Mendenhall, Mississippi

Mendenhall, Mississippi
City
Downtown Mendenhall in April 2014; the Simpson County Courthouse is seen in the background.
Flag
Location of Mendenhall, Mississippi
Mendenhall, Mississippi Location in the United States
Coordinates: 31°57′40″N89°52′3″W / 31.96111°N 89.86750°W / 31.96111; -89.86750
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Simpson
Government
• Type	Mayor-Council
•  Mayor	Todd Booth
•  Board of Aldermen	Donnie Thomas Robert Mangum Jana Miller Sandra Weeks Tim Gray
Area [1]
• Total	5.36 sq mi (13.89 km2)
• Land	5.35 sq mi (13.85 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)
Elevation	335 ft (102 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	2,199
• Density	411.18/sq mi (158.74/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
ZIP code	39114
Area code	601
FIPS code	28-46600
GNIS feature ID	0673476
Website	www.cityofmendenhall.com

Mendenhall is a city in Simpson County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,504 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Simpson County. ^[2] Mendenhall is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Mendenhall was originally called Edna, to honor the wife of developer Phillip Didlake. After learning that a town with that name already existed in Mississippi, the city had its name changed to Mendenhall to honor Thomas Mendenhall, a citizen and lawyer from Westville, Mississippi (which has become a ghost town). ^[3]

Mendenhall is the county seat of Simpson County. The county courthouse was built in 1907 ^[4] by architect Andrew J. Byron. ^[4]

Weathersby, named for one of its founding families, was an unincorporated census-designated community 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southeast of Mendenhall, and 7.4 miles (11.9 km) northeast of Magee. According to Charles Baldwin, Simpson County Tax Collector, Mendenhall annexed Weathersby in the 1980s. ^[5]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.3 square miles (14 km²), of which 5.3 square miles (14 km²) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) (0.37%) is water.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1910	606		—
1920	637		5.1%
1930	919		44.3%
1940	1,282		39.5%
1950	1,539		20.0%
1960	1,946		26.4%
1970	2,402		23.4%
1980	2,533		5.5%
1990	2,463		−2.8%
2000	2,555		3.7%
2010	2,504		−2.0%
2020	2,199		−12.2%
U.S. Decennial Census [6]

Mendenhall racial composition as of 2020 ^[7]

	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	1,348	61.3%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	743	33.79%
Native American	2	0.09%
Asian	3	0.14%
Other/Mixed	74	3.37%
Hispanic or Latino	29	1.32%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,199 people, 1,024 households, and 641 families residing in the city.

Entertainment attractions

Simpson County Courthouse. Photo by Calvin Beale.

Mendenhall had a movie theatre called the Star Theatre, ^[8] built by Edgar French, Ben Slay and Lonnie Burnham. Located on Main Street, the building boasted a one-screen auditorium with a balcony. It also featured a pool hall and three offices upstairs, one of which housed the city's Chamber of Commerce. The theatre opened for business on November 9, 1938 with the western Born to the West. The price of admission was 11 cents and a box of popcorn was a dime. A man from Prentiss was initially hired to run the theatre, but he was soon "sent packing" and Edgar French told his son, George Lewis French, "You're taking over that picture show".

Lewis French, who had worked in his father's ice plant growing up and was trained as a bookkeeper at Clarks Commercial College in Jackson, had no experience in running a movie theatre. He went to New Orleans to learn how to book movies and run the projection equipment. Aside from time spent serving in Europe as a radio man during World War II, French continued to operate the Star Theatre until he decided to close it in 1971. ^[9]

During the late 1960s, the Star Theatre had problems with vandalism and growing racial tensions among its young patrons who objected to maintaining segregation. Under Jim Crow customs, black customers were required to sit in the segregated balcony and this only changed after new U.S. legislation was enacted and ended such practices.

In October 1979, a newly remodeled and fully integrated Star Theatre reopened under the ownership of Danny Collins, a young local entrepreneur. Its first movie was the Chuck Norris film A Force of One . The theatre enjoyed revived popularity until competition from video arcades and cable TV forced Collins to close some three years later.

The theatre was repainted when used as a location for the film My Dog Skip . Heavy rains caused the roof to collapse in April 2008. The theatre burned down in 2016.

Notable people

• Pauline Braddy, drummer
• Larry Hardy, professional football player
• Stephen Hobbs, professional football player
• John M. Perkins, civil rights activist
• Paul Ramsey, Christian ethicist
• Martinas Rankin, professional football player

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. "History and Heritage". Discover Simpson County. April 26, 1921. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
4. "Southern Lagniappe: A Place Called Mendenhall". Southernlagniappe.blogspot.com. March 16, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
5. Weathersby and Choctaw Heritage — Simpson County Heritage Trail, hmdb.org. Accessed May 19, 2024.
6. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
7. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
8. "Star Theatre in Mendenhall, MS - Cinema Treasures". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
9. An Oral History with George Lewis French, conducted on May 3, 2003. Interviewer: Joe White. Mississippi Oral History Program of The University of Southern Mississippi Simpson County Project.