Lamar

Formed January 1, 1904 (76^th county)

Lamar County (64,223), Purvis (1,901)

The tan brick Neo-Classical courthouse is on Main Street at Mulberry Street.  A Modern columned tan brick Judicial Center was built in 1998.  United States Highway 11 is nine blocks to the southeast of the site.  Patrick Henry Weathers is the courthouse architect.  The structure was remodeled after a 1934 storm and enlarged in 1956.  The building features a dome, columns and a veterans’ memorial.  Lamar County was formed on January 1, 1904 from Marion County as the 76^th county with Purvis as the only county seat.  It is named for Mississippi statesman Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar. The county seat is named for settler, Thomas Melville Purves. 

Lamar 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.)  Four Chancery Court Judges serve Lamar, Forrest, Marion, Pearl River, and Perry counties, Three District Court Judges serve Lamar, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Marion, and Pearl River counties, and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Lamar County (judicial.) Lamar County is in southern Mississippi.  Jackson, Mississippi is northwest and New Orleans, Louisiana is southwest of the county.  The county center is 5.1 miles West-Northwest of Purvis.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Covington, Forrest, Pearl River, Marion, and Jefferson Davis counties. 

The area of the county is 497 square miles.  It is 49 out of 82 in the state.  It ranks 11 out of 82 in population in the state.  It has a density of 129.2 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 82 in the state.  Lamar County has 18.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 59 cuts the southeast corner of the county from Forrest County, east, to Pearl River County, south.  United States Highway 11 parallels Interstate Highway 59 from Forrest to Pearl River counties.  United States Highway 98 crosses east to west from Forrest County to Marion County.  The county is shaped like the State of Utah.  Purvis is near the eastern border of the county.  Purvis is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 3.0% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced PUR-VIS.  This county is in the Hattiesburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Lumberton