DeSoto County, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
 DeSoto County Courthouse | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofMississippi | |
| Coordinates:34°53′N89°59′W / 34.88°N 89.99°W /34.88; -89.99 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Mississippi |
| Founded | February 9, 1836 |
| Named after | Hernando de Soto |
| Seat | Hernando |
| Largest city | Southaven |
| Area | |
• Total | 497 sq mi (1,290 km2) |
| • Land | 476 sq mi (1,230 km2) |
| • Water | 21 sq mi (54 km2) 4.2% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 185,314 |
• Estimate (2024) | 195,871 |
| • Density | 389/sq mi (150/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| Congressional district | 1st |
| Website | www |
DeSoto County is acounty - located on the northwestern border of theU.S. state ofMississippi. As of the2020 census, the population was 185,314,[1] making it the third-most populous county in Mississippi. Itscounty seat isHernando.[2] DeSoto County is part of theMemphis metropolitan area. It is the second-most populous county in that statistical area. The county has lowland areas that were developed in the 19th century for cotton plantations, and hill country in the eastern part of the county.[3]
DeSoto County, Mississippi, was formally established February 9, 1836.[4] The original county lines included territory now part ofTate County, which was carved out in 1873.[4]
The county is named forSpanish explorerHernando de Soto, the first European explorer known to reach theMississippi River.[5] The county seat, Hernando, is also named in his honor. De Soto reportedly died in that area in May 1542, although some accounts suggest that he died nearLake Village, Arkansas.[citation needed]
Indian artifacts collected in DeSoto County link it with prehistoric groups of Woodland andMississippian culture peoples.[citation needed] Members of the Mississippian culture, who built complex settlements and earthwork monuments throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its major tributaries, metHernando de Soto in the mid-16th century when he explored what is now North Mississippi. By tradition, he is believed to have traveled with his expedition through present-day DeSoto County. Some scholars speculate that de Soto discovered theMississippi River west of present-day Lake Cormorant, built rafts there, and crossed to present-dayCrowley's Ridge, Arkansas. Based on records of the expedition and archeology, theNational Park Service has designated a "DeSoto Corridor" fromCoahoma County, Mississippi to the Chickasaw Bluff in Memphis.[citation needed]
The Mississippian culture declined and disappeared, and in most areas this preceded European contact. Scholars speculate this may have followed changes in the environment. The town namedChicasa, which De Soto visited, was probably the ancestral home of the historicalChickasaw, who are descended from the Mississippian culture. They had lived in the area for centuries before white settlers began arriving. Present-dayPontotoc, Mississippi developed near the Chickasaw "Long Town", which was composed of several villages near each other. The Chickasaw Nation regarded much of western present-day Tennessee and northern Mississippi as their traditional hunting grounds.[citation needed]
The Chickasaw traded furs for French goods, and the French established several small settlements among them. However, France ceded its claim to territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain in 1763, after having been defeated in theSeven Years' War. The United States acquired the area from the British as part of the treaty that ended theAmerican Revolution.[citation needed]
The Chickasaw finally ceded most of their land to the United States under pressure duringIndian Removal, and a treaty in 1832. They were forced to remove toIndian Territory west of the Mississippi River.[citation needed]
Negotiations began in September 1816 between the United States government and the Chickasaw nation and concluded with the signing of theTreaty of Pontotoc in October 1832. During those 16 years, federal officials pressed the Chickasaw for cessions of land to extinguish their land claims to enable white settlement in their territory. Congress passed theIndian Removal Act in 1830, authorizing forcible removal if necessary to extinguish Native American claims in the Southeast. From 1832 to 1836, government surveyors mapped the 6,442,000 acres (26,070 km2) of the Chickasaw domain and divided it into townships, ranges and sections. The Mississippi Legislature formed 10 new counties, including DeSoto, Tunica, Marshall, and Tate, from the territory.[citation needed]
By treaty, the land was assigned by sections of 640 acres (2.6 km2) to individual Indian households. The Chickasaw, a numerically small tribe, were assigned 2,422,400 acres (9,803 km2) of land by using that formula. The government declared the remainder as surplus and disposed of the remaining 400,000 acres (1,600 km2) at public sale. The Indians received at least $1.25 per acre for their land. The government land sold for 75 cents per acre or less.[citation needed]
During and after the Civil War, the area was developed as large plantations by planters for cultivation of cotton, a leading commodity crop. Before the Civil War, they had depended on the labor of thousands of enslaved African Americans. After the war and emancipation, manyfreedmen stayed in the area, but shaped their own lives by working on small plots assharecroppers or tenant farmers, rather than on large labor gangs on the plantations. Reliance on agriculture meant that the area did not develop much economically well into the 20th century, and both whites and blacks suffered economically.[citation needed]
In 1890, the state legislaturedisenfranchised most blacks under the new constitution, which usedpoll taxes andliteracy tests to raise barriers to voter registration. In the early 20th century, many people left the rural county for cities to gain other opportunities. Most blacks could not vote in Mississippi until the late 1960s, after the passage of federal legislation.
