Webster County, Mississippi

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

County Seat: Walthall
Year Organized: 1874
Square Miles: 423

Court House:

P.O. Box 398
County Courthouse
Walthall, MS 39771-0398

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Webster is named for American statesman Daniel Webster.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Webster County was established April 6, 1874, under the name of Sumner County, and was organized from parts of Chickasaw, Montgomery, Choctaw and Oktibbeha counties, On January 30, 1882, its name was changed to Webster, in honor of the great statesman, Daniel Webster. The present county has a land surface of 416 square miles.

By the act creating the county, the Governor was authorized to appoint and commission five persons to act as a Board of Supervisors, to proceed at once to organize the new county, and was also empowered to appoint the usual county officers. The act further recited that the county site should be determined by a vote of all the people of the new territory, which placed it at Walthall, near the geographical center. Meanwhile courts continued to be held at Greensboro, the old county seat of justice for Choctaw County until 1876. This old town was located in section 8, twp. 19, range 9, east. It once had about 250 inhabitants and some ten business houses. Its courts were attended by such men as J.Z. George, Reuben Davis, E.C. Walthall, Wiley P. Harris and Bob Hudson. Its most prominent citizens in the early days were J.V. Steen, Wiley Marshall, Frank Liddell, T.N. Davis, John Nolen, Capt. J.B. Dunn, Col. Wm. Brantley, and J.J. Campbell. It was a favorite stopping place for legislators en route to Jackson 120 miles away, via the old Natchez Trace. The old town was burned during the war, and the court house in 1871, when the place began to rapidly decay. The old log jail in 1839 or 1840 was the last of Greensboro to disappear.

The county seat is Walthall above mentioned named for Gen. B.C. Walthall.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 423 square miles (1,096 km²), of which, 422 square miles (1,094 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (2 km²) of it (0.20%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Calhoun County (north)
Chickasaw County (northeast)
Clay County (east)
Oktibbeha County (southeast)
Choctaw County (south)
Montgomery County (west)
Grenada County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Eupora	city	Incorporated Area
- Maben	town	Incorporated Area
- Mathiston	town	Incorporated Area
- Walthall (County Seat)	village	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."