Joyce Bradshaw, Polkville Library branch manager, and Robert Miles, mayor of Polkville, are pictured in the library’s new addition. Book circulation has “skyrocketed” since the expansion, Miles said. Open 12 hours a week, the library offers after-school and summer reading programs, and computers for public use.

Polkville

Polkville is located on Miss. 13 atop a ridge in the northwest corner of Smith County. Robert Miles is mayor.

Polkville’s population jumped from 132 to 720 residents last year when the town’s city limits were extended to encompass more than 16 square miles, about seven times its previous area.

The community was settled around 1834, when the first homes were built. A town was organized in the late 1840s and named for then-President James K. Polk.

Polkville was incorporated June 6, 1969.

Town hall is located in the renovated Polkville School, built in 1937. The building has also served as a civic center since the 1970s.

A police department, employing seven part-time officers, was organized in May 2006. The 20-member volunteer fire department moved into a new facility in recent years.

The Polkville Public Library, a branch of the Central Mississippi Regional Library System (CMRLS), more than doubled in size in 2006 when it took in space previously occupied by the fire department. The remodeling work was done by volunteers in the community. “People all pulled together and got it done,” said Joyce Bradshaw, branch manager. Since the expansion, library patronage has increased fivefold, she added. The Polkville branch was chosen 2007 Library of the Year in its 21-member library system.

Southern Pine Electric Power Association serves Polkville and the surrounding area.