Located in the state of Mississippi, Iuka is a small city in the County of Tishomingo. The population of Iuka is approximatly 3, 000 residents. Iuka is also the county seat of Tishomingo County, and located to its south is Mississippi’s highest point, the Woodall Mountain.
The city was built on the Indian village site of Chickasaw and is thought to have been the second string to that of Underwood Village. The name Iuka was taken from one of the former chieftains that ruled the village.
In 1857, Euro-American settlers arrived with the Charleston and Memphis Railroad. There was a fine hotel, all boys’ military academy and an all female college before the beginning of the American Civil War. On September 19, 1862, the city was destroyed by the happenings of the Civil War. This was the Battle of Iuka, which saw approximately 1200 to 1500 persons wounded or killed. What is now known as the Shady Grove Cemetery was were dead Confederate soldiers were buried.
After the Civil War, the first normal school was built in the former Confederacy; the name of the school was Iuka Normal Institute. However; it took several years for the town to regain the prosperity it had before the arrival of the American Civil War. Activity was brought back to the town once the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to build the Pickwick Lake and the Pickwick Landing Dam.
At the World’s fair in St. Louis in 1904, the Iuka mineral springs’ water received first prize for being the best and purest mineral water.
The town’s total area (all of its land) is 9.7 square miles (25.0 km2), as reported by the United States Census Bureau.
The census held in the year 2000, reported that Iuka had a population of 3, 059 people which included: 1, 325 households and 809 families. Per square mile (122.3/km2) there were 316.6 people; also there were 1, 550 housing units with an average of 160.4 persons per square mile (62.0/km2).