Adams 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 United States census, the population was 29,538. The

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 ...

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States ** Natchez slave market, Mississippi * ...

. The county is the first to have been organized in the former

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that was created under an organic act passed by the United States Congress, Congress of the United States. It was approved and signed into law by Presiden ...

. It is named for the second

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

, who held that office when the county was organized in 1799. Adams County is part of the

Natchez micropolitan area The Natchez Micropolitan Statistical Area is a micropolitan area that consists of Adams County, Mississippi, Adams County, Mississippi and Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Concordia Parish, Louisiana. As of the United States Census, 2000, 2000 census, ...

which consists of Adams County, Mississippi and

Concordia Parish, Louisiana Concordia Parish (; ) is a parish that borders the Mississippi River in eastern central Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,687. The parish seat is Vidalia. The parish was formed in 1807. Concordia Parish is part of the ...

History

Adams County was created on April 2, 1799, from part of Pickering Territorial County. The county was organized eighteen years before Mississippi became a state. Five Mississippi

governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

have come from Adams County: David Holmes,

George Poindexter George Poindexter (1779 – September 5, 1853) was an American politician, lawyer, and judge from Mississippi. Born in Virginia, he moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1802. He served as United States Representative from the newly admitted sta ...

John A. Quitman John Anthony Quitman (September 1, 1798 – July 17, 1858) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. As President of the Mississippi Senate, he served one month as Acting Governor of Mississippi (from December 3, 1835, to January 7, 1836) a ...

Gerard Brandon Gerard Chittocque Brandon (September 15, 1788March 28, 1850) was an American political leader who twice served as Governor of Mississippi during its early years of statehood. He was the first native-born governor of Mississippi. He was a delegat ...

, and

William Allain William A. Allain (February 14, 1928 – December 2, 2013) was an American politician and lawyer who held office as the 59th governor of Mississippi as a Democrat from 1984 to 1988. Born in Adams County, Mississippi, he attended the Universit ...

. In 1860, before the

US Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded f ...

, Adams County was the richest county in the United States.

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 (5.2%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designat ...

* U.S. Highway 84 * U.S. Highway 98 * U.S. Highway 425 *

Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Trace Parkway is a limited-access national parkway in the Southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 44 ...

Adjacent counties and parishes

* Jefferson County (north) * Franklin County (east) * Wilkinson County (south) *

(southwest) *

Tensas Parish, Louisiana Tensas Parish () is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located in the northeastern section of the U.S. state, State of Louisiana; its eastern border is the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population ...

(northwest)

National protected areas

Homochitto National Forest Homochitto National Forest is a U.S. National Forest in southwestern Mississippi comprising . In the mid-1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began reforestation of the area and developing a system of roadways and recreational areas. G ...

(part) *

Natchez National Historical Park Natchez National Historical Park commemorates the history of Natchez, Mississippi, and is managed by the National Park Service. The park consists of four separate sites: Fort Rosalie is the site of a former fortification from the 18th century ...

(part) * St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge

Demographics

Population

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 29,538 people, 11,237 households, and 6,650 families residing in the county.

Race

In 2020, its racial makeup was 56.57% Black/African American, 36.99% non-Hispanic white, 0.19% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.24% other or mixed, and 3.43% Hispanic or Latino of any race. In 2010, 53.5% were Black or African American, 42.7%

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 ...

, 0.4% Asian, 0.3%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 1.7% of some other race and 1.4% of two or more races. 6.7% were

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

(of any race).

Education

All residents of the county are in the

Natchez-Adams School District The Natchez-Adams School District is a public school district based in Natchez, Mississippi ( USA). The district's boundaries parallel that of Adams County. Schools * Natchez High School *Fallin Career and Technology Center *McLaurin Element ...

Alcorn State University Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. ...

, a

historically black college Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

that was designated as a

land-grant institution A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, or a beneficiary ...

, has its School of Business and School of Nursing at Natchez. The School of Business offers Masters of Business Administration degree and some undergraduate classes at the School of Business, Natchez campus. It is in the district of

Copiah–Lincoln Community College Copiah–Lincoln Community College (Co–Lin) is a public community college with its main campus in Wesson, Mississippi. The Co–Lin District serves a seven-county area including Adams County, Mississippi, Adams, Copiah County, Mississippi, Copi ...

, and has been since 1971. There is a campus in Natchez. This is adjacent to the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University.

Economy

Adams County Correctional Center, a

private prison A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit pris ...

operated by the

Corrections Corporation of America CoreCivic, Inc. formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas W. ...

on behalf of the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

, is in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the county.Adams County Correctional Center
"

. Retrieved on June 28, 2016. "20 Hobo Fork Road, Natchez, MS 39120"

Top employers

The top employers of Adams County are as follows:

1.

(620)
2. Merit Health Natchez (425)
3. Adams County Correctional Center (380)
4.

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

(365)
5. City of Natchez (275)
6. Magnolia Bluffs Casino (250)
7. Jordan Carriers (250)
8. Supermarket Operations (250)
9. Adams County Government (220)
10. Energy Drilling (220)

Communities

City

(county seat and only municipality)

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

* Cloverdale * Morgantown

Other communities

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

* Pine Ridge * Sibley * Stanton *

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Ghost/extinct towns

* Arnot * Briers * Ellis Cliffs * Hutchins Landing * Kienstra * Selsertown

Politics

Adams County, typical of other counties in 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 ...

, was heavily Democratic during the first half of the 20th century. After supporting

Dixiecrat The States' Rights Democratic Party (whose members are often called the Dixiecrats), also colloquially referred to as the Dixiecrat Party, was a short-lived segregationist, States' Rights, and old southern democratic political party in the ...

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 ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, it began to lean more Republican, and remained that way until the 1980s. Since

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, Adams County has returned to the Democratic fold.

References

Sources

* Brieger, James. ''Hometown, Mississippi''.

External links

*
Mississippi Courthouses – Adams County

Adams County Interactive Oil Well Map
Mississippi Oil Journal
Adams County Police and Miscellaneous County Records
Special Collections at The University of Southern Mississippi. {{authority control Populated places established in 1799 Mississippi counties Natchez micropolitan area Mississippi counties on the Mississippi River 1799 establishments in Mississippi Territory Black Belt (U.S. region) Majority-minority counties in Mississippi