DeSoto County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

- located on the northwestern border of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 185,314, making it the third-most populous county in Mississippi. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Hernando. DeSoto County is part of the

Memphis metropolitan area The Memphis–Clarksdale–Forrest City Combined Statistical Area, TN–MS–AR (CSA) is the commercial and cultural hub of the Mid-South or Ark-Miss-Tenn. The census-defined combined statistical area covers eleven counties in three states, Tenne ...

. 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.

History

DeSoto County, Mississippi, was formally established February 9, 1836.Robert Lowry and William H. McCardle, ''A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville to the Death of Jefferson Davis.'' Jackson, MS: R.H. Henry & Co., 1891; p. 473. The original county lines included territory now part of Tate County, which was carved out in 1873. The county is named for

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

explorer

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...

, the first European explorer known to reach the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. 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 near

Lake Village, Arkansas Lake Village is a city in and the county seat of Chicot County, Arkansas, Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,575 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is located in the Arkansas Delta. Lake Village is name ...

Early history

Indian artifacts collected in DeSoto County link it with prehistoric groups of Woodland and

Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a collection of Native American societies that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building la ...

peoples. Members of the Mississippian culture, who built complex settlements and earthwork monuments throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its major tributaries, met

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 the

west of present-day Lake Cormorant, built rafts there, and crossed to present-day

Crowley's Ridge Crowley's Ridge (also Crowleys Ridge) is a geological formation that rises 250 to above the alluvial plain of the Mississippi embayment in a line from southeastern Missouri to the Mississippi River near Helena, Arkansas. It is the most p ...

, Arkansas. Based on records of the expedition and archeology, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

has designated a "DeSoto Corridor" from Coahoma County, Mississippi to the Chickasaw Bluff in Memphis. 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 named ''Chicasa'', which De Soto visited, was probably the ancestral home of the historical

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 ...

, who are descended from the Mississippian culture. They had lived in the area for centuries before white settlers began arriving. Present-day

Pontotoc, Mississippi Pontotoc is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Mississippi, located to the west of the larger city of Tupelo. The population was 5,640 at the 2020 census. Pontotoc is a Chickasaw word that means, “Land of the Hanging Grapes. ...

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. 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 the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. The United States acquired the area from the British as part of the treaty that ended the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

19th and 20th centuries

The Chickasaw finally ceded most of their land to the United States under pressure during Indian Removal, and a treaty in 1832. They were forced to remove to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

west of the Mississippi River. Negotiations began in September 1816 between the United States government and the Chickasaw nation and concluded with the signing of the Treaty 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 the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...

in 1830, authorizing forcible removal if necessary to extinguish Native American claims in the Southeast. From 1832 to 1836, government surveyors mapped the 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. By treaty, the land was assigned by sections of to individual Indian households. The Chickasaw, a numerically small tribe, were assigned of land by using that formula. The government declared the remainder as surplus and disposed of the remaining 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. 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, many

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

stayed in the area, but shaped their own lives by working on small plots as sharecroppers 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. In 1890, the state legislature disenfranchised most blacks under the new constitution, which used

poll taxes A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

and

literacy tests A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write. Literacy tests have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. Between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were used as an effecti ...

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. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union was organized in 1934. It was open to both black and white sharecroppers 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 the Coldwater River.R.L. Nave, "Report: Miss. No. 2 in Lynchings per Capita"
''Jackson Free Press'', February 11, 2015; accessed March 19, 2017 One account said that his body was weighted by chains and that authorities claimed it to be a suicide. Equal Justice Institute documented 12 lynchings in the United States">lynchings in the county from 1877 to 1950.''Lynching in America'', 2nd edition
, Supplement by County, p. 5 Most lynchings in the South took place around the turn of the 20th century. Since the late 20th century, DeSoto County has experienced considerable suburban development related to the growth of Memphis.

21st century

As part of the Memphis, Tennessee">Memphis, Tennessee">Memphis, Tennessee metropolitan area, the early-21st-century DeSoto County has become one of the 40 fastest-growing counties in the United 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 as black 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. Such suburban residential development in the county has been most noticeable in the Mississippi cities of Southaven, Olive Branch, and Horn Lake. Also stimulating development in the formerly rural area is the massive casino/resort complex, in the neighboring Tunica County, which is the sixth-largest gambling district in the United States.

