Editing Mayersville, Mississippi

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Mayersville, Mississippi
|settlement_type          = [[Town]]
|motto                    =
|image_skyline            = 
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = 
|image_map                = Issaquena_County_Mississippi_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Mayersville_Highlighted.svg
|mapsize                  = 250x200px
|map_caption              = Location of Mayersville, Mississippi
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             = 
|pushpin_map              = USA
|pushpin_map_caption      = Location in the United States
<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Mississippi]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Mississippi|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Issaquena County, Mississippi|Issaquena]]
<!-- Government -->
|government_footnotes     =
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = 
|leader_name              = 
|established_title        = 
|established_date         =
<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_28.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=July 24, 2022}}</ref>
|area_total_km2           = 2.85
|area_land_km2            = 2.85
|area_water_km2           = 0.00
|area_total_sq_mi         = 1.10
|area_land_sq_mi          = 1.10
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00
<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 433
|population_density_km2   = 151.82
|population_density_sq_mi = 393.28
<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = -6
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -5
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
|elevation_ft             = 102
|coordinates              = {{coord|32|53|47|N|91|02|48|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 39113
|area_code                = [[Area code 662|662]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 28-46000
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 2406112<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2406112}}</ref>
}}

'''Mayersville''' is a town on the east bank of the [[Mississippi River]], and the [[county seat]] for [[Issaquena County, Mississippi|Issaquena County]], [[Mississippi]], United States.<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |accessdate=June 7, 2011 |title=Find a County |publisher=National Association of Counties |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |archivedate=May 31, 2011 }}</ref> It is located in the [[Mississippi Delta]] region, known for cotton cultivation in the [[antebellum era]]. Once the trading center for the county, the town was superseded when railroads were built into the area. The population of the majority-black town was 547 at the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]],<ref name="Census 2010">{{Cite web| url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/1600000US2846000| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Census Summary File 1 (G001): Mayersville town, Mississippi| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| work=American Factfinder| accessdate=April 6, 2018| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213102633/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/1600000US2846000| archive-date=February 13, 2020| url-status=dead}}</ref> down from 795 at the 2000 census.

== History ==
[[File:Court House, Issaquena County, Mississippi.jpg|thumb|left|Historic photo of county courthouse in Mayersville]]
[[File:The village blacksmith, Mayersville, Issaquena County, Mississippi circa.jpg|thumb|left|The village blacksmith, Mayersville, Issaquena County, Mississippi circa 1936]]
Native Americans had lived in this area since prehistoric times. The Mayersville Archeological Site, added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1980, is on privately owned land. It contains the remains of earthwork mounds constructed primarily in the Mayersville phase ({{small|
AD}} 1200–1400) of the earlier [[Mississippian culture]].

A 1950 survey by Philip Phillips of the [[Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology]] reported eleven ancient mounds. By the time the site was nominated by the state to the National Register of Historic Places, two mounds had been completely destroyed, a third one was nearly gone, three were reduced in size by plowing, and five remained nearly as described. Three mounds had enclosed a large plaza measuring roughly {{convert|170|by|240|m|order=flip}}. The fourth side was bounded by three mounds. Among these was Mound I, which was found to have been re-occupied from 1400 to 1600, perhaps by the succeeding [[Choctaw]] people. A European-American family cemetery associated with a 19th-century plantation was developed on Mound A.<ref name="nrhp">[http://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/prop/2145890882.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: "Mayersville Site (22-Is-501)"], Mississippi Dept. of Archaeology and History, July 1979.</ref>

The first record of non-Native settlement was in 1830, when European-American Ambrose Gipson purchased a large body of land along the Mississippi River and founded "Gipson's Landing". This soon became the port on the river for shipping out the cotton of Issaquena and [[Sharkey County, Mississippi|Sharkey]] counties. It attracted shifting populations of river crews, gamblers, and traders, as well as show boats during low water times. The shipping records for David Mayer, who owned nearby Mout Level Plantation, show that river freight was shipped from the port via steamboat to points in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Mississippi.

