Town file
Petal, Mississippi
Petal, Mississippi (Forrest County, Mississippi) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 94, "Going For His Murder Badge" (15 November 2018). Ronda Hatton was born in 1967 and grew up in Petal, Mississippi, an only child.
- Town
- Petal
- County
- Forrest County
- State
- Mississippi
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 94
- Approximate location
- 31.348, -89.235
Episode 94 / 15 November 2018 / 147 min / full
Going For His Murder Badge
""It's in Forest County here", zip code 399465, area code 601; southern Mississippi, about 17 square miles, along the Leaf River" about 0:09:28
The case: Murder of Ronda Griffis (October 14th, 1995). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2018
- Population
- 10,701
- Median age
- 35
- Median household income
- $51,000
- Median home value
- $141,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- $880
- Cost of living
- 90
- Religious
- 69%
- Property crime
- ▼ 25% under the average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about a third lower
History, in brief
- Located along the Leaf River. about 0:10:28
- The first postmaster was Irving A. Polk and the post office was established in 1903. about 0:10:40
- Polk and his wife Lydia had a daughter, Gladys Petal Poe, born in 1902, who died at two years old of diphtheria; the town is named after her. about 0:10:49
- A portrait of the baby hangs in the Petal Civic Center. about 0:11:33
- Petal is buried in the Hattiesburg City Cemetery; until the 1970s the area was part of Hattiesburg. about 0:12:33
- For most of its existence it was known as the largest unincorporated town in the United States. about 0:13:47
- Petal separated from Hattiesburg and was incorporated as the City of Petal on April 5th, 1974. about 0:15:21
- In 1974 it was a rural farming community of farmers. about 0:15:45
- The International Checker Hall of Fame opened in Petal in 1979, founded by Troy Forde. about 0:16:23
- The Checker Hall of Fame was housed in a Tudor-style mansion with checker memorabilia, a statue of Marion Tinsley, a checker library and the two largest checker boards in the world, and hosted world checker championships. about 0:17:22
- The Checker Hall of Fame was destroyed by fire in 2007; a man involved in putting it together had been charged with money laundering in 2005. about 0:20:37
- An F3 tornado damaged Petal extensively on January 21st, 2017, tearing roofs off brick homes and damaging William Carey University. about 0:20:59
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Hattiesburg, Mississippi5.6 miles
- Wiggins, Mississippi34 miles
- Lucedale, Mississippi48 miles
- Citronelle, Alabama61 miles
- Gulfport, Mississippi65 miles
- Biloxi, Mississippi66 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.