Hattiesburg Municipal Records

Hattiesburg, a city of the new South, a railroad town that owes its existence to the post Civil War transportation revolution, is located in the Piney Woods region of southern Mississippi. Before the advent of railroads in the southern portion of the state, Hattiesburg was just a small community located in an area with vast timber resources, natural drainage, and adequate water supplies. Known first as Twin Forks and later as Gordonville (after one of its original settlers), it acquired its present designation after the Meridian-based lumber/railroad magnate, William Harris Hardy (1837-1917), selected the site for a station along a proposed Meridian to New Orleans route for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. This line was completed in 1883 and the settlement, incorporated as a town in 1884, was renamed Hattiesburg in honor of Hardy's second wife, Hattie Lott Hardy (1848-1895)

The newly created town established an economic base dependent on the yellow pine lumber and turpentine industry and transportation. These industries helped fashion Hattiesburg into a thriving production and distribution center for southern Mississippi. The local transportation boom turned Hattiesburg into a hub for four railroads: the New Orleans and Northeastern (later part of the Southern Railroad System); the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (sold to the Illinois Central Railroad in 1925); the Mississippi Central Railroad; and the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City Railroad which later became the Bonhomie and Hattiesburg Southern Railway. Hattiesburg, or the "Hub City" as it became popularly known, grew slowly and steadily from 1884 to 1900, with a population of 400 in 1885, 1172 in 1890, and 4175 in 1900. Continued steady expansion enabled Hattiesburg to petition the Mississippi Legislature for a city charter in 1890, and as the largest community in the area, it subsequently became county seat for Forrest County when that county was created in 1908 from Perry County.

With the lumber and transportation industries firmly established by the turn of the century, coupled with fact that a site just south of the city was selected for Camp Shelby, the newly created city of Hattiesburg experienced rapid growth, and by 1930, it had attained a population of 18, 600.

By 1915 large areas of timber land had been clear-cut, and for lack of plentiful and accessible timber and lucrative timber-related business prospects and opportunities, many of the mills began to dismantle their operations. Industrial demands during World War I temporarily halted mill closures in the Hattiesburg area by creating an artificial stimulus for lumber and lumber-related products, thus prolonging the life of an ailing lumber industry. War demands, while creating steady but inflated income for Hattiesburg area residents, prevented the community from developing new industries to replace those becoming obsolete.

Following World War I, the dismantling of Camp Shelby, and the closure of uneconomical lumber mills, it became apparent that for the city to survive, a new way of life was necessary. Although hampered by a depression-induced capital shortage, efforts to expand and create new business and industry were sometimes innovative, as in the introduction of the Tung Oil industry.

World War II proved to be a watershed for Hattiesburg. It brought to a close the depression and initiated a slow process of commercializing Hattiesburg's economic base. Camp Shelby was revitalized as a National Guard Camp, and Hattiesburg evolved into a wholesale and retail trade, medical, and educational center for southern Mississippi. Again the city experienced a surge in population, expanding from 21,026 in 1940 to 34,989 in 1960, and 40,829 in 1980. Today, it is home to nearly 50,000 people.

Through the years, Hattiesburg has taken the initiative to alter and improve its form of government in order to accommodate growth cycles and the changing needs of industry and the community. Since its inception, Hattiesburg has operated under three different forms of government and two charters. The city was chartered as a town in 1884, and in 1890 as a city. According to existing records, the citizenry elected Oliver Hazzard Perry Jones as its first mayor in 1884. In the second election, held one year later, the city elected a mayor and a board of eight aldermen. The Mayor/Alderman form of government serviced Hattiesburg from 1885 to 1911, when Hattiesburg became the first city in Mississippi to adopt a City Commission form of government, calling for a mayor and two commissioners. Since 1985 Hattiesburg has operated under a Mayor/Council form of government.