Place:Picayune, Pearl River, Mississippi, United States

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NamePicayune
Alt namesPickayunesource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS28012695
TypeCity
Coordinates30.528°N 89.68°W
Located inPearl River, Mississippi, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Picayune is the largest city in Pearl River County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 10,878 at the 2010 census. The city is located approximately from New Orleans, Hattiesburg and Gulfport-Biloxi. The Stennis Space Center is away.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The word "picayune" was the name of a Spanish coin, worth half a real. Its name derives from the French "picaillon", which is itself from the Provençal "picaioun", the name of an unrelated small copper coin from Savoy. By extension, picayune can mean "trivial" or "of little value". Picayune was incorporated in 1904, and was named by Eliza Jane Poitevent Nicholson in 1884, the owner and publisher of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, a newspaper named for the coin.

The local post office contained a mural, subsequently covered over, Lumber Region of Mississippi, painted by Donald H. Robertson in 1940. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department.

Hurricane Katrina

While Picayune received extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina, it was not as severe as in other nearby cities. This caused Picayune to become the temporary home for many who relocated from the New Orleans area and from the Mississippi Gulf Coast who were seeking a safer home site with easy commuting to those areas.

The bulk of the Katrina damage in Picayune was caused by high winds, as the eye wall passed over the city. This resulted in widespread roof, window, and fence damage. The wind also caused hundreds, if not thousands, of downed trees and power outages of up to a few weeks.

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