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History · Jonestown

Jonestown’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Jonestown. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
0recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

The Matagorda Plantation, located north of Jonestown, was established by Colonel D.M. Russell and his wife before the Civil War. Matagorda was named after a special variety of long-staple cotton raised there.

Jonestown was a stop on the Mobile & North Western Railroad, completed from Jonestown to Lula in 1879. Jonestown was incorporated in 1880.

In 1965, John Wing was elected mayor of Jonestown, the first Chinese-American mayor in Mississippi.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Start Jonestown’s collection

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

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Famous people from Jonestown

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SWSeelig WiseBusinessASA.J. SmithScience & Medicine
By decade

Jonestown, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Jonestown is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Jonestown has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Coahoma Community College in Lyon, 8 miles away.

Jonestown and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Jonestown. Tap a dot.
Coahoma Community CollegeYazoo Pass LeveeJohn Clark HouseMyrtle Hall Branch Library for NegroesYazoo and Mississippi Valley Passenger DepotWoolworth Building

Closest to Jonestown

Coahoma Community CollegeLyon · District8miYazoo Pass LeveeLula · Site10.4miJohn Clark HouseClarksdale · Built 185910.5miMyrtle Hall Branch Library for NegroesClarksdale · Building10.6miYazoo and Mississippi Valley Passenger DepotClarksdale · Built 197910.7mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Coahoma Community College’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Jonestown?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Jonestown’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Coahoma📜 Lyon📜 Lula📜 Friars Point
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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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