Most of Bay Springs was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1974 on and the census since 1910.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bay Springs is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bay Springs’ overall grade.
Mississippi towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Mississippi town has 71.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bay Springs’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points).
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Bay Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Etchoma
1856–1867
Etchehoma
1873–1881
Bay Spring
1892–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Etchehoma
Gone or out of use
Bay Springs Oil and Gas Fieldoilfield
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bay Springs
Bay SpringsHoldenNew Zion
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Bay Springs, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bay Springs yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bay Springs is a city in and the western county seat of Jasper County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,670 at the 2020 census, down from 1,786 at the 2010 census. State highways 15 and 18 intersect at the city. It is part of the Laurel, Mississippi (in Jones County) micropolitan area. The area was settled in the 1880s by Joe Blankenship, who built the sawmill for the yellow pine timber industry that comprised the town's industrial base. The city was incorporated about twenty years later after railroads were constructed through it. That access attracted other industry and business, and the city was designated as the second county seat. Its population has declined slightly si…
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,786 to 1,670 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Bay Springs, 1856 to 1974
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Bay Springs is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Bay Springs?
6% of Bay Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1984.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2023
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