Yocona Cotton Mill – A Brief History

The Yocona Cotton Mill, also called Yocona Mills or Yocona Twine Mill, was located in Water Valley, Mississippi, from the 1880s until it burned in April, 1926.

According to various descriptions in Water Valley newspapers and Sanborn insurance maps, the mill produced yarn, batts, mop cord, and twine.  It employed anywhere from 50 to 200 people.

The Yocona Cotton Mill was located in the north end of Water Valley – just north of North Court Street.  It was east of the Illinois Central Railroad tracks and just west of a street called College Street.  (Today College Street is the part of Jones Street that curves into North Court.)  It appears that the current street called Campus Drive and/or the houses along Campus Drive may have been built on top of the remnants of the mill.

The mill was started and owned by local investors, primarily the Wagner family, a prominent family in Water Valley.  Charles E. Romberger was the superintendent of the mill for many years.

I will soon post photographs of the mill taken by famed photographer Lewis Hine in May 1911.  Until then, check out A Young Workforce In 1911 Was Under Scrutiny by Jack Gurner, Jr., of the North Mississippi Herald newspaper.

If you have any information about the mill or the people who worked there, please respond.