Jasper County, Mississippi
| Jasper County, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
 Location in the U.S. state of Mississippi |
|
 Mississippi's location in the U.S. |
|
| Founded | 1833 |
| Named for | William Jasper |
| Seat | Bay Springs and Paulding |
| Largest city | Bay Springs |
| Area | |
| • Total | 677 sq mi (1,753 km2) |
| • Land | 676 sq mi (1,751 km2) |
| • Water | 1.2 sq mi (3 km2), 0.2% |
| Population (est.) | |
| • (2015) | 16,569 |
| • Density | 25/sq mi (10/km²) |
| Congressional district | 3rd |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
| Website | www |
Jasper County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,062. As of 1906, the state legislature established two county courts, one at the first county seat of Paulding in the eastern part of the county and also one at Bay Springs in the west, where the railroad had been constructed. Jasper County is part of the Laurel, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Bay Springs growth passed that of Paulding. No roadway connected the two parts of the county until one was built in 1935-1936. The still largely rural county is the major producer in the state of gas and oil, located in the southeast, and of timber, cattle, and poultry.
Developed during the period of Indian Removal from the Southeast and increasing settlement by European Americans in the region, Jasper County was formed in 1833 from the middle section of what was previously a much larger Jones County. It was named for Sgt. William Jasper who distinguished himself in the defense of Fort Moultrie in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War. When a shell from a British warship shot away the flagstaff, he recovered the flag, raised it on a temporary staff, and held it under fire until a new staff was installed. Sgt. Jasper was killed in the Siege of Savannah in 1779.
During the antebellum years, cotton was cultivated with slave labor on large plantations in the county. This was the heyday of the county seat of Paulding, Mississippi, called the "Queen City of the East." It was a trading center for the plantations, as well as for yeomen farmers in the area. While some African Americans left the county in the early 20th century during the Great Migration out of the rural South to northern cities, in 2010 Jasper County had a population that was 52.6 percent African American, reflecting its history of cotton development and of people's ties to generations in this land.
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