Bankston, Mississippi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bankston, Mississippi
|
|
|---|---|
Bankston Cemetery in 2007
|
|
 Bankston, Mississippi
Location in Mississippi
Bankston, Mississippi
Location in the United States
|
|
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Choctaw |
| Elevation | 410 ft (120 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code(s) | Area code 601 |
| GNIS feature ID | 707488 |
Bankston is a ghost town in Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States. A ghost town is a place where almost everyone has left, and it's mostly empty now. The closest community to Bankston is French Camp, which is about 8 miles (13 km) to the south-southwest.
Contents
Bankston's Early History
The First Factory
In 1848, something really important happened in Bankston. The very first successful factory in Mississippi that used machines to make cloth was started here. A man named James Madison Wesson built it. He named it after one of his helpers, Mr. Banks, who was from Columbus, Georgia.
This factory was called the Bankston Textile Mill, or sometimes the Mississippi Manufacturing Company. It was built near a stream called McCurtain's Creek, which flows into the Big Black River.
Making Supplies for the War
During the American Civil War, Mississippi joined the Confederacy. The Bankston Textile Mill became very important because it made supplies for the Confederate soldiers. They produced cloth for uniforms and even shoes.
Because Bankston was in a quiet, out-of-the-way part of Choctaw County, the factory kept working for a long time during the war. It continued to operate all the way through 1864.
The End of the Mill
However, the factory's secret didn't last forever. Soldiers from the Union Army found out that the mill was making a lot of cloth and shoes every day. On the night of December 30, 1864, Union troops led by Benjamin Grierson arrived. While the people of Bankston were sleeping, the soldiers set fire to the factory buildings. This included the cotton factory, the wool factory, a flour mill, and the shoe factory.
After the war, another factory was built in Bankston, but it was also burned down later.
What Was Bankston Like?
Around the year 1900, about 84 people lived in Bankston. At that time, the settlement had its own post office, where people could send and receive mail. It also had a grist mill, which was a place where grain was ground into flour. The post office was open from 1850 until 1905.
Bankston Today
Today, almost nothing is left of the old town of Bankston. The only thing that remains is the Bankston Cemetery. It's a quiet reminder of the people who once lived there.