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During theGreat Depression, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union was organized in 1934. It was open to both black and whitesharecroppers and worked to gain better deals and fair accounting from local white landowners. Whites in DeSoto County resisted the effort. In 1935, a white lynch mob attacked early union organizer and minister Reverend T. A. Allen, shot him, and threw him into theColdwater River.[6] One account said that his body was weighted by chains and that authorities claimed it to be a suicide.[7]
In its 2015 report onLynching in America (2015), theEqual Justice Institute documented 12lynchings in the county from 1877 to 1950.[8] Most lynchings in the South took place around the turn of the 20th century.[8]
Since the late 20th century, DeSoto County has experienced considerable suburban development related to the growth of Memphis.[citation needed]
As part of theMemphis,Tennessee metropolitan area, the early-21st-century DeSoto County has become one of the 40 fastest-growing counties in theUnited States. That is attributed to suburban development as middle-class and wealthier blacks leave Memphis to acquire newer housing and commute to Memphis for work. Some observers have characterized the shift asblack flight, but it is also typical of the pattern of postwar suburban growth in which people who could afford it moved to newer housing in suburbs.[9]
Such suburban residential development in the county has been most noticeable in the Mississippi cities ofSouthaven,Olive Branch, andHorn Lake, as well with the county seat of Hernando. Also stimulating development in the formerly rural area is the massive casino/resort complex, in the neighboringTunica County, which is the sixth-largest gambling district in the United States.[citation needed]
DeSoto County, as did most Southern counties, voted predominantly for the Democratic candidate through1956. A shift in this pattern took place beginning in1964, as with the rest of theSolid South. The only Democrat to take DeSoto County since then has beenJimmy Carter, in his successful1976 bid. However, 1964 was a protest vote against LBJ, the 1968 election was for a Democrat running as an independent, and 1972 for was for Nixon's second term where he won most of the country. It wasn't until after 1980 that the state became a solid Republican presidential vote and not until 2012 was the State House and Senate Republican. 1992 was the first Republican Governor since 1876. DeSoto County itself only voted 13% for the Republican in 1968, but has been reliably Republican for President since 1980. It first voted for a Republican Governor in 1995, and has since.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1912 | 10 | 1.73% | 546 | 94.63% | 21 | 3.64% |
| 1916 | 12 | 1.37% | 861 | 98.51% | 1 | 0.11% |
| 1920 | 27 | 3.20% | 816 | 96.57% | 2 | 0.24% |
| 1924 | 17 | 1.57% | 1,065 | 98.43% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1928 | 64 | 4.50% | 1,357 | 95.50% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 13 | 0.92% | 1,396 | 98.80% | 4 | 0.28% |
| 1936 | 13 | 0.96% | 1,343 | 99.04% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 40 | 2.61% | 1,491 | 97.13% | 4 | 0.26% |
| 1944 | 123 | 7.30% | 1,561 | 92.70% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 14 | 0.97% | 137 | 9.45% | 1,299 | 89.59% |
| 1952 | 754 | 36.92% | 1,288 | 63.08% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 398 | 21.56% | 1,236 | 66.96% | 212 | 11.48% |
| 1960 | 553 | 26.56% | 795 | 38.18% | 734 | 35.25% |
| 1964 | 2,928 | 86.40% | 461 | 13.60% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 1,092 | 13.10% | 1,898 | 22.77% | 5,346 | 64.13% |
| 1972 | 7,917 | 80.88% | 1,557 | 15.91% | 315 | 3.22% |
| 1976 | 6,240 | 43.60% | 7,756 | 54.19% | 316 | 2.21% |
| 1980 | 9,655 | 58.80% | 6,344 | 38.64% | 420 | 2.56% |
| 1984 | 12,576 | 73.88% | 4,369 | 25.67% | 77 | 0.45% |
| 1988 | 14,681 | 72.50% | 5,449 | 26.91% | 120 | 0.59% |
| 1992 | 16,104 | 58.40% | 8,833 | 32.03% | 2,638 | 9.57% |
| 1996 | 18,135 | 53.53% | 10,282 | 30.35% | 5,464 | 16.13% |
| 2000 | 24,879 | 71.21% | 9,586 | 27.44% | 471 | 1.35% |
| 2004 | 36,306 | 72.30% | 13,583 | 27.05% | 326 | 0.65% |
| 2008 | 44,222 | 68.75% | 19,627 | 30.51% | 474 | 0.74% |
| 2012 | 43,559 | 66.21% | 21,575 | 32.79% | 660 | 1.00% |
| 2016 | 43,089 | 65.13% | 20,591 | 31.13% | 2,475 | 3.74% |
| 2020 | 46,462 | 61.03% | 28,265 | 37.13% | 1,397 | 1.84% |
| 2024 | 48,064 | 60.65% | 29,023 | 36.62% | 2,167 | 2.73% |
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 497 square miles (1,290 km2), of which 476 square miles (1,230 km2) is land and 21 square miles (54 km2) (4.2%) is water.[11]
While there is no fixed-route transit within the county,Memphis Area Transit Authority,Amtrak,Greyhound Lines,Megabus andDelta Bus Lines serve nearby Memphis.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1840 | 7,002 | — | |
| 1850 | 19,042 | 172.0% | |
| 1860 | 23,336 | 22.6% | |
| 1870 | 32,021 | 37.2% | |
| 1880 | 22,924 | −28.4% | |
| 1890 | 24,183 | 5.5% | |
| 1900 | 24,751 | 2.3% | |
| 1910 | 23,130 | −6.5% | |
