Mississippi Timeline of State History

Chronological History of Mississippi

• 12,000 years ago - A river is born. As glaciers from last Ice Age recede, flood waters carve channel of Mississippi.
• 10,000 to 9,000 years ago - First evidence of human habitation in Upper Mississippi region.
• 8,000 years ago - Hunters slaughter giant bison in what is now Itasca State Park, leaving evidence of their presence.
• 2,000 years ago - Hopewell (Mound building) culture dominates area. Burial mounds left at many sites along river, including what is now Mounds Park in St. Paul.

16th century

• 1540-1541 - Hernando De Soto, Spanish explorer, becomes the first known European to enter Mississippi. He winters with the Chickasaws and discovers the Mississippi River in the spring.

17th century

• 1673 - Father Jacques Marquette, a French missionary, and fur trapper Louis Joliet begin exploration of the Mississippi River on May 17. They reach Mississippi in July and explore as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas River, near the present location of Rosedale, before turning back.
• 1680 - Father Louis Hennepin sees the Falls of St. Anthony, future site of Minneapolis. The Mississippi Valley in Minnesota is center of Dakota culture.
• 1682 - Robert Cavalier de La Salle navigates the Mississippi River to its mouth and claims for France all lands drained by the river.
• 1699 - Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur D'Iberville, and his brother Jean Baptiste, Sieur D'Bienville, landed in what is now Ocean Springs. They built Fort Maurepas and established the first capital of the vast French colony on the North American continent.

18th century

• 1700s -
  • French fur trading era begins.
  • Ojibwe begin moving into area from Great Lakes, gradually pushing Dakota south and west
• 1716 - Fort Rosalie, the beginning of the town of Natchez, is established.
• 1729 - French settlers at Fort Rosalie are massacred by Natchez Indians in an effort to drive Europeans from Mississippi.
• 1732 - The French retaliate for the massacre at Fort Rosalie. The Natchez Indians cease to exist as a tribe.
• 1736 - Bienville battles Chickasaw Indians in present day Lee County. He is defeated at the battle of Ackia.
• 1763-1779 -English Dominion
• 1763 Mississippi, along with all other French territory east of the Mississippi river, passes into English control at the end of the French and Indian War.
• 1779-1798 - Spanish Dominion
• 1779 - Bernardo Galvez, governor of Spanish Louisiana, captures Natchez.
• 1781-1783 Under provisions of the Treaty of Paris, West Florida, which included the southern half of Mississippi, comes under Spanish control. America gains possession of Mississippi north of the 32 degree 28 minute parallel.
• 1797 - Spain yields to America all land in Mississippi north of the 31st parallel, giving America control of Natchez.
• 1798-1817 - Mississippi Territory,
• 1798 -
  • The Spanish withdrawal from Mississippi is completed.
  • Mississippi is organized as an American territory, and the first territorial governor, Winthrop Sargent, is appointed by President Thomas Jefferson.
• 1801 - Mississippi advances to the second stage of territorial government.
• 1801-1802 -
  • A treaty with the Indians allows the Natchez Trace to be developed as a mail route and major road.
  • Mississippi moves its territorial capital from Natchez to Washington, a small town near the Natchez Trace.
• 1803 -The Louisiana Purchase opens the Mississippi River for Commerce.
• 1805 - By the Treaty of Mount Dexter, the Choctaws sell 4.5 million acres of land to the U.S. government. The area includes the Piney Woods region of the state.
• 1805 - Lt. Zebulon Pike explores Upper Mississippi, setting up posts in what will be Minnesota.
• 1810 - West Florida rebellion gives the United States control of Spanish West Florida.
• 1812 -
  • The War of 1812 begins.
  • Mississippi gains West Florida territory east of the Pearl River and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
• 1814-1815 The War of 1812 ends.
• 1816 - The Treaty of Fort Stephens with the Choctaws opens for settlement the area around the Tombigbee Prairie.

