Hazlehurst, Mississippi

Hazlehurst, Mississippi
City
Location of Hazlehurst, Mississippi
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Copiah
Area
• Total	4.4 sq mi (11.5 km2)
• Land	4.4 sq mi (11.3 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	476 ft (145 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	4,400
• Density	1,004.9/sq mi (388.0/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	39083
Area code	601
FIPS code	28-31220
GNIS feature ID	0671047

Hazlehurst is a city in and the county seat of Copiah County, Mississippi, United States,Template:GR located about 30 miles south of the state capital Jackson along Interstate 55. The population was 4,400 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Hazlehurst originated as the town of Gallatin when two lawyers and brothers-in-law named Walters and Saunders arrived from Gallatin, Tennessee in 1819, and built their homes on the banks of the Bayou Pierre in the western part of Copiah county. Other settlers came with them and in 1829 the state legislature incorporated the town. The incorporation charter was repealed on January 18, 1862. Hazlehurst began with the building of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad on November 3, 1865. The town was named for George Hazlehurst, an engineer for the new railroad.

As Hazlehurst grew, Gallatin declined into just a settlement at a crossroads. In April, 1872, the legislature ordered the county board of supervisors to hold an election to decide if the county seat should be moved from Gallatin to Hazlehurst. A majority voted for the change and Gallatin's old brick courthouse was torn down and reassembled in Hazlehurst. Several years later, a new courthouse replaced this building after it was ravaged by fire. The courthouse has been destroyed and rebuilt over 15 times during the town's history. As of April 2007 Hazlehurst has not bothered to rebuild the ill-fortuned civic building.

Moses Marx was the first town merchant, and A. Mangold, who arrived as a newsboy on the first train, later opened a store that became one of the largest in the county. The Merchants and Planters Bank opened in 1882, with Major R. W. Millsaps as president and I. N. Ellis as first cashier.

Local businesses and economy

Today Hazlehurst is a thriving town. It has many restaurants and shopping centers including: Starks, a steakhouse that serves what is locally known as good hamburgers, and local variations of franchises including, KFC, Wendy's, Sonic Drive-In, Pizza Hut,Bumpers,and McDonalds.

In 2009 Hazlehurst welcomed a Wal-mart super center.

Notable natives and residents

• Alvin C. Cockrell, Jr. was awarded a Navy Cross in World War II.
• Benjamin Morgan Palmer, 19th century Presbyterian minister, made Hazlehurst his family's home in the summer of 1862 as he served as chaplain with the Washington Artillery of New Orleans.
• Mablean Ephriam, who presides over the syndicated daytime courtroom TV show Divorce Court, is a Hazlehurst native.
• John Epperson, actor and singer best known for his performance as Lypsinka, was born in Hazlehurst.
• Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, although born in Jackson, spent much of her childhood in this town, where her father grew up. The play for which Henley won the Pulitzer, Crimes of the Heart, is set in Hazlehurst.
• Robert Johnson, the seminal delta blues musician, was born in Hazlehurst; between the Copiah County courthouse and the Trustmark bank, there's a small monument in memory of his birth.
• Emmett Honeycutt, a fictional character from the TV show Queer as Folk.
• James L. McCorkle, Jr., American agricultural historian, was born in Hazlehurst in 1935.

Rail Transportation

See also: Hazlehurst (Amtrak station)

Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Hazlehurst. Amtrak Train 59, the southbound City of New Orleans, is scheduled to depart Hazlehurst at 11:55 am daily with service to Brookhaven, McComb, Hammond, and New Orleans. Amtrak Train 58, the northbound City of New Orleans, is scheduled to depart Hazlehurst at 4:17 pm daily with service to Jackson, Yazoo City, Greenwood, Memphis, Newbern-Dyersburg, Fulton, Carbondale, Centralia, Effingham, Mattoon, Champaign-Urbana, Kankakee, Homewood, and Chicago.

Geography

Hazlehurst is located at 31°51′54″N 90°23′29″W (31.864910, -90.391353)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.4 square miles (11 km²), of which, 4.4 square miles (11 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) of it (0.90%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 4,400 people, 1,594 households, and 1,131 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,004.9 people per square mile (387.9/km²). There were 1,752 housing units at an average density of 400.2 per square mile (154.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 29.30% White, 68.59% African American, 0.02% Native American, 0.48% Asian, 0.59% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.05% of the population.

There were 1,594 households out of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.5% were married couples living together, 28.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.0% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.20.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 82.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,008, and the median income for a family was $26,081. Males had a median income of $27,066 versus $19,475 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,839. About 24.0% of families and 26.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.8% of those under age 18 and 26.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The City of Hazlehurst is served by the Hazlehurst City School District.

External links

• Media related to Hazlehurst, Mississippi at Wikimedia Commons