Welcome to Merit ...
Merit is located in Simpson County<1>.
While we don't have a date for the founding of Merit, you might consider that their post office opened in 1903.
Merit is 290 feet [88 m] above sea level.<2>.
Time Zone: Merit lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time
Area Codes for Merit: 601 & 769<3>
Communities Also Named Merit ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named Merit - it's located in Texas.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Merit.
Communities near Merit ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Merit.
- Magee
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magee have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magee
- Magee is located in Simpson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,094 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Magee <5>
- Mendenhall
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mendenhall have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mendenhall
- Mendenhall is located in Simpson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,393 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mendenhall <5>
- Mount Olive
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Olive have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Olive
- Mount Olive is located in Covington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 896 people
- D'Lo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - New Hebron
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Hebron have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hebron
- New Hebron is located in Lawrence County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 413 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Hebron <5>
- Puckett
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Georgetown
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Georgetown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
- Georgetown is located in Copiah County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 268 people
- Braxton
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Westville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Sanatorium
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanatorium
- Sanatorium is located in Simpson County
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Merit. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Merit.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Merit. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Merit.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Merit. See our Newspapers Page for Merit.
TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Merit ...
Looking for more information about Merit? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.
While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Merit, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Merit.
Adding Merit to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Merit in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Merit was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>
X2X - From that list, the Merit post office opened in 1903.
We also found Merit on a map titled Rand McNally Map of Mississippi (1911).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Merit.
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Merit. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If you're interested in how the shape of Mississippi's counties, including Simpson, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <2> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Merit - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <3> | When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 601 code has been Overlayed with the 769 area code. New phone numbers in the Merit area will be assigned with one of these codes: 601 or 769. As a result, placing a call in the Merit area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number). |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |