Hernando Public Library facade in the county seat

1940s-1958

Hernando, the Marrying Capital

Postwar Hernando drew couples from near and far until a 1958 waiting-period law ended the chapel boom.

Hernando Public Library

This story is sourced from the DeSoto County Genealogical Society history of DeSoto County. Welcome Engine does not invent heritage facts outside that record.

Source: DeSoto County Genealogical Society, About DeSoto County: A Brief History of DeSoto County Mississippi

After World War II, Hernando rapidly became known as the "Marrying Capital" of the nation as couples poured into town from everywhere to say their vows. Two women from Las Vegas rented space and opened a Marriage Chapel with a complete ceremony for a fee. Life Magazine sent reporters to cover the story.

The practice ended on June 29, 1958, after the state legislature passed a blood-test and three-day waiting-period law. Decades later, visitors to Hernando still remarked that they had been married there.

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