Mileston, Mississippi

Mileston, Mississippi
Unincorporated community
Mileston is located in Mississippi
Mileston
Mileston
Mileston is located in the United States
Mileston
Mileston
Coordinates: 33°06′37″N 90°16′24″W / 33.11028°N 90.27333°W / 33.11028; -90.27333
CountryUnited States
StateMississippi
CountyHolmes
Elevation
112 ft (34 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
39169
Area code662
GNIS feature ID[1]

Mileston is an unincorporated community located in Holmes County, Mississippi. Mileston is located on U.S. Highway 49E and Highway 12,[2] approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Tchula, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Thornton and approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Marcella.

It is about 17 miles (27 km) north of Yazoo City.[2] Mileston is located on the Canadian National Railway.[3]

History

Post office in back of the plantation store, 1939

Mileston is named for a former plantation. In 1940, the United States government purchased approximately ten-thousand acres of the former W. E. Jones estate as part of the Resettlement Administration. The land was split into seventy individual plots with an additional cooperative farm that included thirty plots. The community was home to a cotton gin, school, store, blacksmith shop, and medical clinic.[4] W. Ralph Eubanks' father taught agronomy at the Mileston school.[5]

A post office operated under the name Mileston from 1888 to 1953.[6]

Much of the land in Mileston is owned by descendants of the original African American sharecroppers. In 2000, the West Holmes Community Development Organization and the state of Mississippi began operating a farmers' market in Mileston.[7]

Marion Post Wolcott documented people and scenes from the Mileston plantation in 1939 as part of her work with the Farm Security Administration.[5]

Civil Rights Movement

Mileston was the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement in Holmes County.[8] In March 1963, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began work in Holmes County after being contacted by residents of Mileston.[9] The next month, fourteen African Americans from Mileston (known as the First Fourteen) traveled to Lexington and unsuccessfully registered to vote.[10]

One of the first citizenship schools in Mississippi was held at the Mileston community center and many attendees became members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.[4]

Transportation

Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, which operates between New Orleans and Chicago, passes through the town on CN tracks, but makes no stop. The nearest station is located in Yazoo City, 22 miles (35 km) to the south.

Education

Residents are in the Holmes County School District, and are assigned to Holmes County Central High School.

The school district previously operated a school in Mileston:[2] previously Mileston Elementary School (K-6),[11] later Mileston Middle School,[12] which housed up to 130 students.[2]

Notable person

Images

Photos taken in 1939 by Marion Post Wolcott
Marcella Plantation in Mileston
Railway depot
Mileston Post Office
Open-air barber

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mileston, Mississippi
  2. ^ a b c d "Mission." Mileston Elementary School. May 4, 2006. Retrieved on July 9, 2017.
  3. ^ Howe, Tony. "Mileston, Mississippi". Mississippi Rails. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Wood, Spencer. "Mileston". Mississippi Encyclopedia. Mississippi Humanities Council. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Eubanks, W. Ralph (August 25, 2020). "The Dimming Mystique of Mileston". Oxford American. Little Rock, Arkansas: Oxford American Literary Project. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  6. ^ "Holmes County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  7. ^ Alcindor, Habiba (September 2, 2009). "Mississippi Growing". The Nation. New York, New York. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  8. ^ "Mississippi Senate Concurrent Resolution 574". LegiScan. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  9. ^ "Holmes Significant Events Timeline". MS Civil Rights Project. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  10. ^ Howell, Jeffery. "Holmes County Civil Rights Movement". Mississippi Encyclopedia. Mississippi Humanities Council. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  11. ^ Home. Mileston Elementary School. March 22, 2006. Retrieved on July 9, 2017. "147 Headstart Rd. Tchula, MS 39169"
  12. ^ "Schools." Holmes County School District. July 28, 2014. Retrieved on July 9, 2017. "Mileston Middle School 147 Headstart Road Tchula, MS 39169 "
  13. ^ Thunder of Freedom: Black Leadership and the Transformation of 1960s Mississippi. University Press of Kentucky. 2013. p. 24. ISBN 0-8131-4093-5.