The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Jackson (Miss.)

JACKSON, Miss., capital of the State, county-seat of Hinds County; on the Pearl River and on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley, the Illinois Central and the Alabama and Vicksburg and other railroads; about 40 miles east of Vicksburg, on the Mississippi. The first permanent settlement was made in 1828 or 1829, and it was incorporated in 1840. In 1863 it was occupied for some time by Union forces under General Grant, and the ruins of the fortifications erected at the siege are still in existence. The city was nearly destroyed in 1864, by General Sherman. Jackson is situated in an agricultural region in which a large amount of cotton is raised. It is the commercial centre for a large section. The good railroad facilities and the advantage of traffic on the Pearl River are stimulating the increase of marketable agricultural and manufactured products. The chief industrial establishments are cottonseed-oil mills, fertilizer factories, sash, door and blind factories, foundries, brick-yards, a cotton-compress, a plow and harrow factory, a broom factory, lumber factory and cooper shops. Some of the principal public buildings are the State capitol, State charitable institutions for the blind, insane, deaf and dumb, the State library, Carnegie library and the James observatory. Among the private educational institutions of learning are the Millsaps College, founded in 1892 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and the Bellhaven College for young ladies. The old capitol, the Confederate monuments, and a statue of Jefferson Davis are also of interest. In 1913 the commission form of government was adopted. The waterworks are the property of the municipality. Pop. 26,990.