Forrest 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 in 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 78,158. 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 ...

and largest city is

Hattiesburg Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and most populous city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 48,730 in 2020, making it the 5th m ...

. The county was created from

Perry County Perry County may refer to: United States *Perry County, Alabama *Perry County, Arkansas *Perry County, Illinois *Perry County, Indiana *Perry County, Kentucky *Perry County, Mississippi *Perry County, Missouri *Perry County, Ohio * Perry Cou ...

in 1908 and named in honor of

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

, a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and the first

Grand Wizard The grand wizard (sometimes called the imperial wizard or national director) is the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad. The title "Grand Wizard" was used by the first Klan which was fo ...

of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

. Forrest County is part of the Hattiesburg, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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 (0.8%) is water.

Major highways

Interstate 59 Interstate 59 (I-59) is an Interstate Highway located in the southeastern United States. It is a north–south route that spans from a junction with I-10 and I-12 at Slidell, Louisiana, to a junction with I-24 near Wildwood, Georgia ...

* U.S. Highway 11 * U.S. Highway 49 * U.S. Highway 98 *

Mississippi Highway 13 Mississippi Highway 13 (MS 13) is a state highway in Mississippi. It runs from north to south for , serving the counties of Forrest County, MS, Forrest, Pearl River County, MS, Pearl River, Lamar County, MS, Lamar, Marion County, MS, Marion, Jef ...

* Mississippi Highway 42

Adjacent counties

* Jones County (northeast) *

(east) * Stone County (south) * Pearl River County (southwest) * Lamar County (west) * Covington County (northwest)

National protected area

De Soto National Forest De Soto National Forest, named for 16th-century Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, is of pine forests in southern Mississippi. It is one of the most important protected areas for the biological diversity of the Gulf Coast ecoregion of Nor ...

(part)

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 78,158 people, 27,340 households, and 15,633 families residing in the county.

Communities

Cities

(county seat; small portion in Lamar County) *

Petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

Census-designated places

* Eastabuchie (located mostly in Jones County) * Glendale * Rawls Springs

Other unincorporated communities

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

* Carnes * Eatonville * Fruitland Park *

Maxie Maxie is a given name, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Max Baer (boxer) (1909–1959), American world champion heavyweight boxer, nicknamed "Madcap Maxie" * Max Maxie Anderson (1934–1983), American ho ...

Maybank Malayan Banking Berhad (doing business as Maybank) is a Malaysian universal bank, with key operating "home markets" of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. According to the 2020 Brand Finance report, Maybank is Malaysia's most valuable bank b ...

* McLaurin * Wallis

Ghost towns

* Riverside

Politics

Forrest County has not supported the National Democratic ticket for president since 1944, when it voted overwhelmingly for

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in his landslide record fourth term victory. That is the longest such streak of any county in the state. Only twice since then has it not voted Republican, in 1948 when it backed the States Rights ticket of

Strom Thurmond James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Before his 49 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South ...

and then-Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright, and in 1968 when it voted for

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

and

Curtis LeMay Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was a United States Air Force, US Air Force General (United States), general who was a key American military commander during the Cold War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United St ...

Education

There are three school districts in the county: Forrest County Schools, Hattiesburg Public School District, and Petal School District.

Forrest County Agricultural High School Forrest County Agricultural High School (FCAHS) is a public high school located in Brooklyn, in unincorporated Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The school provides education to grades 9 12. Forrest County AHS is the only independent ...

is in the county. The county is in the zone of

Pearl River Community College Pearl River Community College is a public community college in Poplarville, Mississippi. It was founded as Pearl River County Agricultural High School in 1909 and became the first junior college in Mississippi in 1921. Residents of Hancock, ...

References

External links

*
Mississippi Courthouses – Forrest County
{{Authority control Mississippi counties Hattiesburg metropolitan area 1908 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1908 Nathan Bedford Forrest