Panola County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,208. Its county seats are Sardis and Batesville. The county is located just east of the Mississippi Delta in the northern part of the state. It is bisected by the Tallahatchie River flowing to the southwest; travel difficulties because of the river resulted in two county seats being established.

Panola is the anglicization of ponolo, a word meaning "thread" in both old Choctaw and Chickasaw and "cotton" in modern Choctaw. This was one of twelve large counties organized from the Chickasaw Cession of 1832.

History

Following forced removal of most of the historic Chickasaw tribe to territory west of the Mississippi River, Panola County was established February 9, 1836, by the state legislature. It is one of the twelve large northern Mississippi counties created that year from the territory of the Chickasaw Cession of 1832. The original act defined its limits as follows:

'

On February 1, 1877, when Quitman County was organized by the legislature, it took a small fraction of Panola's southwestern area, reducing Panola from an area of to its present land surface of . By 1920 the county had a population of 27,845. Its inhabitants gradually increased in numbers from 1850 to 1910, from 11,444 to 31,274, reaching a peak of population in 1940. Through this period the area was based on agriculture. From then until 1980, population declined markedly, as many African Americans moved west and north in the second wave of the Great Migration, to take jobs on the West Coast in the burgeoning defense industry. Whites also left the rural area. In 2020, the county was 48.3% African American and 47.1% white.

Starting in 1803, sixteenth sections in each township in Mississippi were established for school purposes. These sections of land were to be used exclusively for school projects. Documentation has not survived about these schools. During the early 1840s, the first school‑related advertisements were published r in the county newspapers. The ads attempted to present the virtues of these early schools.

During this period, Judge James S.B. Thacher, a highly educated Bostonian, devised a popular educational program for the state of Mississippi. The proposed scheme received considerable discussion and was finally incorporated by the state legislature (March 4, 1846) into "An Act to establish a System of Common Schools."

The act "provided for a board of five school commissioners in each county, to license teachers and have charge of schools, lease the school lands and have charge of the school funds in each county."

Schools established under this rule "had no uniformity since they differed as the counties differed in wealth and efficiency of management." (approximately four times that of the 1840 census). This census (unpublished returns) recorded that 18 individuals stated their occupation as educators or teachers. By the spring of 1854, several members of the local Shiloh community (Capt Thomas F. Wilson, Dr H. Moseley, and Jesse Smith) constructed a small log cabin to be used as the community's school house.

This school, known as the Jones' School, at first employed only one teacher. It slowly grew in size and popularity. Several years later, the facility was moved to Peach Creek, where the school was informally known as the "Greasy Smith Schoolhouse," being named for the local village blacksmith. In 1882, the facility was moved to Pleasant Grove.

Geography

thumb|right|360px|Panola County

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.8%) is water.

Major highways

  • 20px Interstate 55
  • 20px U.S. Route 51
  • 20px Mississippi Highway 3
  • 20px Mississippi Highway 6
  • 20px Mississippi Highway 35
  • 20px U.S. Route 278
  • 20px Mississippi Highway 315

Adjacent counties

  • Tunica County (northwest)
  • Tate County (north)
  • Lafayette County (east)
  • Yalobusha County (southeast)
  • Tallahatchie County (southwest)
  • Quitman County (west)

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Panola County, Mississippi – Racial and ethnic composition<br><small></small>

!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|-

|White alone (NH)

|14,238

|15,326

|17,191

|16,981

|style='background: #ffffe6; |15,642

|50.55%

|51.09%

|50.16%

|48.93%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |47.10%

|-

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|13,599

|14,452

|16,478

|16,801

|style='background: #ffffe6; |16,035

|48.29%

|48.18%

|48.08%

|48.41%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |48.29%

|-

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|6

|31

|55

|70

|style='background: #ffffe6; |52

|0.02%

|0.10%

|0.16%

|0.20%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.16%

|-

|Asian alone (NH)

|30

|33

|53

|61

|style='background: #ffffe6; |62

|0.11%

|0.11%

|0.15%

|0.18%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.19%

|-

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|x

|x

|2

|0

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4

|x

|x

|0.01%

|0.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.01%

|-

|Other race alone (NH)

|8

|1

|0

|14

|style='background: #ffffe6; |35

|0.03%

|0.00%

|0.00%

|0.04%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.11%

|-

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|x

|x

|111

|286

|style='background: #ffffe6; |700

|x

|x

|0.32%

|0.82%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.11%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|283

|153

|384

|494

|style='background: #ffffe6; |678

|1.00%

|0.51%

|1.12%

|1.42%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.04%

|-

|Total

|28,164

|29,996

|34,274

|34,707

|style='background: #ffffe6; |33,208

|100.00%

|100.00%

|100.00%

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

|}

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 33,208. The median age was 40.1 years. 24.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.3 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 47.5% White, 48.5% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.0% from some other race, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.0% of the population.

There were 12,772 households in the county, of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 39.8% were married-couple households, 20.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 33.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. of 2000, there were 34,274 people, 12,232 households, and 9,014 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 13,736 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 50.48% White, 48.36% Black or African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other races, and 0.39% from two or more races. 1.12% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 12,232 households, out of which 36.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.90% were married couples living together, 19.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.30% were non-families. 23.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.25.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.40% under the age of 18, 10.40% from 18 to 24, 27.40% from 25 to 44, 20.80% from 45 to 64, and 12.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 91.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $26,785, and the median income for a family was $32,675. Males had a median income of $27,359 versus $19,088 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,075. About 21.20% of families and 25.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.30% of those under age 18 and 25.20% of those age 65 or over.

Government

In presidential elections, Panola County was a swing county, but trended Republican in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Donald Trump won the county in 2020, with 51.6 percent to Joe Biden's 47.4 percent.

The county's Board of Supervisors are elected from five districts. They hire a county administrator to manage daily affairs.

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Education

The elected school board selects the school superintendent. School districts include:

  • North Panola School District
  • South Panola School District

Communities

thumb|right

City

  • Batesville (county seat)

Towns

  • Como
  • Courtland
  • Crenshaw (partly in Quitman County)
  • Crowder (mostly in Quitman County)
  • Sardis (county seat)

Village

  • Pope

Unincorporated communities

  • Askew
  • Ballentine
  • Buxton
  • Curtis Station
  • Glenville
  • Horatio
  • Locke Station‡
  • Longtown
  • Pleasant Grove
  • Terza

Ghost town

  • Tocowa

See also

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Panola County, Mississippi
  • Panola Partnership website
  • "We Ain't What We Was", a book about the changes in the county's politics after the Civil Rights Era

References

  • Carl Edwin Lindgren. 1994. Panola Remembers: Education in a Southern Community. N.E. Morris Publishing Co. Also on-line at Panola Remembers.
  • Panola County Sheriff's Office