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is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,664. Raymond is one of the two county seats of Hinds County (along with Jackson) and is the home of the main campus of Hinds Community College.
In 1829, three commissioners, including John B. Peyton, were appointed by U.S. President Andrew Jackson to find a place near the center of Hinds County for the county seat. The current location of Raymond is a ridge about a mile from the center of the county, and was selected because the center was low and subject to flooding. The town of Raymond received its charter from the Mississippi legislature on December 15, 1830. Because of its status as a seat of justice and its proximity to the Natchez Trace, Raymond developed quickly into a prosperous small town whose prosperity and smallness have remained constant to this day.
In the late 1840s, Cooper's Well, a property near Raymond with a well that provided sulphured water, was developed into a resort for those seeking the perceived health benefits from its ingestion.
Construction of a new courthouse was begun at the center of the town square in 1857 and completed in 1859, and was facilitated largely by slave labor. The courthouse is still in use as a secondary location of county legal matters (the city of Jackson having become the primary county seat) and the Raymond courthouse is considered by many to be a prime example of southern Greek Revival architecture.
The Battle of Raymond was fought by Confederate and Union soldiers near Raymond on May 12, 1863 as part of General Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Four days later, the pivotal Battle of Champion Hill was won by Grant's troops and sealed the fate of Vicksburg. Grant stayed at Waverly, the plantation of by John B. Peyton, and Union soldiers used St. Mark's Episcopal Church as a hospital. Blood stains can still be seen on the church's floor today.
Construction of a water tower was begun in 1903 in the center of the town square and it remains a key identifying structure of Raymond along with the courthouse.
A small agricultural high school was opened in 1917 which eventually became Hinds Community College, a prominent community college in Mississippi.