Mendenhall, MS

Mendenhall is Simpson County’s seat, and the courthouse does the heavy visual lifting: the 1907 Neoclassical building fills a block at the head of Main Street and is one of Mississippi’s more ambitious county courthouses. The city had a different name at first. Developer Phillip Didlake called it Edna after his wife, but a duplicate name elsewhere in Mississippi prompted the change to Mendenhall, honoring lawyer Thomas Mendenhall. There is also a good old theater detail in the town’s story: the Star Theatre once had a one-screen auditorium and balcony on Main Street. Mendenhall reads like a courthouse town with its past still concentrated along the central street.