Beulah, Mississippi facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Beulah, Mississippi
Town
Main Street in Beulah
Location of Beulah, Mississippi
Beulah, Mississippi Location in the United States
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Bolivar
Area
• Total	0.46 sq mi (1.20 km2)
• Land	0.46 sq mi (1.20 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation	144 ft (44 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	242
• Density	526/sq mi (201.7/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	38726
Area code(s)	662
FIPS code	28-05820
GNIS feature ID	0667037

Beulah is a town in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 242.

Beulah is served by Mississippi Highway 1. Lake Beulah, an oxbow lake formerly connected to the Mississippi River, is west of the town. The Illinois Central Railroad had a station in Beulah, but the line is now abandoned.

Beulah is named after the Christian hymn Beulah Land, a favorite of Frank A. Montgomery, an early settler to western Bolivar County.

History

The land southwest of Beulah was owned by a Choctaw family in the 1830s. A series of lawsuits caused them to lose their land, and Charles Clark took ownership. Clark established the Doro Plantation during the late 1840s and early 1850s, which grew to over 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) and became the most prosperous slave-owning plantation in the region. It continued to operate after the end of slavery until 1913. During that time, the Mississippi River flowed next to Beulah along "Beulah Bend" (now Lake Beulah), and Clark was often visited by Mark Twain while writing Life on the Mississippi.

In 1858, Frank A. Montgomery purchased a tract of land along the river north of the Doro Plantation and established a plantation. Beulah was one of its villages.

Mississippi River boats landed at points in the community, and there was a noted river trade. Freshwater clam harvesting – "clammin" – enabled a thriving pearl button industry.

In 1863, Union soldiers altered the course of the river by constructing a channel to avoid Beulah Bend, and the town became shut off from river commerce. The pearl button industry declined, as freshwater clams tend to concentrate in the bends of rivers, though many families still participate in clam harvesting at places they can access the river. Altering the river's course also destroyed the nearby towns of Prentiss and Napoleon.

In 1866, Montgomery donated the village of Beulah to the county, and gave $1,600 to build a courthouse. A two-room log jail was also built. Beulah became the first county seat, and had a Masonic Lodge, church, school, bank, stores, and post office. The Bolivar Times newspaper was also edited there. In 1872, the county seat was moved to Floreyville (now called Rosedale).

After the Civil War, numerous freedmen bought and cleared land in the bottomlands away from the river. By 1910, declining financial and social conditions had caused most to lose their land, forcing them to work as sharecroppers and laborers. Beginning in the early 1900s, thousands of blacks left Mississippi as part of the Great Migration north by railroad to Chicago and other northern industrial cities, but others remained, with strong local ties.

Blues musician W. C. Handy once invited Charley Patton to watch his band perform in Beulah. Patton got in free, and when he observed that Handy's musicians were all strict score-reading performers, he gave up all ambition of playing with their band.

Beulah was mentioned in Eudora Welty's Death of a Traveling Salesman:

Bowman had wanted to reach Beulah by dark, to go to bed and sleep off his fatigue. As he remembered, Beulah was fifty miles away from the last town, on a graveled road. This was only a cow trail. How had he ever come to such a place? One hand wiped the sweat from his face, and he drove on.

In 1970, Beulah was chosen as the site for a large event by the Southern Female Rights Union.

Part of the movie Crossroads was filmed in Beulah.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²), all land.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Beulah has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Demographics

2020 census

Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

Education

Beulah is served by the West Bolivar School District.

See also

In Spanish: Beulah (Misisipi) para niños