Jones

Formed January 1, 1826 (22^nd county)

Jones County (67,248), Ellisville (4,643), Laurel (17,177)                

The tan brick Classical Revival courthouse in Ellisville was built in 1908 is on a square at Court, Holly, Calhoun, and Ivy streets.  United States Highway 11 is one block to the west of the location.  The identical 1907 Laurel Classical Revival courthouse is also built of tan brick.  The Laurel courthouse is on 5^th Avenue between Sawmill Road and Yates Street.  United States Highway 11 travels two blocks to the east of the site.  The Laurel facility was enlarged in 1961.  The Ellisville structure features columns and marble walls as well as a veterans’ memorial.  The Laurel building also has columns.  The county was founded on January 1, 1826 from parts of Covington and Wayne counties as the 22^nd county.  Ellisville and Laurel have jointly been the county seats since the county founding.  Penn Jeffries Krouse was the architect of both courthouses.  The county is named for Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones.  Ellisville is named for Legislator Powhatan Ellis.  Laurel is named for the local thickets. 

Jones County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  One Chancery Court Judge serves Jones and Wayne counties and One District Court Judge and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Jones County (judicial.)  Jones County is in the southeast part of the state.  Jackson, Mississippi is northwest and Mobile, Alabama is southeast of the county.  The county center is 3.6 miles Southwest of Laurel.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Jasper, Wayne, Perry, Forrest, Covington, and Smith counties. 

The area of the county is 694 square miles.  It is 20 out of 82 in the state.  It ranks 10 out of 82 in population in the state.  It has a density of 96.9 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 82 in the state.  Jones County has 34.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 59 goes northeast to southwest through the county from Jasper County to Forrest County.  United States Highway 11 parallels Interstate Highway 59 from Jasper to Forrest counties.  United States Highway 84 travels east to west from Wayne County to Covington County.  The county is a rectangle with a slanting northern border.  Ellisville is slightly west and south of center in the county.  Laurel is in the northern third of the county.  Ellisville is one of the county seats.  Laurel is the other county seat and the largest city.  Ellisville is 6.9% of the county population while Laurel is 25.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Laurel Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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