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]
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]
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]
^ abEubanks, W. Ralph (August 25, 2020). "The Dimming Mystique of Mileston". Oxford American. Little Rock, Arkansas: Oxford American Literary Project. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^"Holmes County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
^Alcindor, Habiba (September 2, 2009). "Mississippi Growing". The Nation. New York, New York. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
