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Pemiscot County, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 21:18, September 23, 2019
, 21:18, September 23, 2019Created page "Pemiscot County, Missouri"
'''Pemiscot County''' is a county in the "Bootheel" region of southeastern [[Missouri]], organized in 1851. It had a population of 18,296 at the 2010 census. The name derives from the local Pemiscot Bayou and is thought to come from the Fox tribe's ''pem-eskaw'', or "liquid mud." [[Caruthersville, Missouri|Caruthersville]] is the county seat and largest city.
==History==
The region including future Pemiscot County was at one time inhabited by members of the Mississippian culture, many of whom constructed earthen mounds to support domestic dwellings or possibly ceremonial sites. One of the largest of these, the Murphy Mound Archaeological Site southwest of present-day Caruthersville, was occupied from 1200 to 1500 AD. Other tribes, including members of the Delaware, Fox, and Shawnee, later moved into the area.<ref>O'Brien, Michael J. and Robert C. Dunnell. ''Changing Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley''. University of Missouri Press, Columbia, 1998.
The region may have been explored by [[Hernando de Soto]] in his voyages along the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] in 1539-41. However, the first settlement was not made until 1794, when Francois Le Sieur, a French-Canadian fur trader who had been one of the founders of [[New Madrid, Missouri|New Madrid]], established the town of Little Prairie south of the later site of Caruthersville. Mostly populated by other French settlers, Little Prairie flourished until it was almost completely destroyed by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, and only a few settlers remained in the area in the years afterward. One of these was Colonel John Hardeman Walker, who was instrumental in organizing the inclusion of the "Bootheel" region within Missouri upon the state's creation in 1821.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=G-AlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA107#v=onepage&q&f=false</ref>
The local population gradually increased again during the antebellum era, thanks to the opportunities for trade along the Mississippi River, and by the mid-19th century was large enough to be organized as a separate county (it had been part of [[New Madrid County, Missouri|New Madrid County]] since the latter's creation in 1812). Pemiscot County was officially established by the state legislature on February 19, 1851, separated from New Madrid County along the line of Portage Creek, which would form part of its northern boundary.<ref>https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_pemiscot.html</ref> The river port of Gayoso served as the first county seat until 1873, when that function was transferred to Caruthersville.
Due to the warm climate and fertile soil, a number of [[cotton]] plantations were established along the Mississippi during the antebellum era, but the county's population and economic output would not significantly expand until after the [[Civil War]], when more of the swampland in the interior was drained and cleared, and more extensive levees were built along the river to prevent flooding. Agriculture and timber-harvesting boomed, and multiple railroad lines were extended through the county.
As in many areas, Pemiscot County, which had a significant black population, experienced some racial conflict after [[Reconstruction]], and several lynchings occurred in the early 20th century in the Caruthersville area.<ref>https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf</ref> Nonetheless, the region remained prosperous and stable in population through the 1940s, at which time the mechanization of agriculture, and the resulting decline in demand for farm labor, led to a steady drop in population.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Missouri]]
[[Category:Counties]]
==History==
The region including future Pemiscot County was at one time inhabited by members of the Mississippian culture, many of whom constructed earthen mounds to support domestic dwellings or possibly ceremonial sites. One of the largest of these, the Murphy Mound Archaeological Site southwest of present-day Caruthersville, was occupied from 1200 to 1500 AD. Other tribes, including members of the Delaware, Fox, and Shawnee, later moved into the area.<ref>O'Brien, Michael J. and Robert C. Dunnell. ''Changing Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley''. University of Missouri Press, Columbia, 1998.
The region may have been explored by [[Hernando de Soto]] in his voyages along the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] in 1539-41. However, the first settlement was not made until 1794, when Francois Le Sieur, a French-Canadian fur trader who had been one of the founders of [[New Madrid, Missouri|New Madrid]], established the town of Little Prairie south of the later site of Caruthersville. Mostly populated by other French settlers, Little Prairie flourished until it was almost completely destroyed by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, and only a few settlers remained in the area in the years afterward. One of these was Colonel John Hardeman Walker, who was instrumental in organizing the inclusion of the "Bootheel" region within Missouri upon the state's creation in 1821.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=G-AlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA107#v=onepage&q&f=false</ref>
The local population gradually increased again during the antebellum era, thanks to the opportunities for trade along the Mississippi River, and by the mid-19th century was large enough to be organized as a separate county (it had been part of [[New Madrid County, Missouri|New Madrid County]] since the latter's creation in 1812). Pemiscot County was officially established by the state legislature on February 19, 1851, separated from New Madrid County along the line of Portage Creek, which would form part of its northern boundary.<ref>https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_pemiscot.html</ref> The river port of Gayoso served as the first county seat until 1873, when that function was transferred to Caruthersville.
Due to the warm climate and fertile soil, a number of [[cotton]] plantations were established along the Mississippi during the antebellum era, but the county's population and economic output would not significantly expand until after the [[Civil War]], when more of the swampland in the interior was drained and cleared, and more extensive levees were built along the river to prevent flooding. Agriculture and timber-harvesting boomed, and multiple railroad lines were extended through the county.
As in many areas, Pemiscot County, which had a significant black population, experienced some racial conflict after [[Reconstruction]], and several lynchings occurred in the early 20th century in the Caruthersville area.<ref>https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf</ref> Nonetheless, the region remained prosperous and stable in population through the 1940s, at which time the mechanization of agriculture, and the resulting decline in demand for farm labor, led to a steady drop in population.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Missouri]]
[[Category:Counties]]