Greenville

History

This area was occupied by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. When the French explored here, they encountered the historic Natchez people. As part of their colony known as La Louisiane, the French established a settlement at what became Natchez, Mississippi. Other Native American tribes also lived in what is now known as Mississippi. The current city of Greenville is the third in the State to bear the name. The first, (known as Old Greenville) located to the south near Natchez, was the Jefferson County seat from 1803 to 1825 but became defunct soon after the American Revolution, as European-American settlement was then still concentrated in the eastern states. This ghost town was in no way related to the second Greenville except that they eventually shared a name. Many migrants came to the area of the future, second Greenville, located approximately 150 miles north of the first Greenville, from the eastern and Upper South states, seeking land for developing cotton plantations, and this area became a trading center for the region's plantations. In 1830, the United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the government to make treaties to revoke Native American land claims in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River. They forced most of the Southeastern tribes to Indian Territory during the following decade. After it became necessary to relocate the county seat of Washington County in 1844 due to the loss of land to the newly formed Issaquena County, the not-yet-established second Greenville was designated as the future county seat and finally became so upon its founding in 1847. American William W. Blanton filed for land from the United States government and was granted section four, township eighteen, range eight west; this…

Geography

Greenville is located on the eastern bank of Lake Ferguson, an oxbow lake left from an old channel of the Mississippi River. One floating casino is located on the lake near the downtown area known as the Trop Casino Greenville, with a second just west of the city near the Greenville Bridge known as Harlow's Casino Resort. Chicago Mill and Lumber Co. operated a lumber mill on the lake two-tenths of a mile south of the casino levee parking lot; the mill specialized in making hardwood boxes until it closed. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (2.82%) is water.

Race & ethnicity