Platted in 1885 at the intersection of Deer Creek and the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas (later Illinois Central) Railroad, Leland has remained a small town. Industrial complexes, now largely dismantled, such as the Leland (Cotton) Oil Mill and the Leland Lumber Company, lined the railroad tracks, while the town’s major commercial and public buildings still stand one block away on Broad Street. White residential neighborhoods built up along Deer Creek. Three of the largest houses on the creek combine classical, Mediterranean, and Colonial Revival elements: the Thompson-Upshur House (c. 1900; c. 1924 remodeled) at 111 N. Deer Creek Drive, and the B. O. McGee (1911) and the C. C. Dean (c. 1925) houses at 107 and 204 S. Deer Creek, respectively. Black neighborhoods were primarily on the north side of town anchored by Lincoln High School (1954 and later; now Leland Middle School) at 200 Milam Street. In 1904, Mississippi A&M College (now Mississippi State University) established its first agricultural experiment station at nearby Stoneville to the northwest.
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