| 1920 | 24,359 | 5.3% | |
| 1930 | 25,438 | 4.4% | |
| 1940 | 26,663 | 4.8% | |
| 1950 | 24,599 | −7.7% | |
| 1960 | 23,891 | −2.9% | |
| 1970 | 35,885 | 50.2% | |
| 1980 | 53,930 | 50.3% | |
| 1990 | 67,910 | 25.9% | |
| 2000 | 107,199 | 57.9% | |
| 2010 | 161,252 | 50.4% | |
| 2020 | 185,314 | 14.9% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 195,871 | [12] | 5.7% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[13] 1790-1960[14] 1900-1990[15] 1990-2000[16] 2010-2013[17] | |||
| Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000[18] | Pop 2010[19] | Pop 2020[20] | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 90,816 | 113,553 | 108,466 | 84.72% | 70.42% | 58.53% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 12,166 | 35,124 | 55,972 | 11.35% | 21.78% | 30.20% |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 271 | 343 | 298 | 0.25% | 0.21% | 0.16% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 648 | 2,011 | 3,023 | 0.06% | 1.25% | 1.63% |
| Native Hawaiian orPacific Islander alone (NH) | 35 | 76 | 137 | 0.03% | 0.05% | 0.07% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 57 | 145 | 632 | 0.05% | 0.09% | 0.34% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 690 | 1,914 | 6,625 | 0.64% | 1.19% | 3.58% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2,516 | 8,086 | 10,161 | 2.35% | 5.02% | 5.48% |
| Total | 107,199 | 161,252 | 185,314 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 185,314. The median age was 37.6 years. 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.2 males age 18 and over.[21][22]
The racial makeup of the county was 59.4%White, 30.3%Black or African American, 0.3%American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6%Asian, 0.1%Native Hawaiian andPacific Islander, 3.3% from some other race, and 5.0% fromtwo or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 5.5% of the population.[22]
78.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 21.9% lived in rural areas.[23]
There were 67,404 households in the county, of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 51.2% were married-couple households, 15.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[21]
There were 72,079 housing units, of which 6.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 73.7% were owner-occupied and 26.3% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 14.6%.[21]
As of the 2013 U.S.census estimates, there were 168,240 people living in the county. 70.3% were non-HispanicWhite, 21.5%Black or African American, 1.6%Asian, 2.6%Native American, 0.1%Pacific Islander, 5.0% wereHispanic or Latino (of any race).[24] Themedian income for a family was $66,377 and the mean income was $75,875.[25] DeSoto County has the highest median income in Mississippi and the second highest mean income afterMadison County.
According to the 2000census,[26] the largest self-identified ancestry groups in DeSoto County wereEnglish 53.1%,Scots-Irish 15.1%,African 11.4%, andIrish 4.5%. Since then the percentage of African-American population in the county has nearly doubled, as the total county population has also grown.
DeSoto County is known for its golf courses. Velvet Cream, known as 'The Dip' by locals, is a landmark restaurant in the county. Operating since 1947, it is the oldest continually running restaurant in the county. In 2010, it was awarded 'Best Ice Cream in Mississippi' byUSA Today.[27] DeSoto County was also previously known as the home ofMaywood Beach, awater park that closed in 2003 after more than 70 years of operation.
A popular attraction is the DeSoto County Museum located in the county seat of Hernando. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10–5. Admission is free but donations are encouraged. Exhibits include displays on Hernando DeSoto, Civil War history, French colonial and American antebellum homes of the county, civil rights, and the history of each of the county's municipalities.[28]
An eighteenth-century French colonial log house (see photo to the right) has been preserved from the time of French trading and settlement along the Mississippi. This house is similar in style to several French colonial houses preserved inSte. Genevieve, Missouri, where many French settled after France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain following its defeat in theSeven Years' War.
Hernando DeSoto Park, located on Bass Road 6 mi (9.7 km) west ofWalls, is a 41 acres (17 ha) park that features a hiking/walking trail, river overlook, picnic area, and boat launch. It is the only location in DeSoto County with public access to the Mississippi River.[29]
Public education in DeSoto County is provided by theDeSoto County School District, theschool district for the entire county.[30] It is the state's largest school district.[31] The district is responsible for the operation of eight high schools, eight middle schools, three intermediate (Grades 3–5) and numerous primary schools.
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Municipalities and communities ofDeSoto County, Mississippi,United States | ||
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