Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Zingara Milstead, GA

Milstead is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Rockdale County, Georgia, just north of Conyers, the county seat.

Milstead was first listed as a census-designated place in the 2020 U.S. census, which counted a population of 628.

The CDP is bordered to the south by the city of Conyers and to the north by the Yellow River, and it uses Conyers' ZIP code, 30012.

Milstead grew up as a textile mill town on the Yellow River, tightly connected to neighboring Conyers, and at its peak the two towns were linked by a private railroad that carried cotton and mill products from Milstead to Conyers for shipping.

A 1905 Rogers steam locomotive carried freight between Conyers and Milstead until 1961, a reminder of the little railroad that served the mill.

Fuller E. Callaway purchased the already significant Milstead industrial complex in 1905, and the Milstead Division of Callaway Mills manufactured cotton duck profitably for about 55 years.

Competition from cheaper textile imports after the Korean War pushed Callaway Mills into consolidation, and the Milstead mill closed in 1960, leaving granite ruins of the plant above the Yellow River.

Milstead's mill was once the largest employer in Rockdale County, and its closure forced the rural county to diversify its economy before suburban Atlanta growth arrived along Interstate 20 in the 1970s.