Starkville, Mississippi
city in Mississippi, United States
Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest city in the Golden Triangle, which had a population of 175,474 in 2020, and the principal city of the Starkville–Columbus, MS CSA. Founded in 1831, the city was originally known as Boardtown for the local sawmilling operation there, but was renamed in 1837 to honor American Revolutionary War general John Stark.
Starkville is adjacent to and closely associated with Mississippi State University, which was founded as the state's flagship land-grant research university in 1878. The university was located near Starkville in the Mississippi Black Belt due to the region's agricultural productivity, particularly in the timber, cattle, and dairying industries. The expansion of the university transformed Starkville from a primarily agricultural center into a college town, and its economy today is mostly centered around advanced research and manufacturing, retail, and tourism supported by the university population. The Cotton District, developed in the 1960s as North America's first New Urbanist community, is an active student quarter located between downtown Starkville and the university campus.
History
The Starkville area has been inhabited for over 2,100 years. Artifacts in the form of clay pot fragments and artwork dating from that time period have been found east of Starkville at the Herman Mound and Village site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village site can be accessed from the Indian Mound Campground.
The public source identifies “Starkville, Mississippi” as city in Mississippi, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Starkville, Mississippi and city.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Starkville, Mississippi”, the useful work is to connect “city in Mississippi, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q770470. VIAF identifies the subject as 144266108. The Library of Congress control number is n82047513. Authority coordinates are 33.462, -88.820. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1831, 1837 and 1878.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Starkville, Mississippi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.