• 1817 - State of Mississippi

  • An Act of Congress on December 10 admitted Mississippi to the Union as the twentieth state.
  • Indian lands in Mississippi were opened to white settlement after six major treaties with the Choctaws and the Chickasaws between 1805 and 1834.
  • On January 9, 1861, Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union. More than 80,000 Mississippians served in the Confederate States Army.
  • After the fall of the Confederacy and a period of reconstruction, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union in 1870.
  • The Mississippi territory is divided. The western half becomes the twentieth state, Mississippi.
• 1818 - Elizabeth Female Academy is founded in Washington, the first girls' school chartered by the state and one of America's first women's colleges.
• 1819 - Fort Snelling established at confluence of Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, future site of Twin Cities.
• 1820 - The Treaty of Doak's Stand, the second Choctaw cession.
• 1821 - Mississippi's first public school is opened in Columbus.
• 1822 - The state capital is moved to Jackson. Built on the site of Lefleur's Bluff, Jackson was one of the first planned cities in the nation. It was named for Major General Andrew Jackson.
• 1826 - Mississippi College, then Hampstead Academy, is established.
• 1830 -
  • The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek cedes all Choctaw territory east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. Government. Most of the Choctaws leave the state.
  • The Treaty of Pontotoc Creek cedes north Mississippi Indian territory to the U.S. Government. The Chickasaws leave the state for Oklahoma.
  • The Mississippi Constitutional Convention produces the Constitution of 1832.
• 1832 - Henry Schoolcraft is led to the headwaters of the Mississippi by an Ojibwe elder, Ozawindib.
• 1837 - First major commercial logging of white pine forests begins.
• 1838 - Pig's Eye settlement, forerunner of St. Paul, established upstream of Fort Snelling.
• 1842 - Governor Tilghman M. Tucker becomes the state's first chief executive to occupy the newly completed Governor's Mansion, still used today.
• 1844 - The University of Mississippi is established.
• 1848 - State government assumes operation of a private school for the blind. It becomes the Mississippi School for the Blind, the nation's first state-supported institution for the handicapped.
• 1850 -
  • The U.S. Congress gives the state title to more than 3 million acres of swamp and overflow land. By this time, 310 miles of levees have been built along the banks of the Mississippi River. The Delta is drained, cleared, and becomes available for cultivation.
  • The Compromise of 1850 contains slavery to the South.
• 1854 -
  • Mississippi Institute for the Deaf and Dumb opens in Jackson.
  • Henry Hughes of Port Gibson publishes Treatise on Sociology, which later earns him the title "first American sociologist."
• 1861 -
  • Mississippi secedes from the Union on January 9.
  • In July, Ship Island is captured by Union forces. The fall of Ship Island gives Union forces control of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
• 1862 -
  • In late April, the Battle of Shiloh gives Union forces control of the Tennessee River and opens the way to attack Corinth, a railroad center vital to the South.
  • Corinth falls in May.
• 1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation abolishes slavery.
• 1865 - Robert E. Lee surrenders on April 9. The Civil War ends.
• 1867 - A military government is established in Mississippi after the reconstructed government of Mississippi is rejected by the U.S. Congress.
• 1868 - Mississippi's first biracial constitutional convention - the "Black and Tan" Convention" - drafts a constitution protecting the rights of freedmen (ex-slaves) and punishing ex-Confederates. It is rejected by the voters.
• 1869 - Under the leadership of James L. Alcorn, Mississippi ratifies a constitution which does not punish ex-Confederate soldiers.
• 1870 -
  • Mississippi is readmitted to the Union on February 23.
  • Civil government is gradually restored under Governor Alcorn.
  • The state's first system of public education is established.
  • Senator Hiram R. Revels, a minister from Natchez, becomes the first black senator in U.S. history, and serves as Mississippi's U.S. Senator from January 1870 to March 1871.
  • Using power of river at St. Anthony Falls, milling expands into major Minneapolis industry.
• 1871 - Alcorn University, now Alcorn State University, is organized.
• 1877 -
  • The Mississippi State Board of Health is created through the influence of the State Medical Association.
  • Jackson College, a private college for blacks, is established at Natchez.
• 1878 - Agricultural and Technical School is established. In 1935, it becomes Mississippi State College and in 1958, Mississippi State University.
• 1884 - The Industrial Institute and College, today's Mississippi University for Women, is established.
• 1890 -
  • A new state constitution is adopted.
  • 1892 Millsaps College is opened.

