Jackson, Mississippi

When Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto first explored the rolling woodlands east of the Mississippi River in 1540, he encountered little hostility from the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez who lived here, but he encountered even less silver or gold, and as a result his visit was short-lived.

In 1699, French pioneer Pierre le Moyne d'Iberville laid claim to much of Mississippi for his European monarch. Over the next 100 years, the region was alternately controlled by the French, Spanish and English. In 1798, the Mississippi Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress.

Mississippi was granted statehood in 1817, and in 1820, the Treaty of Doak's Stand effectively ceded most of what remained of Choctaw-controlled land to the federal government, clearing the way for larger white settlements. By the 1830s, what was left of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes were forcibly relocated to the Oklahoma Territory. The Natchez had been all but exterminated nearly a century before.

First Natchez and then sleepy Washington were named capitals of the new state, but soon Mississippi's leaders desired a more central location. An exploratory expedition was commissioned to scout out potential sites, with the search party eventually settling on a point in central Mississippi along the Pearl River called LeFleur's Bluff (after French-Canadian trader Louis LeFleur, who had established a trading post on the site in 1792).

Construction began in April of 1822. The new capital city featured a checkerboard pattern of straight, perpendicular streets, with public squares of green space interspersed among blocks designated for building. The orderly downtown arrangement still exists, but most of the green space has been lost. The new city was named in honor of Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 and the future seventh president of the United States.

Plans to create an appropriate capitol building were approved in 1833, but economic depression and political squabbling delayed the project for several years. It wasn't until 1839 that the magnificent Greek Revival Capitol Building opened its doors. This stately structure served Mississippi for roughly 60 years. (Following a blueprint patterned after the United States Capitol in Washington, the new Mississippi State Capitol building was constructed just around the corner and completed in 1903.)

In 1840 the railroad came to Jackson, and the city became a vital link in the Southern system of transportation. Although this distinction aided considerably in the commercial development of the region, it is one that most Jacksonians would have foregone once the bloody Civil War came to town.

In January, 1842, Governor Tilghman Tucker moved his family into the newly constructed Governor's Mansion, just three blocks from the Capitol in downtown Jackson. This National Historic Landmark stands today as the second oldest continuously occupied governor's residence in the country, and is one of the finest surviving examples of the Greek Revival style in the United States. Built by noted British architect William Nichols, the mansion was constructed at a cost of approximately $61,000, making it one of the priciest real estate investments of the era.

Although more commonly known as the American Civil War, Southerners favored a more biased term for the conflict. In January of 1861, the Mississippi State Legislature in Jackson formally adopted an article of secession, a decision that ultimately boded very poorly for the state and especially for Jackson. By 1865, Mississippi's once-thriving agricultural economy was in ruins, the region's budding infrastructure had been destroyed and prospects for recovery were grim. The town was so devastated that it earned the nickname 'Chimneyville', a testament to what remained standing at war's end.

Recovery was painfully slow, and it wasn't until the 1880s that Jackson slowly began to regain its footing. Jim Crow laws began the institutionalized racism that would torment Mississippi and Jackson for generations to come. The city's blacks were confined to segregated neighborhoods, the largest and most vibrant of which was the Farish Street District. By the turn of the century, this 125-acre expanse just northwest of the New Capitol had become the unquestioned center of black society in Jackson. Through the 1930s and 40s, a unique cultural scene continued to flourish, with Farish Street venues such as the Crystal Palace Night Club and the Alamo Theater hosted the likes of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton. Later, the neighborhood would come to be ground zero for the Civil Rights endeavors of the 1960s.

With more than 690 listings on the National Register of Historic Places, the Farish Street Historic District is home to three of only twelve antebellum structures in Jackson. Much of the architecture dating from 1860-1940, however, is still standing.

Long known for its repressive laws, Jackson became a focal point for the Civil Rights struggle in the 1960s. Such notable leaders as Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael and Medgar Evers worked diligently to organize demonstrations and cultural directives and to protest activities in local churches, restaurants and homes.

Evers was shot outside his home on Jackson's northwest side on June 12, 1963. Byron de la Beckwith was tried twice for the murder, but the trials, which were both held before all-white juries, failed to bring in a conviction. The dramatic story of this prolonged pursuit of justice is played out in the book and movie Ghosts of Mississippi.

The city of Jackson and the state of Mississippi have made great strides in the past three decades. The capital city has settled into a comfortable niche as the seat of state government, regional business and, since giant Worldcom came to town, a budding telecommunications center. Jackson, which elected its first black mayor in 1997, is a city on the rise, struggling to shake off the demons of a storied past while looking to a better future for all of Mississippi.

If you arrive by train, you can walk to several hotels, restaurants and city sights, but to see disparate attractions you need a car. As in many Southern cities, the bus services are too limited to be relied upon.

Jackson is easily accessible by car, bus, plane or train, but for most tourists it's more of a stop on the way through, rather than a destination in itself.

Jackson Airport is well served by major domestic flyers, as is its rail equivalent, Jackson Station, one of the main stopovers on the Chicago-New Orleans line.