Pallets in Marshall County, MS

BOX 01An edge-of-market county

Few counties carry as much freight past as little housing. Byhalia has 1,339 to 1,440 residents depending on which figure Wikipedia's article uses for the 2020 census, so local retail is tiny. What matters is the interchange and the railroad, which make the town reachable from Memphis, from Holly Springs and from the beltway.

Byhalia holds the interchange numbers and the pallets that come off rail freight.

BOX 02What to expect here

• Newer buildings that fill racks before they shed pallets.
• Rail-served freight arriving on 48 x 48 and 48 x 40 pallets.
• Little retail; most piles are industrial.

The next county north is DeSoto, and to the northeast is Fayette, whose Rossville intermodal ramp is on a different railroad.

BOX 03Newer buildings, older roads

The interstate interchanges at Byhalia are recent. I-269 was completed in 2018, and the older roads, US 78 and MS 309, carry the traffic that predates it. A building off a county road behind the interchange may have a gravel yard and limited turning room, which is worth stating in a request.

BOX 04The county in numbers

Marshall County was founded in 1836 with Holly Springs as its seat. It had 33,752 residents at the 2020 census and 706 square miles of land, with Byhalia and Potts Camp as its towns (Wikipedia). Few counties of that size carry as much through-freight past as little housing.

BOX 05Towns and crossroads

Besides the seat at Holly Springs, the county has two towns, Byhalia and Potts Camp. Its census-designated places and unincorporated communities include Hudsonville, Chulahoma and Cayce. The county covers 710 square miles in all, 706 of them land. It is part of the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metropolitan area and borders Fayette and Shelby counties in Tennessee to the north and northwest, DeSoto County to the west, and Benton, Union, Lafayette and Tate counties in Mississippi. The 2010 census counted 37,144 residents, against 33,752 in 2020.

BOX 06Roads through the county

Wikipedia lists Interstates 22 and 269, US 72 and US 78, and Mississippi highways 4, 7, 178, 302, 309, 310, 311 and 349 as the roads of the county. At Byhalia, I-22 exit 14 and I-269 exit 18 both meet MS 309, and Holly Springs lies 16 miles southeast along I-22 (Byhalia article).