Mayer purchased Gipson's Landing in 1870, and the town of Mayersville was founded in 1871. The town was established in 1872 by the legislature as the Issaquena County seat.<ref>{{cite web
 | last =
 | first =
 | author-link =
 | title =General County History and Information
 | publisher =Issaquena Genealogy and History Project
 | year =2004
 | url =http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~msissaq2/history.html
 | doi =
 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | last =
 | first =
 | author-link =
 | title =Mayer (David) account book (manuscript)
 | publisher =Mississippi Department of Archives and History
 | date =
 | url =http://zed.mdah.state.ms.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=65321
 | format =
 | doi =
 }}
</ref><ref name="Hellmann">{{cite book
 | last =Hellmann
 | first = Paul T.
 | author-link =
 | title =Historical Gazetteer of the United States
 | work =
 | publisher =Routledge
 | year =2005
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=EQ-R4O2L3nEC&q=%22gipson%27s+landing%22&pg=PP5
 | format =
 | doi =
 | isbn = 9780203997000
 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last =
 | first =
 | author-link =
 | title =Mississippi: A Guide to the Magnolia State
 | work =
 | publisher =Viking
 | year = 1938
 | url =https://archive.org/details/mississippiaguid006293mbp
 | page =[https://archive.org/details/mississippiaguid006293mbp/page/n384 357]
 | quote =gipson's landing.
 | format =
 | doi =
 }}
</ref>

In January 1885, black saloon keeper Ebenzer Fowler was rumored to have sent an insulting letter to a white woman in the town. An armed white posse confronted Fowler on the main street just before dark on January 30, 1885. They claimed that Fowler grabbed a gun from a posse member and fired a shot at them; they returned fire and shot him dead. Tension between the town's blacks, a majority of the population, and whites flared following the shooting. The county sheriff called in 22 members of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg's]] militia, the "Volunteer Southrons", for assistance. The militia left the following day when tensions had eased.<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Wells
 | first =Ida B.
 | author-link =
 | title =Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)
 | work =
 | publisher =Digital History
 | year =2013
 | url =http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook_print.cfm?smtid=3&psid=3614
 | format =
 | doi =
 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last =Wells
 | first =Ida B.
 | author-link =
 | title =Selected Works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett
 | work =
 | publisher =Oxford
 | year =1991
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Lt0sfN9V6ZYC&q=%22Ebenzer+Fowler%22&pg=PA25
 | format =
 | doi =
 | isbn =9780195062021
 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | last =Hill
 | first =Karlos
 | author-link =
 | title =Resisting Lynching: Black Grassroots Responses to Lynching in the Mississippi and Arkansas Deltas, 1882-1938
 | work =PhD Dissertation
 | publisher =University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 | year =2009
 | url =https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/14606/1_Hill_Karlos.pdf?sequence=6
 | format =
 | doi =
 }}
</ref>
{{see also|Clarksdale, Mississippi#Early history}}

Mayersville's popularity as a shipping port began to decline in the mid-1800s when it had to compete with the railways being built across the [[southern United States|South]], though no railway was built to the town. The construction of a levee following the hugely destructive [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927|flood of 1927]] cut off direct river access for the town, causing further decline.<ref name="Hellmann"/> In the 21st century, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121123231059/http://www.bungenorthamerica.com/index.shtml Bunge North America] operates a large [[grain trade|grain port]] in Millers Landing north of town. In 1958, the current county courthouse in Mayersville was built.<ref name="Hellmann" />
[[File:Mayersville_Mississippi_mapped_by_USGS_in_1970.jpg|thumb|Mayersville, Mississippi, mapped by USGS in 1970]]
With federal legislation in the mid-1960s, African Americans regained the ability to register and vote. In 1976, famed civil rights activist [[Unita Blackwell]] was elected mayor of Mayersville and the first female African-American mayor in Mississippi.

Mayersville's small population and quiet character are in sharp contrast to its years as a booming Mississippi River port.

