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History · Mathiston

22% of Mathiston’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Wood Home for Boys. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1900.

1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Mathiston’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mathiston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mathiston’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLeah Bird (Woman's Home Missions, 1922): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Mathiston, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mathiston yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Mathiston is a town in Webster and Choctaw counties, Mississippi. The population was 831 at the 2020 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 698 to 831 (+19%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Mathiston, 1889 to 1953

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Mathison post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1922In the archiveLeah Bird (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
  5. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mathiston, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Leah Bird (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)1922Leah Bird (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
MathisonMSWelcomeSign2017MathisonMSWelcomeSign
On the map

Mathiston on the map, 1953 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mathiston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Mathiston on the 1953 USGS mapMathiston on the 1963 USGS mapMathiston on the 1984 USGS map1953West Point sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mathiston.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Leah Bird (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
Retake this viewLeah Bird (Woman's Home Missions, 1922), 1922

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mathiston’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Mathiston

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Wood Home for Boys
Wood Home for Boys
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Vernacular1
All 1 listings
Wood Home for BoysBuilding · listed 1984

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Mathiston, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020831

Grew from 170 people in 1900 to 831 in 2020, 4 times over.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mathiston’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Mathiston

Nobody well known was born in Mathiston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jerry RiceAmerican football player · b. 1962
Bobbie GentryAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1942
Larry SemonAmerican actor, director, producer, and screenw… · b. 1889
Glenn HardinAthletics competitor · b. 1910
Hayes JonesAmerican athletics competitor · b. 1938
Bukka WhiteAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1909
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gone or out of use
Ebenezer SchoolschoolMathison Colored SchoolschoolPigeon Roost Standlocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Mathiston’s history

What is on the National Register in Mathiston?

One place: the Wood Home for Boys (listed 1984).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.