Millsburg was founded on Feb. 12, 1828 as a “halfway farm.” At that time, it was the farthest interior town in the Liberian colony. The town sits on the northern bank of the St. Paul’s about 14 miles from the river mouth.
The town was named to honor Reverend Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess, two white Americans who were sent to Africa by the American Colonization Society in 1818 to locate a suitable place for the colonization of blacks. The name is a contraction of names “Mills” and “Burgess.”
Footnote: J. W. Lugenbeel, “Sketches of Liberia – No. 2,” African Repository, July 1850, p. 207; “From Liberia,” African Repository, May 1828, 82; “From Liberia,” African Repository, June 1828, p. 127.
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