Sebastopol, Mississippi

Sebastopol, Mississippi
Town
Location of Sebastopol, Mississippi
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Scott
Area
• Total	1.5 sq mi (3.8 km2)
• Land	1.5 sq mi (3.8 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	420 ft (128 m)
Population  (United States Census, 2010)
• Total	272
• Density	159.4/sq mi (61.5/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	39359
Area code	601
FIPS code	28-66280
GNIS feature ID	0677487

Sebastopol is a town in Leake and Scott counties, Mississippi. The population was 272 at the 2010 census.

Geography

Sebastopol is located at 32°34′22″N 89°20′10″W (32.572788, -89.336094)Template:GR. Most of the town is located in Scott County, although a tiny portion extends into Leake County. In the 2000 census, all of the city's 233 residents lived in Scott County. Although no residents lived in the Leake County portion in 2000, that figure had risen to 1 by 2006.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), all land.

History

Sebastopol was originally called "Hathaway Springs". The town was in existence before the Civil War but not incorporated until 1917. According to oral tradition, "a Swede" traveling through the area named the town for Sevastopol, Crimea. It is rumored that the "Swede" was Frederick Law Olmsted (Central Park Fame) who stayed at Sebastopol House in Seguin, Texas during his travels throughout the southern US. From 1852 to 1857 Olmsted was sent south by his employer, The New York Times, to study and write about slavery in the South (Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom).

Sebastopol has a few local businesses that keep the town thriving. The locals often refer to the town's main convenience store, "Duett's", as "Peco's" even though it's been owned and operated by the Duett family for years. The town also has "Brent's" gas station, which is closed on Sundays and stays open half a day on Wednesdays. The station is commonly referred to as "Brent's Texaco" even though Texaco plays no part in the store's operation anymore. The town has one grocery store which was once called "Hamill's." The store was bought out by Piggly Wiggly. Also a large contribution to Sebastopol is "Easom's Hardware", operated by the Easom family for many years, who also own Maxim Manufacturing on Hwy 21. The town has one pharmacy that has been in operation as Moore's Pharmacy since 1990. Many new businesses have been opened as of late, such as a "Dollar General", "Bethel Framing", "Tangle's, "ADD Trucking" and "Adele McDill Photography".

Each fall season Sebastopol has Sebastopoloosa-a fairly large fall festival. In 2010 Sebastopoloosa had over a thousand people.

Sebastopol is centrally located between three larger towns, the towns of Forest, Carthage and Philadelphia. Even though the town has a local grocery store, most people are forced to drive to one of the larger towns to purchase basic household goods. The nearest theatre is a small local operation located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. People wanting to shop at a mall or watch a movie in a large cinema have to travel to Meridian or Jackson which is about an hour's drive each way.

The town received cable TV in the late 1990s which has yet to be offered to areas located just outside the city limits. Most local people wishing to have television are forced to subscribe to satellite programming. This makes accessibility to high speed internet almost impossible. On October 11, 2010 all cable services from sky cablevision, the only cable provider for Sebastopol, were disconnected.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 233 people, 107 households, and 66 families residing in the town. The population density was 159.4 people per square mile (61.6/km²). There were 118 housing units at an average density of 80.7 per square mile (31.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.28% White, 3.00% African American, 0.86% Native American, 0.86% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.72% of the population.

There were 107 households out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 37.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the town the age distribution of the population shows 21.5% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $31,250, and the median income for a family was $47,500. Males had a median income of $26,625 versus $25,000 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,630. About 9.5% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.8% of those under the age of eighteen and 28.2% of those sixty-five or over.

Education

The Town of Sebastopol is served by the Scott County School District. The town has one public High School whose mascot is the Sebastopol Bobcats. Sebastopol also has a private school, Pine Grove Christian Academy, owned and operated by Pine Grove Pentecostal Church.

Famous Locals

Wade Phillips - Anchor/Producer - WTOK-TV Meridian, MS.

References

• Pine Grove Pentecostal Church