Kosciusko, Mississippi
Encyclopedia
Kosciusko is a city in Attala County
Attala County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,661 people, 7,567 households, and 5,380 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 8,639 housing units at an average density of 12 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...

. The population was 7,372 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Attala County
Attala County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,661 people, 7,567 households, and 5,380 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 8,639 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

.

Kosciusko is located on the Natchez Trace Parkway
Natchez Trace Parkway
The Natchez Trace Parkway is a National Park Service unit in the southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Old Natchez Trace and preserves sections of the original trail....

, northeast of 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...

. It is named for the Polish-Lithuanian general Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...

, who assisted United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 efforts during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

. However the Anglicized name of the township omits the "z". Kosciusko was originally named Red Bud Springs for one of three natural springs that were present in the city.
Kosciusko was the home of Magnolia Bible College
Magnolia Bible College
Magnolia Bible College was a private Christian Bible college, founded in 1976, affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The college was located in Kosciusko, Mississippi and offered the B.A., the B.S., and the B.Th. degrees in Bible...

, and the birthplace for several notable people, including Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

.

Geography

Kosciusko is located at 33°3′29"N 89°35′18"W (33.058108, -89.588301), along the Yockanookany River
Yockanookany River
The Yockanookany River is a river in central Mississippi in the United States. It is a tributary of the Pearl River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.-Course:...

.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 7.6 square miles (19.7 km²), of which 7.5 square miles (19.4 km²) is land and 0.13% is water.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 7,372 people, 2,885 households, and 1,906 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 977.8 people per square mile (377.5/km²). There were 3,174 housing units at an average density of 421.0 per square mile (162.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 53.66% White, 44.57% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.60% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.06% of the population.

There were 2,885 households out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 21.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 23.9% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 82.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $21,737, and the median income for a family was $29,000. Males had a median income of $27,423 versus $16,487 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $13,478. About 20.9% of families and 24.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.9% of those under age 18 and 20.1% of those age 65 or over.

Blues Highway

As of April 2009, Kosciusko is featured as part of the Mississippi Blues Trail
Mississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail, created by the Mississippi Blues Commission, is a project to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the growth of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. The trail extends from the border of Louisiana in southern Mississippi...

.

Notable residents

  • Dave Barnes
    Dave Barnes
    Dave Barnes is an American rock-R&B-contemporary Christian singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee.-Early life:...

    , singer-songwriter and musician (Razor & Tie
    Razor & Tie
    Razor & Tie is a New York-based corporation founded in 1990 by Cliff Chenfeld and Craig Balsam. The company encompasses a record label with major label distribution , a home video company, a media buying company, a music publishing business, a marketing, promotion and sales team, and a direct...

    )
  • Oprah Winfrey
    Oprah Winfrey
    Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

    , television host/personality (Harpo Productions
    Harpo Productions
    Harpo Productions, Inc. is an incorporated US-based multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey . It also includes Harpo Films & Harpo Radio, Inc....

    ), who lived in Kosciusko up to age six
  • Brigadier General Nick Halley, Commander of the Artillery and Rocket Forces in Desert Storm
  • Charlie Musselwhite
    Charlie Musselwhite
    Charlie Musselwhite is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the non-black bluesmen who came to prominence in the early 1960s, along with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. Though he has often been identified as a "white bluesman", he claims Native American heritage...

    , blues
    Blues
    Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

     musician
  • James Meredith
    James Meredith
    James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...

    , civil rights figure
  • Roy Oswalt
    Roy Oswalt
    Roy Edward Oswalt is an American Major League Baseball pitcher and Olympic gold medalist who is currently a free agent. Oswalt, a slender six-foot right-handed starting pitcher, is currently in his eleventh major league season...

    , American baseball player

External links

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