Washington, Mississippi
Encyclopedia
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Adams County
Adams County, Mississippi
As of the census of 2000, there were 34,340 people, 13,677 households, and 9,409 families residing in the county. The population density was 75 people per square mile . There were 15,175 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, close to Natchez
Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...
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History
The town of Washington's namesake is George WashingtonGeorge Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. Some of the original settlers of the area were Colonel Andrew Ellicott, Joseph Calvit and John Foster.
The seat of the territorial legislature was moved from Natchez
Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...
to Washington on February 1, 1802, and remained there until statehood in 1817.
The Mississippi statehood convention of 1817 met in the Methodist Meeting House at Washington, which was later purchased in 1830 by Jefferson College.
Fort Dearborn, located at Washington, was for a time the largest military installation then extant in the United States, with over two-thousand troops stationed there, including such notables as future Gen. Winfield Scott.
Washington is the location of Jefferson College
Jefferson College (Mississippi)
Jefferson College was an all-male military college in Washington, Mississippi. It was the first educational institution of higher learning in Mississippi, being chartered in 1802. Its sister school was the nearby Elizabeth Female Academy...
, now known as Historic Jefferson College, which is a state historic park and museum operated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The college was created by an act of the first General Assembly of the Mississippi Territory in 1802 and was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, then-president of the United States. Although chartered in 1802, it did not become a fully functional school until 1811. It continued, more or less, uninterrupted in this capacity (but for a few brief, temporary closures, due to war, fire, remodeling and the like) for the next 153 years, finally closing its doors for good in 1964. In contradistinction to its near-by sister school, the Elizabeth Female Academy, which for most of its history was actually a degree-conferring college, Jefferson College was for nearly the entirety of its existence nothing more than an all-male, college-preparatory academy and, then later (as Jefferson Military College), a military-style boarding school.
A ten-year old at the time, Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, later hero of the Mexican-American War, U.S. Senator and Representative from Mississippi, U.S. Secretary of War and President of the Confederate States of America, attended Jefferson College in 1818. John James Audubon was a professor there from 1822-1823.
Elizabeth Female Academy
Elizabeth Female Academy
The Elizabeth Female Academy, founded in 1818 in Washington, Mississippi, was the first female educational institution in Mississippi. It was named after Mrs. Elizabeth Roach , who donated the land on which the school was located....
, considered to be the first true women's college in the state (in spite of its name), was established at Washington in 1818, closing in 1845.
Clear Creek Baptist Church, erected in 1825 and one of the oldest churches in Mississippi, is located in Washington, along with Washington Methodist Church.
Washington became the second state capital until it was officially moved to Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
in 1822 in keeping with the Act passed by the Assembly on November 28, 1821.
Former Mississippi governor Bill Allain
William Allain
William A. "Bill" Allain is a Mississippi politician who served as the 59th Governor of that state as a Democrat from 1984 to 1988.-Biography:...
was born here on February 14, 1928. In 1788, the first native-born Mississippi Governor, Gerard Brandon
Gerard Brandon
Gerard Chittocque Brandon was an American political leader who twice served as Governor of Mississippi during its early years of statehood.-Early life and education:...
, was born at his family's plantation, Selma, just outside of Washington. Today Washington is an unincorporated community within Adams County, Mississippi.
Portions of Disney's 1993 movie The Adventures of Huck Finn
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993 film)
The Adventures of Huck Finn is a 1993 Disney adventure film starring Elijah Wood and Courtney B. Vance; it is based on Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though it focuses almost exclusively on the first half of the book...
were filmed here and shot in Natchez
Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...
, as well as the 1959 John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
film The Horse Soldiers
The Horse Soldiers
The Horse Soldiers is a 1959 DeLuxe Color war film, set in the American Civil War, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, William Holden and Constance Towers...
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Transportation
U.S. Highway 61
U.S. Highway 98
U.S. Highway 84