What is the Most Educated, Rich Area in Mississippi?

[Huckleberry3911948]

probably brookhaven but a close second oxford ms.

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by brickpatio

If you like the CVS in Madison with the Corinthian columns, you're going to adore the new Kroger which looks like the Roman coliseum.

'Adore' would be an understatement. Its presence has upped the value of some properties/developments/options I'm invested in. And while that Kroger was still just a set of plans, it persuaded several developers to put up high-Dollar buildings, in what used to be a pretty lackluster area. I'm getting "Jus' gaaaawajus!!!" reports about those. It has firmly anchored that end of Old Canton Road. All of which is very good for Little Gloria.

Realtors are making sure to drive clients right along the front. Basically, it's turning "Well, Madison is just a little far out from town..." into "I could live here! I could shop at that Kroger!"

But do you really get 'Coliseum' from it? Everybody else is saying "Florence!", and "Naples!" That is, except for one Sarah Lawrence grad, for whom it summons Isabella Stewart Gardner's villa, and the New York Public Library: "Well, not just like those, but you know you get same feeling!".

Personally (Madison is a good place for tiny jets to land, and I tagged along with an 'uncle', a couple of weeks back.), I get the "feeling" of J. Paul Getty's old villa in Malibu...or his ex-Wife's Italianate villa, that was used in filming Sunset Boulevard....or maybe the Palazzo della Camera di Commercio in Siracusa (Basically, the Chamber of Commerce...a building that makes me all tingly...although I've never been allowed to linger there for long, for security reasons...).

But I think my Sarah Lawrence grad friend is right, in that the Kroger 'evokes' the beautiful Italianate public/commercial buildings that were being constructed in the early Twentieth Century (Mostly in New York, but quite a few, right there in Mississippi...The old buildings at Millsaps come to mind.): happy, optimistic times... before the Titanic sank; before the Romanovs were murdered; before WWI and the Depression and WWII; and before Stalin and Mao murdered uncountable millions. None of that happened in Madison. It's history is about Strawberries and Percherons and other gentle things. No reason at all not to live as if the bad times never happened.

And I think that's the intent of the city: to turn the clock back to before everything went bad...to a more innocent age. Just as people there choose to dwell in The Lord, in Madison, one can choose to dwell in, not just a safe place, but a safe moment in time. And unlike other perfected microcosms like Rancho Santa Fe, Montecito, Montauk, Fisher Island, Positano, Gstaad, Aspen... you don't have to be rich to go into the stores and come out with merchandise. If you can afford groceries or stuff from a discount drugstore, or a gym membership, you can be a full participant, and stroll into those luxe buildings with a purpose: and not be just a Lookie Loo, feeling guilty about skulking-about, rubbernecking, while pretending to shop. I've been poor, and know how that feels. I wonder if ordinary people realize how hard the City has worked, to give them something that in other places only the rich can experience.

Well, actually, I remember that a vocal few were actively, destructively, ungrateful: which is why we're in Oregon. Apparently, for the few ungrateful malcontents, their highest goal in life is to reconstruct the cheap Seventies-Contemporary look of Nawahth-Eeeyahast-Jahhhhhhksuhn, "..you know...'Traditional style', with nailed-on shutters, plywood soffits, and Asphalt Shingles, and one-bush-per-corner...lak we had in Jackson, before the d--- (bad word)ers took over."

But back to Dollars and Cents: a national-level developer/investor was recently driven around Madison. He asked to be driven back to the Kroger, twice. There was a ripple effect from that (His smile maybe paves the streets in gold?), and this little Minnow's portfolio was buoyed upward a bit. The ripple he caused was enough that I could take a little profit and free up a bit of capital. So yeah! That building, I adore and more.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by Truckin

It won't give a clue of the magnitude of "rich old money areas" in Mississippi. For that you have to know people and ask around alot.

Are you in any way saying Mississippi's wealthy folks are more evenly distributed amongst everybody else compared to other places? That wouldn't surprise me. It used to be more like that most everywhere. For example, many small towns (or turn of the century neighborhoods anywhere) have huge Victorian (or whatever) houses flanking corners and main streets while the interior of blocks and side streets have tiny houses. Our country has become very segregated by class.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by MOKAN

Are you in any way saying Mississippi's wealthy folks are more evenly distributed amongst everybody else compared to other places? That wouldn't surprise me. It used to be more like that most everywhere. For example, many small towns (or turn of the century neighborhoods anywhere) have huge Victorian (or whatever) houses flanking corners and main streets while the interior of blocks and side streets have tiny houses. Our country has become very segregated by class.

