Delta Pace

The town of Pace is located in the center of Bolivar County, Mississippi, 12 miles east of the Mississippi River. It is in the Delta, a plain resulting from the deposits of the flooding of the river, creating some of the most fertile soil in the world.

The town developed late in the history of the state. It is named for one of the men who bought and cleared the land in 1905. Lumbering was followed by farming, the major crops being cotton, rice and soybeans. However, only 5% of the residents owned any farmland.

Because of the mechanization of cotton production and the minimum wage law, employment in the area decreased drastically. Approximately 20,000 people left Bolivar County during the past 20 years, resulting leaving four stores where 17 once served and the closing of the railroad, high school, and many Pace businesses. The population had decreased to 630 with a high proportion being elders and over half of the citizens racing a major portion of their income from welfare at the time of the Human Development Consult.

• Mississippi Rural Development Symposium, Jackson, MS, April 29 – May 1, 1984

• Mississippi 200:  1977 – 1980. See Town Meeting Intensified for community documents

  • • Memories of Mississippi Town Meeting Programs:  Sandra Conant 2019, Lin Zahrt 1986, Molly Shaw 1986 and “Citizen Involvement – The Answer“, Ruth Wilson (16th Guardians Consult, April 1979).

    • Town Meeting Mississippi 200 State Report, 1979. 1978 and photos

    • Delta Pace MS Town Meeting Assembly, June 18, 1977

• Pace Story and Accomplishments, 1980

• Pace Human Development Training School, June 1-21, 1980

  • • Opening Celebration

    • Curriculum

    • Closing Celebration 

• Pace Community Report, May 1980

  • • Pace Industrial Enterprises Prospectus, May 1980

• North Central Cluster Meetings, January-March, 1980 plus Ruth Wilson on Volunteering

• Pace Two Year Accomplishments, 1979

  • • Pace Preschool 1977-1979, as told by Sandra Conant Strachan, 2019

• Pace Town Meeting, February 24, 1979

• Pace Community Development Plan, Department of Housing and Urban Development, January 1979

• Pace Living Environment Report, Global Research Assemblly, Chicago, July 1978

• Pace Report, a report on the Comprehensive Plan for reconstructing the community, 1978

• Pace Methods Training Weekend, January 13-14, 1978

• Pace Cumulative Reports:  6 and 9 Months, 1977-1978

• VOICE Newsletter:

  • • 1977:  February;  April ;  October ;  November; selections from Feb-December

    • 1978:  February; selections from January 1978 – January 1979

    • 1979-1980:  selections from April 1979 – May 1980

• Pace Health Trek, October 28 – November 7, 1977

  • • Delta Pace Health Week, November 1977

• Pace Community Association Minutes, November 2, 1977

  • • Community Association Proposed Organization

• Pace Town Meeting Document, October 8, 1977

• Delta Town Meeting Assembly, June 18, 1977

• Delta Pace Human Development Project Consult, February 1977

  • Pace Consult Document

  • Community Data

  • Indices of Development Toward Self-Reliance

  • 14 Programs and Guild Assignments

  • HDP Participants

• Pace Brief, February 1977

• Consult Prep, February 1977