Monroe 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 ...

on the northeast border of the U.S. state of

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 ...

next to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,180. 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 ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

History

The county is named in honor of

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

, the fifth President of the United States. Part of the county east of the Tombigbee River originally made-up part of the

Alabama Territory The Territory of Alabama (sometimes Alabama Territory) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States. The Alabama Territory was carved from the Mississippi Territory on August 15, 1817 and lasted until December 14, 1819, when i ...

, belonging to Marion County, until new lines of demarcation put it in the State of Mississippi in 1821. In 1889, an African-American man, Keith Bowen was lynched by a mob in the Lebanon community six miles south of Aberdeen after he was found in a white girl's bedroom at 3:00 AM." In 1922, William Baker, an 18-year-old

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

man was lynched in Monroe County by a white mob.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water. In 1922, the Commissioner of Agriculture for the county published a report in a local newspaper which described in some detail the soil conditions and agriculture of the county. He described the areas as the Black Lands and the soil as black lime, a "stiff" soil, derived from the Selma chalk formation and extremely rich in potassium and phosphorus.

Flora

Sweet clover is an indigenous wild ground cover in the county.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 45 * U.S. Highway 278 * Mississippi Highway 6 * Mississippi Highway 8 * Mississippi Highway 25 * Mississippi Highway 145

Adjacent counties

* Lowndes County (south) * Clay County (southwest) * Chickasaw County (west) * Lee County (northwest) * Itawamba County (north) * Lamar County, Alabama (east) * Marion County, Alabama (northeast)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 34,180 people, 13,966 households, and 9,122 families residing in the county.

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 38,014 people, 14,603 households, and 10,660 families residing in the county. 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 . There were 16,236 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 68.37%

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 ...

, 30.77%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

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 ...

, 0.10% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.01%

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 ...

, 0.11% from other races, and 0.47% from two or more races. 0.69% of the population were

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. There were 14,603 households, out of which 34.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.00% 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, 17.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.00% were non-families. 24.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.07. In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.20% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 89.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,307, and the median income for a family was $36,749. Males had a median income of $30,232 versus $20,411 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 county was $14,072. About 13.60% of families and 17.20% 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 22.30% of those under age 18 and 21.70% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

both the largest creamery and the largest hog-feeding plant "in the South" were located in the county.

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

was the most important grain crop grown in the county. Corn was typically planted after the planting and harvest of a crop of clover or oats. At that time, oat crops typically yielded forty to sixty bushels per acre. Other crops grown, either for harvest or pasture, included

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, rye,

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

, Japan clover. Monroe had the largest acreage devoted to alfalfa production and exported more alfalfa hay than any other county in the state. As of 2021, US Silica operates a

bentonite Bentonite ( ) is an Absorption (chemistry), absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelli ...

mine located several miles south of Aberdeen, near the community of Darracott, where bentonite is extracted before being refined into petrochemicals and animal feed.

Communities

Cities

(county seat) * Amory * Nettleton (partly in Lee County)

Towns

* Hatley * Smithville

Village

* Gattman

Census-designated places

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Other unincorporated communities

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

* Becker * Bigbee * Binford * Bristow * Central Grove * Darracott * Flinn * Gibson * Greenwood Springs * Lackey * Mormon Springs * Muldon * Parham *

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

* Quincy * Riggins * Sipsey Fork * Splunge * Strong * Tranquil * Westville * Wise Gap * Wren

Ghost towns

* Bolivar * Camargo * Cotton Gin Port

Politics

Ever since 1980, when Democrat

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 ...

carried the county by 18 points, Monroe has shifted to becoming a Republican stronghold, increasingly so in recent presidential elections.

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's 2024 performance was the best by a Republican since the lopsided 1972 election.https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/

References

{{Authority control Mississippi counties 1821 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1821