Mizil - History

History

Mizil was mentioned in 1529, in an official document at Braşov. It was first mentioned as Eşteu in 1585, and as Istau in 1591, after its stream. Around the turn of the 18th century, Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu owned the village, building houses at the nearby Corbeanca Dealul Dumbăvii vineyard and establishing an annual fair in Mizil that would become renowned. It was during the 18th century that a mail coach station for changing horses opened in the village. Merchants began to set up shop, their business augmented by the location between two larger towns; coachmen, wheelwrights, woodcutters and watchmen also found work. In the Ottoman Turkish language of Wallachia's rulers, the station was known as a menzil. The n dropped out through syncope and the i became an e; given that activity and transactions that took place around it, the resulting name came to be used for the village as a whole and to replace its old name. The first church was built in 1790, and Mizil was declared a town in 1830.

Mizil reached its peak of activity during the 19th century, rapidly outpacing Urlaţi, which had possessed the advantage of having the closest market to most of the towns in that part of Wallachia. Moreover, in 1847 the Ploieşti-Buzău road began to be built along the foothills, shortening and modernising the link between the capitals of the Danubian Principalities, Bucharest and Iaşi. It was from the latter to the former city that Alexandru Ioan Cuza passed through Mizil in 1859, on his way to become head of the United Principalities. In this period, inhabitants worked in agriculture, viniculture, animal husbandry and various trades. The first school was built in 1857, by the boyar Ion Căciunescu, although teaching had begun around 1838. Following the efforts of mayor Leonida Condeescu, an elementary trade school was established about 1902, with a high school opening later.

The town's rapid growth slowed down in the first half of the 20th century, eventually stagnating. In the 1950s and '60s, under the Communist regime, it was the centre of Mizil raion in Regiunea Ploieşti. During this time, industry—textiles, wood and mechanics—came to be a chief source of employment for inhabitants.