Baldwyn, officially the City of Baldwyn, is a city in

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and Prentiss counties,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, United States. It is located in the northern part of the Tupelo micropolitan area. Founded in 1860, the population was 3,071 at the 2020 census.

History

Located five miles north of Guntown, the main street of Baldwyn runs along the county line of Lee and Prentiss counties. It has the unusual distinction of having been incorporated in four counties. Founded on November 20, 1860, it was incorporated by an act of the

Legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

in Tishomingo and Itawamba counties on April 1, 1861. Lee county was formed from parts of Itawamba and Pontotoc on October 26, 1866, while Tishomingo was divided into Alcorn, Prentiss, and Tishomingo on April 15, 1870. Baldwyn is an outgrowth of the village of Carrollville: when the

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was being built during the years of 1848 to 1861, it missed Carrollville by one and one-half miles and the citizens moved to the new town of Baldwyn, which was named for the

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

who surveyed the road through the town. Tishomingo, chief of the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

nation, lived at Carrollville but died near

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, in 1839 of

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while being moved west with his

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Geography

In the 2000 census, 1,892 of the city's 3,321 residents (57.0%) lived in Prentiss county and 1,429 (43.0%) in Lee county. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.43%) is water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 3,071 people, 1,162 households, and 680 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 3,321 people, 1,331 households, and 886 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 287.9 sq mi). There were 1,472 housing units at an average density of 127.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 54.53%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 43.87%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.30% from other races, and 1.05% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.99% of the population. There were 1,331 households, out of which 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 20.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.02. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.8% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 79.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $26,016, and the median income for a family was $37,598. Males had a median income of $27,162 versus $21,174 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $15,430. About 19.9% of families and 24.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 32.9% of those under age 18 and 23.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Baldwyn is served by the Baldwyn School District.

Infrastructure

The Booneville/Baldwyn Airport is owned by the cities of Booneville and Baldwyn. It is located in Prentiss county, southwest of Booneville's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Notable people

* R. H. Allen (1840–1895), Mississippi state senator (1872–1880) *

Dorothy Vredenburgh Bush Dorothy McElroy Vredenburgh Bush (December 8, 1916 – December 21, 1991) was an American political activist. She was the secretary of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 1988. She also became the vice-president of the Young Democratic ...

(1916–1991), secretary of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

from 1944 to 1980 * Elijah Allen Cox (1887–1974),

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of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (in case citations, N.D. Miss.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit with facilities in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Aber ...

from 1929 to 1974 * Tim Ford (1951–2015), Speaker of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected for ...

from 1988 to 2004 * Babe McCarthy (1923–1975), American professional and collegiate basketball coach * Laura Pendergest-Holt (born 1973), convicted Ponzi scheme artist, financier, and former Chief Investment Officer of

Stanford Financial Group The Stanford Financial Group was a privately held international group of financial services companies controlled by Allen Stanford, until it was seized by American authorities in early 2009. Headquartered at 5050 Westheimer in Uptown Houston, Texa ...

* Elijah Pierce (1892–1984), American

woodcarver Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

* Paul A. G. Stewart (born 1941), 50th Bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) Church * W. H. H. Tison (1822–1882), 39th speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives. Murdered while in office in downtown Baldwyn.

References

External links

* * *
Baldwyn, Mississippi
at the

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), an independent United States federal agency, is charged with the mission to promote the Historic preservation, preservation of the nation's diverse historic resources. The ACHP advises the Pr ...

Lee-Itawamba Library System

''The Baldwyn News''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwyn, Mississippi 1860 establishments in Mississippi Cities in Lee County, Mississippi Cities in Mississippi Cities in Prentiss County, Mississippi Cities in Tupelo micropolitan area Planned communities in the United States Populated places established in 1860 Railway towns in Mississippi