Politics

DeSoto County, as did most Southern counties, voted predominantly for the Democratic candidate through

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

. A shift in this pattern took place beginning in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, as with the rest of the

Solid South The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the aftermath of the Co ...

. The only Democrat to take DeSoto County since then has been

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, in his successful

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

bid.

Geography

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 county has a total area of , of which is land and (4.2%) is water.

Geographic features

* Coldwater River * Arkabutla Lake * Chickasaw Bluffs

Transit

While there is no fixed-route transit within the county, Memphis Area Transit Authority,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

, Megabus and Delta Bus Lines serve nearby Memphis.

Major highways

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The ...

Interstate 69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, and includ ...

* Interstate 269 *

U.S. Route 51 U.S. Route 51 or U.S. Highway 51 (US 51) is a major south–north United States highway that extends from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, to within of the Wisconsin–Michigan state line. As most of the United States Numbered Hi ...

* U.S. Route 61

Adjacent counties

* Shelby County,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

- north * Crittenden County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

- west * Tunica County - southwest * Tate County - south * Marshall County - east

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 185,314 people, 65,220 households, and 47,230 families residing in the county.

2013

As of the 2013 U.S.census estimates, there were 168,240 people living in the county. 70.3% were non-Hispanic

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 ...

, 21.5% Black or African American, 1.6% Asian, 2.6% Native American, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 5.0% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). The

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

for a family was $66,377 and the mean income was $75,875. DeSoto County has the highest median income in Mississippi and the second highest mean income after Madison County.

2000 census

According to the 2000

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 ...

, the largest self-identified ancestry groups in DeSoto County were English 53.1%, Scots-Irish 15.1%, African 11.4%, and Irish 4.5%. Since then the percentage of African-American population in the county has nearly doubled, as the total county population has also grown.

Attractions

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' by ''USA Today.'' DeSoto County was also previously known as the home of Maywood Beach, a

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming ...

that closed in 2003 after more than 70 years of operation.

DeSoto County Museum

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. 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 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, where many French settled after France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain following its defeat in the

Hernando DeSoto Park

Hernando DeSoto Park, located on Bass Road west of

Walls Walls may refer to: *The plural of wall, a structure * Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname Places * Walls, Louisiana, United States * Walls, Mississippi, United States *Walls, Ontario Perry is a township (Canada), ...

, is a 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.

Communities

Cities

* Hernando (county seat) * Horn Lake * Olive Branch * Southaven

Town

Census-designated places

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

* Eudora * Lake View * Lynchburg * Pleasant Hill

Unincorporated communities

* Cedarview * Center Hill * Cockrum *

Days A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, and night. This daily cyc ...

* Handy Corner * Lake Cormorant * Lewisburg *

Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

* Mineral Wells * Nesbit *

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

* West Days

Former village

* Memphis

Education

Public education in DeSoto County is provided by the DeSoto County School District, the

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

for the entire county.
Text list
/ref> It is the state's largest school district. The district is responsible for the operation of eight high schools, eight middle schools, three intermediate (Grades 3–5) and numerous primary schools.

Notable people

* Nakobe Dean, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles. *

John Grisham John Ray Grisham Jr. (; born February 8, 1955) is an American novelist, lawyer, and former politician, known for his best-selling legal thrillers. According to the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 37 ...

, lawyer, writer. *

Olivia Holt Olivia Hastings Holt (born August 5, 1997) is an American actress and singer. She starred in the Disney XD series ''Kickin' It'', List of Disney Channel original films, Disney Channel Original Movie ''Girl vs. Monster'', and the List of program ...

, actor, singer. *

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

(1935-2022), singer, songwriter, pianist. * Cody Reed, MLB pitcher, Tampa Bay Rays. * Austin Riley, MLB third baseman,

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. * Ricky Stenhouse Jr., NASCAR.

Media

* '' DeSoto Times-Tribune'' * '' DeSotoCountyNews.com''

References

External links

DesotoCountyMS.gov
- Official County Government Website
DeSoto County Economic Development Council
- Official site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Desoto County, Mississippi Mississippi counties Counties in the Memphis metropolitan area Mississippi counties on the Mississippi River 1836 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1836 la:DeSoto Comitatus