20th century

• 1903 - A new capitol building, constructed at a cost of $1 million, is dedicated in Jackson.
• 1907 -
  • The boll weevil arrives in Mississippi, destroying most of the state's cotton crop.
  • William H. Smith organizes the first of the state's "Com Clubs," which leads to the formation of the 4-H Clubs of America.
• 1908 - Mississippi adopts statewide prohibition.
• 1909 - Dr. Laurence C. Jones founds the Piney Woods Country Life School for the vocational and secondary education of black students.
• 1910 - Mississippi Normal College, now the University of Southern Mississippi, is organized.
• 1916 -
  • The Mississippi State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis is established.
  • Governor Theodore Bilbo establishes the state's first Highway Commission.
• 1922 - The State Legislature authorizes a system of junior colleges, the first in the nation.
• 1923 - Two women, Senator Belle Kearny and Representative Nellie Nugent Somerville, are elected to the State Legislature.
• 1924 - Delta State Teachers' College, now Delta State University, is established.
• 1927 - The Mississippi River floods 2,722,000 acres in the Delta. Thousands are left homeless.
• 1929 - The Depression begins.
• 1930 - Lock and dam system -- to facilitate navigation and control flooding -- authorized by Congress.
• 1932 -
  • The state's first sales tax becomes effective.
  • The Natchez Pilgrimage, a nationally-famous tour of that area's antebellum homes, becomes an annual event.
• 1936 - The State Legislature passes an amendment to balance agriculture with industry (BAWI Program). The Industrial Commission and the Advertising Commission are created to implement the program, which includes adoption of the nation's first industrial revenue bond.
• 1939 - The state's first oil well is brought in near Tinsley, in Yazoo County.
• 1940 -
  • Jackson College, having earlier moved from Natchez to Jackson, becomes a state institution.
  • Lock and dam system completed
• 1941-1945 World War II promotes an industrial boom in the state.
• 1946 - Mississippi Vocational College, now Mississippi Valley State University, is established.
• 1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court's landmark ruling, lays groundwork for desegregation.
• 1962 - James Meredith, the first black registrant, enters the University of Mississippi -- the beginning of the end to segregation in public universities and colleges.
• 1963 - Medgar Evers, NAACP field secretary, is assassinated.
• 1964 -
  • Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in public places.
  • Three civil-rights workers are murdered near Philadelphia, Miss
• 1965 - Governor Paul B. Johnson, Jr., announces that the BAWI Program has achieved its goal.
• 1968 -
  • Circuit Court judge 0. H. Barnett rules that Choctaw Indians are subject to their tribal laws, a reversal of an 1830's ruling that abolished tribal government.
  • Robert Clark begins serving his first term in the Mississippi House as its first modern-day black member.
• 1969 -
  • Unitary system of public education is mandated by federal courts, ending segregation in public schools.
  • Hurricane Camille wreaks havoc upon Mississippi's Gulf Coast and areas inland.
• 1970 - Mississippi Authority for Educational Television is established and begins broadcasting.
• 1972 -
  • Work begins on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
  • Governor William Waller's administration aggressively involves blacks and women in government through key Cabinet, Board and judicial appointments.
• 1976 -
  • Governor Cliff Finch calls a special session of the Legislature to restructure the states savings and loan associations, averting a financial crisis.
  • Governor Finch succeeds in reuniting the long- separated Loyalist and Regular factions of the Mississippi Democratic Party.
• 1978 -
  • After 36 years of service, U.S. Senator James 0. Eastland retires.
  • Sixteenth Section Lands and Lieu Lands Act transfers control of Sixteenth Section Lands from county boards of supervisors to local boards of education and requires fair-market rental value on those lands.
• 1979 -
  • Mattie T. Consent Decree initiates procedures providing equal education for handicapped children in the states public schools.
  • Devastating flood inundates the city of Jackson and many towns south along the Pearl River.
• 1982 -
  • Governor William F. Winter calls a special legislative session, resulting in adoption of the historic Education Reform Act, pioneering nationwide school reform.
  • Jackson hosts the International Ballet Competition.
• 1983 - Judge Lenore Prather becomes Mississippi's first woman Supreme Court justice.
• 1984 -
  • Public Radio in Mississippi goes on the air.
  • Governor Bill Allain implements a massive program of governmental reorganization.
• 1985 - Justice Reuben Anderson becomes Mississippi's first black Supreme Court Justice.
• 1986 -
  • The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is completed.
  • Yazoo City lawyer Mike Espy is elected to the U.S. House, the first black congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction.
• 1987 -
  • Senator John C. Stennis, dean of U.S. Senators serving 40 years, announces he will not seek reelection.
  • Ray Mabus is elected governor, the nation's youngest at 39.
• 1988 - A voluntary county unit system law is signed by Governor Mabus.
• 1989 -
  • Fifth District congressman Larkin Smith dies in a plane crash near Hattiesburg. State Senator Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis wins a spirited special election to succeed him.
• 1990 - Mississippi National Guard men and women play important roles in Operation Desert Storm for America in the Middle East.
• 1991 -
  • Mississippi becomes the nation's 21st state to allow its citizens to register to vote by mail.
  • Kirk Fordice becomes Mississippi's first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
• 1992 - Tornadoes hit Brandon and other parts of Mississippi killing fifteen and injuring about 300 others
• 1994 - One of the nation's strongest lobbying reform laws is passed by the Mississippi Legislature.

21th century

• 2000 - David Ronald Musgrove becomes Mississippi's sixty-second Governor.

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