The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Jackson (towns)

JACKSON. I. A town of Hinds co., Mississippi, capital of the state, on the W. bank of Pearl river, at the intersection of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern and the Vicksburg and Meridian railroads, 183 m. by rail N. of New Orleans, and 45 m. E. of Vicksburg; lat. 32° 23′ N., lon. 90° 8′ W.; pop. in 1850, 1,881; in 1860, 3,191; in 1870, 4,234, of whom 1,964 were colored; in 1874, about 6,000. It is regularly built on undulating ground. The principal public buildings are the state house, executive mansion, state lunatic asylum, the state institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind, and the city hall, in which the United States courts and the courts for the first judicial district of the county are held. The state penitentiary, a large and handsome edifice, was nearly destroyed during the civil war, but it is soon to be rebuilt. The state house is an elegant building, erected at a cost of $600,000, and in it the sessions of the supreme court of the state are held. Considerable quantities of cotton are shipped from Jackson, and there are two founderies, a sash and blind factory, about 60 stores, several hotels, two banks, several public and private schools, three weekly newspapers (one of which also issues a daily edition during the session of the legislature), and ten churches. The state library contains 15,000 volumes. Jackson was occupied by the federal forces on May 14, 1863, when the railroad depots, bridges, arsenals, workshops, storehouses, and many residences were destroyed; and on two subsequent occasions during the war it was in the possession of the Union troops. II. A town of East Feliciana parish, Louisiana, 30 m. N. of Baton Rouge; pop. in 1870, 934, of whom 218 were colored. It is the seat of the state asylum for the insane, founded in 1848, and of Centenary college, under the charge of the Methodists, founded in 1825, and having in 1872 4 professors, 83 students, and a library of 2,000 volumes. A weekly newspaper is published. III. A city and the capital of Madison co., Tennessee, on the Forked Deer river, at the intersection of the Mobile and Ohio and the Mississippi Central railroads, 117 m. W. S. W. of Nashville and 72 m. N. E. of Memphis; pop. in 1850, 1,006; in 1860, 2,407; in 1870 4,119, of whom 1,500 were colored; in 1874 estimated by local authorities at 10,000. It is pleasantly situated in the midst of a fertile region, and has a large and growing trade, more than 20,000 bales of cotton having been shipped from this point in 1873-'4. The city contains three planing mills, a foundery, two soda water manufactories, a brewery, a cooperage establishment, and the machine shops of the Mobile and Ohio railroad. A cotton factory is to be erected, and the shops of the Mississippi Central railroad are soon to be established here. There are a national and a savings bank, a daily and two weekly newspapers, a monthly periodical, two public and several other schools, including a female institute under the management of the Memphis Methodist Episcopal conference, and 11 churches. Jackson is the seat of West Tennessee college, which in 1871-'2 had 4 professors and 152 students.