Mississippi County, Missouri

History

Mississippi County is located in what was formerly known as "Tywappity Bottom," a vast floodplain area bordered by the Scott County Hills on the north, St. James Bayou on the south, the Mississippi River on the east and Little River on the west.

In 1540, the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto penetrated to the Arkansas River and perhaps well into southeastern Missouri, which was populated by various Native American tribes. Under the pressure of a constantly advancing white settlement, the Native Americans gradually retreated westward to survive. The area of southeastern Missouri was noted for its level swampy lowlands, subject to the seasonal flooding of the Mississippi River, which had resulted in extremely fertile soils.

By 1820 European Americans from the United States, many migrating from southern states, had settled most of the present counties of southeastern Missouri. The settlers were mostly farmers who came from Illinois and states of the Upper South: Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. They wanted the fertile and cheap lands found in the area of present-day Charleston, Missouri.

European Americans reached Charleston in 1830. In 1837, Thankful Randol sold Joseph Moore 22½ acres of land; Moore laid out a plan for the city of Charleston. Its original boundary was 12 blocks - four north and south and three east and west. The Original Plat was filed on May 20, 1837. An act to incorporate the City of Charleston, Missouri, in the County of Mississippi, was enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri on March 25, 1872.

The virgin forests attracted timber barons at the turn of the 20th century. Following the clearing of the timber, residents with state assistance built levees were built and formed drainage districts to redevelop the land. As hundreds of miles of levees and dikes were constructed within the Little River Drainage District, thousands of acres of land were drained and reclaimed for agriculture use. The reclaimed land, highly fertile due to centuries of floods from the Mississippi River, was cultivated for cotton, corn, and wheat. Since the late 20th century, soybeans and rice have been important commodity crops.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 429 square miles (1,110 km²), of which 412 square miles (1,070 km²) is land and 17 square miles (44 km²) (4.0%) is water.

Adjacent counties

Mississippi County has borders across the river with four Kentucky counties, but there is no direct highway connection among them due to the barrier of the river. None of the four Kentucky counties that border Missouri has any direct highway connection with Missouri, making Kentucky and Missouri the only two U.S. states to border each other, even across a major river, without a direct highway connection between them. This reflects the relatively low populations among these counties, which are largely rural in character. In early 2016, it was declared as the poorest county in Missouri

Major highways

Demographics

The county was at its peak of population in 1940. With changes in agriculture and mechanization requiring fewer workers, jobs have declined, as has county population.

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,427 people, 5,383 households, and 3,671 families residing in the county. The population density was 32 people per square mile (13/km²). There were 5,840 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile (5/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 77.93% White, 20.53% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Approximately 0.96% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 5,383 households out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.70% were married couples living together, 17.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 28.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.30% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 25.40% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 15.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 87.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,837, and the median income for a family was $35,554. Males had a median income of $26,110 versus $17,204 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,847. About 19.00% of families and 23.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.70% of those under age 18 and 21.70% of those age 65 or over.

Religion

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives County Membership Report (2000), Mississippi County is a part of the Bible Belt with evangelical Protestantism being the majority religion. The most predominant denominations among residents in Mississippi County who adhere to a religion are Southern Baptists (53.88%), Methodists (13.70%), and Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (7.55%).

Education

Of adults 25 years of age and older in Mississippi County, 61.1% possesses a high school diploma or higher while 9.6% holds a bachelor's degree or higher as their highest educational attainment.

Public schools

Private schools

Politics

The Democratic Party predominantly controls politics at the local level in Mississippi County. Democrats hold all but four of the elected positions in the county.

State

All of Mississippi County is a part of Missouri’s 161st District in the Missouri House of Representatives; it is represented by Steve Hodges (D-East Prairie).

All of Mississippi County is a part of Missouri's 27th District in the Missouri Senate and is currently represented by State Senator Wayne Wallingford (R-Cape Girardeau).

Federal

Mississippi County is included in Missouri’s 8th Congressional District and is represented by Jason T. Smith (R-Salem) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Smith won a special election on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to finish out the remaining term of U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau). Emerson announced her resignation a month after being reelected with over 70 percent of the vote in the district. She resigned to become CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative.

Political culture

At the presidential level, Mississippi County is a fairly independent-leaning or battleground county although, like many counties in the impoverished Bootheel with a significant African American population, it does have a slight tendency to lean Democratic. While George W. Bush carried Mississippi County in 2004, Al Gore won the county in 2000, although both times the margins of victory were significantly closer than in many of the other rural areas. Bill Clinton also carried Mississippi County both times in 1992 and 1996 by convincing double-digit margins. And like many of the other rural counties in Missouri, Mississippi County favored John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008, although the margin of victory was smaller than in most rural areas.

Like most rural areas throughout Missouri, voters in Mississippi County generally adhere to socially and culturally conservative principles but are more moderate or populist on economic issues, typical of the Dixiecrat philosophy. In 2004, Missourians voted on a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman—it overwhelmingly passed in Mississippi County with 86.87 percent of the vote. The initiative passed the state with 71 percent of support from voters as Missouri became the first state to ban same-sex marriage. In 2006, Missourians voted on a constitutional amendment to fund and legalize embryonic stem cell research in the state—it failed in Mississippi County with 57.35 percent voting against the measure. The initiative narrowly passed the state with 51 percent of support from voters as Missouri became one of the first states in the nation to approve embryonic stem cell research. Despite Mississippi County’s longstanding tradition of supporting socially conservative platforms, voters in the county have a penchant for advancing populist causes like increasing the minimum wage. In 2006, Missourians voted on a proposition (Proposition B) to increase the minimum wage in the state to $6.50 an hour—it passed Mississippi County with 75.66 percent of the vote. The proposition strongly passed every single county in Missouri with 75.94 percent voting in favor as the minimum wage was increased to $6.50 an hour in the state.

Missouri Presidential Preference Primary (2008)

In the 2008 Missouri Presidential Preference Primary, voters in Mississippi County from both political parties supported candidates who finished in second place in the state at large and nationally.