created in that year out of the Chickasaw cession of 1832. The original act defined its limits as follows:

“Beginning at the point where the line between ranges 9 and 10 strikes the center of section 6, and running thence south with the said range line, and from its termination in a direct line to the northern boundary of Tallahatchie County, and thence along the northern boundary of Tallahatchie and Yalobusha counties, to the center of range 5 west; thence north through the center of range 5 west, according to the sectional lines, to the center of township six; thence west through the center of township six, according to the sectional lines, to the beginning.”

February 1, 1877, when Quitman County was created, Panola surrendered a small fraction of its southwestern area to assist in forming that county. The name Panola is an Indian name signifying cotton, and the fertile sunny valleys of the county have enabled the region to live up to its name.

Two of the oldest settlements in the county were at Belmont and Panola, a few miles apart, and on opposite sides of the Tallahatchie River. For several years there was a spirited contest between these two towns over the location of the courthouse of Panola County. With the advent of the Mississippi and Tennessee (now the Illinois Central railroad) Belmont was absorbed by Sardis, and Panola was absorbed by Batesville. One result of the above contest is found in the two judicial districts of the county, Sardis being the seat of justice for the first judicial district, and Batesville for the second judicial district into which the county is divided.

The county suffered some record loss in 1886.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 705 square miles (1,826 km²), of which, 684 square miles (1,772 km²) of it is land and 21 square miles (54 km²) of it (2.97%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Tate County (north)
Lafayette County (east)
Yalobusha County (southeast)
Tallahatchie County (southwest)
Quitman County (west)
Tunica County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Batesville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Como	town	Incorporated Area
- Courtland	town	Incorporated Area
- Crenshaw	town	Incorporated Area
- Pope	village	Incorporated Area
- Sardis	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

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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