Lamar is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

and

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Benton County, Mississippi Benton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,729. Its county seat is Ashland. It is locally believed that residents convinced the post-Civil War Reconstruction government that ...

, United States. It is located along

Mississippi Highway 7 Mississippi Highway 7 (MS 7) runs generally north–south from the Tennessee state line in Benton County to Belzoni, Mississippi. It travels approximately , serving Humphreys, Leflore, Carroll, Grenada, Yalobusha, Lafayette, Marshall, ...

in western Benton County. Lamar has a post office with the ZIP code 38642. The nearly abandoned

Mississippi Central Railroad Mississippi Central Railroad (reporting mark MSCI) is a short line railroad operating over 51 miles from Oxford, Mississippi, to Grand Junction, Tennessee, owned by Pioneer Railcorp. The railroad's principal commodities are wood products and ...

runs through Lamar, and is only used rarely for freight trafficking. Lamar shares its ZIP code with the nearby community of Slayden. It was first named as a CDP in the 2020 Census which listed a population of 39.

History

Lamar was named in honor of

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II (September 17, 1825January 23, 1893) was an American politician, diplomat, and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Mississippi in both houses of Congress, served as the United States Se ...

, member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

from

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Lamar was originally located in Marshall County, but after Benton County was created from Marshall County and Tippah County, the town was moved two miles east to be closer to the railroad. Lamar was formerly home to a school. A post office first began operation under the name Lamar in 1837.

Demographics

2020 census

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''

Notable person

Floyd Lee Floyd Lee, also known as Theodore Williams (August 20, 1933 – June 7, 2020), was an American blues musician. A native of Mississippi, Lee traveled around the United States before settling in New York in 1972. He is best known for his passionate ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician

References

Unincorporated communities in Benton County, Mississippi Unincorporated communities in Mississippi Census-designated places in Benton County, Mississippi {{BentonCountyMS-geo-stub