Winona, Mississippi

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Coordinates: 33°29′20″N 89°43′53″W / 33.48889, -89.73139
Winona, Mississippi
Location in Montgomery County and the state of Mississippi.
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Montgomery
Government
- Mayor	Jerry Flowers (Democrat)
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 (2000)
- Total	5,482
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: http://www.winonaonline.com/

Winona (previously known as Middleton) is a city in Montgomery County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,482 at the 2000 census. The name of the city comes from a Sioux word meaning "first-born daughter." It is the county seat of Montgomery County^[1]. 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.

[edit] History

[edit] Middleton

Few travelers along U.S. Highway 82 know they are driving along the main street of a city of the past, a town that grew from a mere trading post beside an Indian trail in 1834 to become "The Athens of Mississippi" a few years later, and then began a decline that saw its end within a few years after the close of the Civil War. Today not even a "historical" marker preserves the memory of Middleton, a town then in Carroll County that ran the cycle of life from a log cabin store to a population of more than 2,000 (not authenticated) and back to a single old house in a period of less than forty years.

Along about 1800 a trader decided that this spot of flat land exactly where Interstate 55 and Highway 82 cross two miles west of Winona was just the right place for a "post" to set up shop and trade with the friendly Choctaws as they traveled the trails that crossed here. After the formation of the State of Mississippi, although the lands in this area were still in the hands of the Choctaws, other settlers came and built their cabins, trading with the Indians and clearing the land for farming. Among these was one William Pace, forbear of a long line of Pace descendant to the extent that the last house on the scene, the "old Pace house," was there to be torn down in the mid-1960s when Interstate Highway 55 was built: It Was the last reminder of "the glory that was," in Old Middleton.

With the purchase of the Indian lands in 1830, a flood of settlers came into the area, and in 1834 Carroll County was organized, but Middleton, being too far from the approximate center of the county, was not considered suitable for the county seat and Carrollton was built "from scratch" for that purpose. However, the old town continued to grow and flourish and was incorporated in 1840 when the population is said to have numbered more than 2000.

In 1841, Middleton was one of seven towns in our state considered for the site of the establishment of a State University. By 1850 it was a bustling town of several hundred inhabitants. A stage line ran from Holly Springs by way of Middleton to Durant over which mail and passengers were carried daily. To the west of the town were a wool mill and a flour and a cotton mill.

There was a newspaper, plenty of inns and saloons to care for the needs of men, several stores, a tailor shop, shoe shop and cabinet or furniture shop. Here we might note that the inns offered three meals and a night's lodging for one dollar. Lawyers and doctors abounded and there were photographers of a sort (daguerreotype), clockmakers, and other skilled workmen.

As was usually the case in the "new country," Middleton was always a religious center with Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian and Episcopal congregations served by some of the outstanding preachers of the day. Perhaps the old town gained its greatest fame through the schools that soon followed settlement and became "institutes" and "academies" and were known all over the state for the quality of learning they dispersed.

Of names of prominence in the community and the surrounding area, we list only a few of the many. Here came as merchants and planters. Peter Gee and O. J. Moore who later moved to Carrollton and Winona respectively. and became prominent in Carroll and Montgomery Counties. In and around Middleton also we note the Barrows, Youngs, Waddlingtons, Herrings, Turners, Rays, Whiteheads and Curtis and others.

With the completion of the Mississippi Central (now the Illinois Central-Gulf) Railroad a few miles east of Middleton in 1858-59, the town "hit the skids" and within fifteen years there was really nothing left but a memory, a cemetery now almost unknown to man, and the ghosts of "The Athens of Mississippi".

[edit] Winona

Born as a result of the railroad being built here instead of at Middleton to the west in 1860, Winona was originally a part of Carroll County and was incorporated as a town on May 2, 1861. "Winona" is an Indian name signifying "first born daughter." 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.

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.

[edit] Geography, geology, and climate

Winona is located at 33°29′20″N, 89°43′53″W (33.488845, -89.731451)^[2].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.1 square miles (33.9 km²), of which, 13.1 square miles (33.8 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.31%) is water.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Rec High °F	79	84	87	92	96	101	104	103	104	97	87	82
Norm High °F	51	57	65	72	79	85	89	88	83	74	64	55
Norm Low °F	28	31	38	45	55	63	67	65	59	45	37	31
Rec Low °F	-9		9	24	35	40	49	50	34	26	12	-2
Precip in.	5.41	4.65	6.36	5.52	5.05	4.27	4.48	3.16	3.62	3.32	5.07	6.13
Source: weather.com [1]

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there were 5,482 people, 2,098 households, and 1,456 families residing in the city. The population density was 420.0 people per square mile (162.2/km²). There were 2,344 housing units at an average density of 179.6/sq mi (69.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.10% White, 50.73% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.04% from other races, and 0.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.89% of the population.

There were 2,098 households out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 24.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.6% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 78.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 70.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,160, and the median income for a family was $31,619. Males had a median income of $30,163 versus $17,549 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,700. About 24.5% of families and 27.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 40.6% of those under age 18 and 24.8% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Religion

Winona is a predominately protestant christian area.

[edit] Churches

First Presbyterian Church
First Baptist Church
North Winona Baptist
Northside Church of Christ
Moore Memorial Methodist Church
Immanuel Episcopal Church
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Southside Baptist Church
Winona Baptist Temple
Winona Church of Christ
Church of God

[edit] Births

James Michael Tyler (May 28, 1962), actor
Donald H. Peterson (October 22, 1933), astronaut
E. W. Hammons (December 2, 1882), film producer
Wade Griffin (August 7, 1954), NFL football player
Chip Oliver (April 24, 1946), NFL football player
Chris White (February 28, 1983), NFL football player

[edit] Deaths

[edit] Economy

Winona has recently received water and power across I-55 which has allowed more businesses, such as Pilot, to develop. Due to the late development of water and power across I-55, Winona has until now been hindered in its ability to grow. This also contributed to many, small, family owned businesses controlling the economy.

[edit] Pilot Anchoring

In May of 2005, the economy of Winona got a slight boost with the incoming of Pilot Travel Centers. The company, a small truckstop/travelcenter chain, purchased the High Point truck and travel center, previously owned by NFL player Kent Hull, for a reported $4.6 million. After a lengthy renovation the plaza opened completely in August of 2005, just a few days before Hurricane Katrina.

[edit] Education

[edit] Public Schools

Winona Separate School District
Winona Vocational Complex

[edit] Private Schools

Winona Christian School

[edit] Media

[edit] Newspapers

The Winona Times

[edit] Television

[edit] FM Radio

95.1 WONA: country music

[edit] AM Radio

[edit] Points of interest

[edit] Culture

[edit] Civil Rights related violence

Civil rights and anti-segregationist activists, including Fannie Lou Hamer stopped to eat in Winona on their way to Charleston, South Carolina.

While touring the country, Martin Luther King Jr. made a stop in Winona during which he was ambushed by the local barber, Ryan Lynch, an outspoken white supremicist. Lynch rushed Dr. King with the razor from his shop, but King was saved by his assigned bodyguard - a local police officer named Garrit Howard. Howard stopped Lynch without even using his firearm, but rather by quickly grabbing the phonebook from a nearby phone booth and striking Lynch in the face as he charged.^{[citation needed]}