==Geography==
Mayersville is in northern Issaquena County, just east of the [[Mississippi River]], from which it is separated by a [[levee]]. [[Mississippi Highway 1]] passes through the town, leading north {{convert|39|mi}} to [[Greenville, Mississippi|Greenville]] and south {{convert|22|mi}} to [[U.S. Route 61]] at [[Onward, Mississippi|Onward]]. [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]] is {{convert|53|mi}} south of Mayersville via Highways 1 and 61. [[Mississippi Highway 14]] has its western terminus in Mayersville and runs out of town to the northeast with Highway 1. Highway 14 leads east {{convert|11|mi}} to US-61 at [[Rolling Fork, Mississippi|Rolling Fork]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town of Mayersville has a total area of {{convert|2.9|km2|order=flip}}, all land.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1880= 355
|1900= 250
|1910= 185
|1980= 378
|1990= 329
|2000= 795
|2010= 547
|2020= 433
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|accessdate=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Mayersville Racial Composition<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US2846000&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!Race
!Num.
!Perc.
|-
|[[White (U.S. Census)|White]]
|34
|7.85%
|-
|[[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]]
|292
|67.44%
|-
|[[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
|1
|0.23%
|-
|[[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
|1
|0.23%
|-
|[[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
|2
|0.46%
|-
|[[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
|103
|23.79%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 433 people, 155 households, and 66 families residing in the town.

===2013 ACS===
As of the 2013 [[American Community Survey]], there were 652 people living in the town, a decline since 2000. The remaining population is increasingly African American. 90.2% were [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 9.7% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]] and 0.2% from some other race. 0.2% were [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race.

===2000 census===
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |accessdate=January 31, 2008 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> of 2000, there were 795 people, 190 households, and 126 families living in the town. The population density was {{convert|710.7|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 212 housing units at an average density of {{convert|189.5|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the town was 88.05% [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black]] or [[Race (United States Census)|African American]], 11.95% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], and 0.13% [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]].

There were 190 households, out of which 40.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.3% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 31.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.53.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 16.0% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 13.7% from 45 to 64, and 7.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 165.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 228.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $10,962, and the median income for a family was $15,208. Males had a median income of $20,917 versus $15,875 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $7,287. About 41.6% of families and 49.9% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 62.6% of those under age 18 and 51.4% of those age 65 or over.

==Education==
The town of Mayersville is served by the [[South Delta School District]].

==Notable people==
<!--keep in alphabetical order -->
* [[Unita Blackwell]], civil rights leader and mayor of Mayersville from 1976-2001; first female African-American mayor in Mississippi.
* [[Hazlewood Power Farish]], [[Mississippi State Senate|Mississippi state senator]] from 1908 to 1912<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rowland|first=Dunbar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GiI48lqMC3cC&dq=Hazlewood+Power+Farish&pg=PA1008|title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi|date=1908|publisher=Department of Archives and History|pages=1008–1009|language=en}}</ref>
* [[William Stamps Farish II]], president of [[Standard Oil]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Collins | first = Karen | title = Farish, William Stamps | work = Handbook of Texas Online | publisher = Texas State Historical Association | url = https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa07 | accessdate = September 25, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Anthony Harris (defensive lineman)|Anthony Harris]], professional football [[defensive tackle]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Mustangs in the Pros I |url=https://wnmumustangs.com/sports/2007/7/27/mustangs%20in%20pros.aspx |website=Western New Mexico University Athletics |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
* [[Elza Jeffords]], [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from [[Mississippi's 3rd congressional district]] from 1883 to 1885<ref>{{cite book|last=Rowland|first=Dunbar|title=Mississippi Official and Statistical Register|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZsKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA315|year=1904|publisher=Department of Archives and History|location=Jackson, Mississippi|page=315}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Issaquena County, Mississippi}}
{{Mississippi county seats}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Issaquena County, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Mississippi populated places on the Mississippi River]]
[[Category:Towns in Mississippi]]
[[Category:County seats in Mississippi]]
[[Category:1830 establishments in Mississippi]]