Guntown is named for Virginia Loyalist émigré James G. Gunn (d. 1826) who found asylum among the Chickasaws in present-day Lee County.

[2] During the Civil War, Union cavalry officers described Guntown as "a station and small village on the Mobile & Ohio road.

[6] Guntown is located along Mississippi Highway 145, with the older parts of the city lying further to the east near the railroad tracks.

U.S. Route 45 traverses the western part of the city, running roughly parallel to MS 145.

As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 2,410 people, 880 households, and 671 families residing in the town.