Freshwater clam harvesting – "clammin" – enabled a thriving pearl button industry.

[citation needed] Altering the river's course also destroyed the nearby towns of Prentiss and Napoleon.

Beulah became the first county seat, and had a Masonic Lodge, church, school, bank, stores, and post office.

By 1910, declining financial and social conditions had caused most to lose their land, forcing them to work as sharecroppers and laborers.

[11] Beginning in the early 1900s, thousands of blacks left Mississippi as part of the Great Migration north by railroad to Chicago and other northern industrial cities, but others remained, with strong local ties.

[citation needed] Blues musician W. C. Handy once invited Charley Patton to watch his band perform in Beulah.

Patton got in free, and when he observed that Handy's musicians were all strict score-reading performers, he gave up all ambition of playing with their band.

[13]In 1970, Beulah was chosen as the site for a large event by the Southern Female Rights Union.

[15] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2), all land.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

The racial makeup of the town was 2.54% White, 95.98% African American, 0.85% Asian, 0.21% Pacific Islander, and 0.42% from two or more races.