Taylorsville

History

Taylorsville was established on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad in 1900. The site was selected by an employee of the railroad, and soon after a post office was built. The post office was originally located about five miles away in Old Taylorsville (now a community located off of Mississippi Highway 531), but was later moved to New Taylorsville. It was the moving of the post office to New Taylorsville that established the present location of the town. Soon after, the Old Stringer Hotel was built. Many years later, in 1946, it was burned down in an arson fire. The town of Taylorsville was founded as a result of the extensive pine forests that grow in Smith County and the surrounding areas. The vast majority of the area was cut by Eastman-Gardiner. As lumber was a very plentiful resource, new businesses and homes both were rapidly built. There are a variety of industries present in Taylorsville, including lumber, manufacturing, signage, agriculture, and finance. Taylorsville is the headquarters of Southern Pine Electric, an electric co-op chartered in March 1938 to serve 481 homes and farms. Today, Southern Pine Electric is one of the largest electric cooperatives in the United States with nearly 10,000 miles of energized line serving more than 65,000 meters. The 11-county service area encompasses 14.3% of the total land mass of Mississippi. On March 15, 2025, a large and destructive EF2 tornado ripped through town, resulting in extensive damage. On October 2, 2022, Rasheem Carter, an African-American man, went missing after working a contracting job in Taylorsville. Immediately prior to his disappearance, Carter had contacted both his mother and local police officials to report that he was being harassed by three truckloads of unidentified men that had worked on…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The city is located just west of the Leaf River, which passes under Mississippi Highway 28 about 1 mile outside of the Taylorsville city limits. The Leaf River is a main tributary of the Pascagoula River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• MIZE ATTENDANCE CENTER
  Other · MIZE · 787 students · 14.8:1 ratio
• TAYLORSVILLE ATTENDANCE CENTER
  Other · TAYLORSVILLE · 627 students · 13.9:1 ratio