Crystal Springs is a city in Copiah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,044 as of the 2010 census, down from 5,873 in 2000. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

U.S. Route 51 runs through the northwest part of Crystal Springs, intersecting Interstate 55 at the latter's Exit 72. I-55 leads north 24 mi to Jackson, the state capital, and 29 mi south to Brookhaven. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.2 km2, of which 14.1 km2 is land and 0.1 km2, or 0.96%, is water.

Climate

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,862 people, 1,418 households, and 982 families residing in the city.

Education

Crystal Springs is served by the Copiah County School District. Copiah Academy is a local private school in the area. Copiah-Lincoln Community College is located in Wesson. Crystal Springs was the first school in Mississippi to allow black students to attend. The Copiah-Jefferson Regional Library operates a branch in Crystal Springs.

Controversies

On February 2, 1922, Will Thrasher was lynched, the first lynching in Copiah County in 20 years. Civil rights-era violence related to passage of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965, led the armed Deacons for Defense and Justice to established centers in both Crystal Springs and nearby Hazlehurst, in 1966 and 1967. They acted to provide physical protection for African-American protesters who were working with the NAACP on a commercial boycott of white merchants to force integration of stores and employment, to gain jobs for African Americans at places where they were patrons. Eventually the protesters won the removal of discriminatory practices at stores and African Americans gained some jobs in these local businesses. In 2012, the First Baptist Church denied a black couple permission to be married there after objections from church members. The pastor performed the wedding at a different church.

Notable people