Most of Mendenhall was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1966. Its Register listings are the Simpson County Courthouse and the Mendenhall Hotel and Revolving Tables Restaurant, The. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1910.
The Mendenhall post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Caraway (1886) and Weathersby (1900), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 606 in 19102020 census: 2,199125 years
How historic is Mendenhall?
C
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Mendenhall post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mendenhall’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mendenhall is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mendenhall’s 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 Mendenhall’s 23.8 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Mendenhall’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Mendenhall was originally called Edna, to honor the wife of developer Phillip Didlake. After learning that a town with that name already existed in Mississippi, the city had its name changed to Mendenhall to honor Thomas Mendenhall, a citizen and lawyer from Westville, Mississippi (which has become a ghost town).
Mendenhall is the county seat of Simpson County. The county courthouse was built in 1907 by architect Andrew J. Byron.
Weathersby, named for one of its founding families, was an unincorporated census-designated community 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southeast of Mendenhall, and 7.4 miles (11.9 km) northeast of Magee. According to Charles Baldwin, Simpson County Tax Collector, Mendenhall annexed Weathersby in the 1980s.
The Mendenhall post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mendenhall rank for history?
Mendenhall is more historic than 31% 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.
What is on the National Register in Mendenhall?
Two places: the Simpson County Courthouse (listed 1985) and the Mendenhall Hotel and Revolving Tables Restaurant, The (2023).
How old are the homes in Mendenhall?
8% of Mendenhall’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.
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