Pearl River County, Mississippi

Pearl River County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Poplarville
Year Organized: 1890
Square Miles: 812

Court House:

P.O. Box 569
County Courthouse
Poplarville, MS 39470-0569

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Pearl River County is named for Pearl River, which early on was the site of French-run pearl fisheries.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Pearl River County was created on February 22, 1890 from Hancock and Marion Counties. The County seat is Poplarville and was named for the Pearl River which forms its western boundary and separates it from Louisiana.

In 1904, some of its northern territory was detached and transferred to the new county of Lamar, while in 1908 it received an accession from Hancock County. The result of these changes was to leave Pearl River County with an area of 797 square miles.

On September 2, 2005, the 1st Battalion, 134th Field Artillery (Ohio Army National Guard) arrived at the National Guard armory in Poplarville to assist the community and Pearl River County in recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Initial efforts were the security of banks, pharmacies and gas stations as well as initial responses to rural emergencies. The unit stayed for three weeks ultimately checking on every family and structure in the county.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 819 square miles (2,121 km²), of which, 811 square miles (2,101 km²) of it is land and 8 square miles (20 km²) of it (0.93%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Lamar County (north)
Forrest County (northeast)
Stone County (east)
Hancock County (south)
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (southwest)
Washington Parish, Louisiana (west)
Marion County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Picayune	city	Incorporated Area
- Poplarville (County Seat)	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."