Winona, Mississippi
| Winona, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
| City | |
| Nickname(s): Winetown | |
 Location in Montgomery County and the state of Mississippi. |
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 Winona, Mississippi
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| Coordinates: 33°29′20″N 89°43′53″W / 33.48889°N 89.73139°WCoordinates: 33°29′20″N 89°43′53″W / 33.48889°N 89.73139°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Montgomery |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jerry Flowers (Republican) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 33.9 sq mi (87.8 km2) |
| • Land | 33.8 sq mi (87.5 km2) |
| • Water | 0.1 sq mi (0.26 km2) |
| Elevation | 381 ft (116 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 5,043 |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC−6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC−5) |
| ZIP code | 38967 |
| Area code(s) | 662 |
| FIPS code | 28-80760 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0679787 |
| Website | winonams |
Winona is a city in Montgomery County, Mississippi. The population was 5,482 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Winona is known in the local area as "The Crossroads of North Mississippi" due to its central location at the intersection of U.S. Interstate 55 and U.S. Highways 51 and 82.
Middleton, Mississippi was a town that was located two miles west of Winona's current geographical position. Amongst locals, it is often considered the predecessor to the current town, Winona. Middleton was a much larger town, with an exceptional school. The old Middleton cemetery is located just above the Coliseum at the Rec. Park near waffle house.
Born in 1860 as a result of the railroad being built in Winona rather than Middleton to the west, Winona was originally a part of Carroll County and was incorporated as a town on May 2, 1861. The first settler of the town was Colonel O.J. Moore, who arrived from Virginia in 1848. What is now the business part of town was then a cultivated field on Colonel Moore's property. The railroad passed through his property and the railway station was placed near his plantation home. An influx of settlers started after the location of the railroad and Winona became a busy town.
Captain William Witty, an early settler from North Carolina, was for years a leading Winona merchant and established the first bank in the county. Other names seen among the early settlers were: Curtis, Burton, Palmer, Spivey, Townsend, Hart, Turner and Campbell. The early businesses were mainly grocery stores. Today, there is only one.
In 1871, Montgomery County was formed from portions of Carroll and other counties, and Winona became the county seat of the newly formed county. A yellow fever epidemic struck the area in 1878, and caused many of the towns citizens to die and many to leave.
In April 1888, a great fire destroyed almost the entire business section of the town. Forty of the 50 businesses burned.
Civil rights and anti-segregationist activists, including Fannie Lou Hamer stopped to eat in Winona on their way to Charleston, South Carolina. On June 9, 1963, Hamer was on her way back from Charleston, South Carolina with other activists from a literacy workshop. Stopping in Winona, Mississippi, the group was arrested on a false charge and jailed by white policemen. Once in jail, Hamer and her colleagues were, per orders of local law officers, beaten savagely by inmates of the Montgomery County jail, almost to the point of death.
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