^That was kind of rushed. But I was giving an example of how turn-of-the-century era development is reflective of the fact our nation was once integrated in regard to social class. Wealthy folks lived in the same neighborhoods, on the same blocks, or otherwise in close proximity to commoners. With the advent of the common automobile and subdivision as we know it today, that changed tremendously and has been absolutely exacerbated in the past 3-4 decades.

[Wareagleolemiss]

Originally Posted by jacksonian

At one time in the not so distant past, West Point had the most millionaires per capita in the nation - or so I was told. Granted, West Point is far from a metropolis, but an interesting thought nonetheless.

I believe your thinking of Natchez Mississippi. To answer the orginal question, Madison is the richest city in Mississippi

[MsMerri]

This is an old thread, but I'd like to put in my 2 cents worth for Gulfport/Biloxi, MS (on the Gulf Coast) as having an educated and relatively wealthy population, and being an excellent choice for someone who wants to relocate to Mississippi. Many of the Coast residents moved to the area to work at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, which provides support to NASA, the Navy, NOAA, and the Army Corps of Engineers. So there are a fairly large number of highly educated, successful scientists, engineers, and researchers from all over the U.S. in Gulfport and Biloxi.

Yes, this area was absolutely devastated by Hurricane Katrina; we lost almost all of the beach-front mansions and centuries-old oak trees! The MS Gulf Coast has both native Mississippians and many transplants from all over the country, courtesy of the casinos, the Naval Construction Battalion, Keesler Air Force Base, and the aforementioned Stennis Space Center. And although Gulfport is the 2nd largest city in Mississippi (after Jackson), there is a small-town, neighbors helping neighbors, feel to the Coast, so no storm could keep South Mississippi's people down for very long! The casinos, local businesses, tourism, and jobs are back, and the Coast is almost back to its pre-Katrina look and feel!

Since you asked, there are many wealthy people in Gulfport/Biloxi - multimillionaires, who have built gorgeous homes, some in older neighborhoods and some in fairly new subdivisions. I'm talking about impressive 7000-10,000 sq. ft. homes! These people also have 55-60' Viking sport fishing boats (the ones a previous poster referred to that burn 2000 gallons of diesel, and easily make the 90-200 mile trip into the Gulf of Mexico for "blue water" deep sea fishing), luxury cars - a gorgeous silver Porsche Panamera (among others), Jaguars, BMW 750's and 6-series convertibles, Lexus, Mercedes - you name it! So nobody cares what kind of car you drive, other than to maybe admire it and compliment you; the people are really nice here! Both towns have great yacht clubs, great public and private schools, and a friendly welcoming population!

There are concerts, food and music festivals, and live shows (e.g. Cirque du Soleil's Alegria), courtesy of the dozen or so casinos, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, the Gulf Coast Symphony, and downtown Gulfport's recently rebuilt marina and Jones Park. There are wonderful restaurants serving fresh Gulf seafood - NO, the oil spill has NOT ruined the fishing and/or the local seafood!

St. Patrick Catholic High School is ranked in the Top 50 Catholic High schools in the U.S. (out of thousands of Catholic schools)! This is the Catholic High School run by the Biloxi Diocese, and shared by students who previously attended Mercy Cross High in Biloxi and St. John High in Gulfport - schools which were destroyed by and/or torn down after Katrina. Graduates of St. Patrick are routinely admitted to, and offered scholarships by, many prestigious universities around the U.S. For instance, the graduating class of 2012 received over $13 million in scholarship offers - and we're talking about a class of under 70 students!

The New Orleans Saints play at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, which is about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Gulfport, where you can also enjoy the French Quarter, fantastic restaurants, and many great concerts, Broadway in New Orleans, a large aquarium, zoo, and of course, Mardi Gras. Oh, and the MS Gulf Coast does Mardi Gras very well, if you prefer to avoid the crowds in New Orleans! I think the MS Gulf Coast is an area you should seriously consider in your search for a new home, if you haven't already settled!

[John Ryder]

I am going to go with where the richest man in the state has his business and that is the state Capitol of Jackson, he owns Ergon Inc and is worth 2.9 BILLION with a B. And i would assume thats where our greatest educated minds reside, or not only assume but would HOPE thats where our states most educated reside!!!!