Vicksburg from the Archives, 1993-1994, Ektar 25 film

I recently had some old Kodak Ektar 25 film negatives scanned that I exposed in 1993 and 1994. Even with the passage of only 20 years, you can see changes in slow-moving Vicksburg.

Let's take a walk on Washington street and head south. This is the Vicksburg Cafe at 1625 Washington Street, formerly at the corner of Washington and South Madison. I do not remember when the building was torn down. And now I realize why the Warren County library, seen to the left, did not have an entrance on the south side. The architect likely felt there was not enough space for a driveway and entry stairs. But now this is an empty lot, and this side would be a much more suitable entry area for the library than its inadequate and awkward parking lot on Walnut Street. And the library's entrance on the north side of the building is totally useless.

F&G Beverages at 1701 Washington Street has thrived and grown. The drive-through on the left is gone now. Whenever I bicycle by, the store has customers. I better not write what I think of this demonstration of small-town prosperity.

Dollar General has also thrived, but this building at 1713 is gone.

This is the view north from the corner of Washington and Bridge Streets. The former Mississippi Hardware company is in the distance to the left. In World War II, the build housed a fabric and sewing manufacturer.

Nick's Auto Parts, in the old brick corner store (1733 Washington Street), is closed.

The next building south was the Vicksburg Seed store. I recall that several additions or porches on the side were torn down over the years.

This view looking north is over the railroad viaduct.

If you turned east and walked up Belmont Street, from some of the parking lots on the north side, you could look north over the railroad cut. There were once a number of houses and gardens (mini-farms) on the slope. Most are gone now. Some of the shotgun shacks were the classic Vicksburg type where the entrance was level with the road but the back projected out over the slope, supported by wood posts. A retired city engineer told me that these post houses cannot be rebuilt or permitted if they collapse. But they were common in the early 20th century as a way to accommodate the area's complicated topography.

I took these photographs with a FujiFilm GW690II medium-format camera with 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens using Kodak Ektar 25 film. This was a fine-grain, contrasty emulsion, and was a bit hard to use but spectacular if you wanted fine detail.

Lost Houses: Lower Main Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Dear Readers, happy and prosperous 2015 to you all.

Main Street is one of Vicksburg's historic streets, and the waterfront and hill near the Yazoo Canal (formerly the main stem of the Mississippi River) is one of the earliest areas to be settled in the 1800s. Sadly, we have lost many of the old houses from this district over the years.

I recall that in the 1980s and early 1990s, the square building at the corner of Main and Washington Streets was a local corner grocery store. Unfortunately, I never photographed the interior.

But the good news is that Rusty's Riverfront Grill now occupies the site (901 Washington Street). This is a success story - an old building with a new life. It has been renovated and expanded.

The next building uphill is a garage at 714 Main Street.

716 Main was an old-fashioned house that had been empty for some time and, as of mid-2014, was being deconstructed. In the second picture, you can see right through the left wall.
June 2015 update: this building has been demolished.

718 Main is in good condition and was occupied in late 2014.

No. 722 is a duplex with plaster or concrete siding made to look like limestone. The brick building in the left distance is the Jackson Street Community Center. That was the former site of a YMCA (click the link).

On the next block east (uphill), the shotgun shacks at nos. 802 and 804 were demolished years ago. This photograph (a Kodachrome slide) is from 2000.

Across the street, at 807 Main, there was once a big 2-story building. I did not pay much attention until I saw the demolition crew at work in February of 1998. These photographs were also Kodachrome slides taken with a Leica camera and 35mm Summicron lens.

At 808, the building had the concrete (or plaster?) siding shaped to look like limestone blocks.

So it goes; slowly but surely, more structures are being removed than built. Vicksburg has more grassy lots than even 20 years ago. Is this the fate of small towns in America?

Cottages on Farmer Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Farmer Street is one of Vicksburg's historic streets, lined with late-1800s and early 20th century cottages. Some are nicely restored, but some are dilapidated. But at least it is vibrant - people live here, and only a few properties are abandoned.  Let's take a tour, starting at the corner of Farmer and 1st East Streets, and proceed north.

735 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

No. 735 is a substantial house with long porch facing Farmer Street.  Although the address is Farmer Street, the main entrance is unused and a sign directs visitors to the side entrance on 1st East.

728 Farmer Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Interior of 728 Farmer Street

Parlor of 728 Farmer Street

The old house at 728 is abandoned.  This house resembles many others in hilly Vicksburg: the main door faces the street on the upper level, while the rear of the house is way up off the ground.  In some cases, the main floor was elevated on posts, while others, like this one, had a partial basement.  In this house, the walls were brick with a facing of plaster, and the original small fireplace is still present.  This would have been for a coal insert.  Vicksburg, being a railroad town, had coal available for winter heating. (This led to burning embers in the air, which led to roof fires, which led to the widespread adoption of  asbestos roof shingles in the 1920s and 1930s.)

726 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

726 Farmer Street is a duplex, now rather rough. The roof eave is faced with asbestos shingles, probably installed in the 1920s or 1930s at the same time that the roof was covered with similar shingles. Asbestos shingles (really a concrete matrix strengthened with asbestos fibers) were popular because they were fireproof, held paint well, and needed little maintenance. The siding is newer aluminum, now peeling off.

725 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

The cottage at 725 has a screened porch, and you can't see details of the house.

507 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

507 is a handsome Victorian-era cottage with nicely-done paint.  The shingles in the eaves may be original. Hmmm, will a contemporary McMansion still have its original siding in 120 years? Will it even be standing?

618 Farmer Street, Vicksburg - possible haunted house?

Around the time when I took the photographs of 618 (on Kodachrome film with a Nikon camera), an article in the Vicksburg Post said the house was reputed to be haunted.  I think someone planned to give tours, but I am not sure if they ever happened. Regardless, it was a substantial Victorian-era house in need of restoration.  Note this is another example of a house built on a steep hill where the front door is on the upper level.

506 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

One block north is the 500 block. 506 is a nice little cottage behind a huge cedar tree.

504 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

504 is a well-used, with cars parked on the yard.

502 Farmer Street, Vicksburg.

502 was occupied by one or more families with energetic basketball players. The  kids asked me to take their portraits.

My friends from Farmer Street.

This fellow wanted his portrait, too.

I made prints for the kids and took them to their house.

417 Farmer Street, Vicksburg in 2013.

417 Farmer Street in 2003 (Kodachrome film).

417 Farmer Street is an immaculate little cottage. Now it is yellow, but in 2003, it was a cheerful green.

415 Farmer Street, Vicksburg

413 Farmer Street

413 and 415 are on the east side of the street.  The land rises on this side, so the houses have steep yards.

1207a Randolph Street

On Randolph Street, a couple of shotgun shacks have been restored and are available for rent. This neighborhood proves that older houses can be restored and used. Isn't this better than tearing them down?

All 2013 photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera with Fuji 27mm lens or a manual-focus Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/3.5 Auto-Macro lens (amazingly sharp).  Some frames processed with PhotoNinja software.  The 2003 photographs were Kodachrome 25 taken with a Nikon F3 camera and a 35mm PC-Nikkor lens.

Another Forgotten Vicksburg Road: N. Fisher Street

North Fisher is another one of Vicksburg's odd semi-hidden streets. Now you gain access from Hugo Street to the south. Once upon a time, the road snaked down the steep hill from Fort Hill Drive, but I am not sure if it is passable now.



I drove here in 2003 to photograph two houses on the City of Vicksburg demolition list. When the city inspector deems a house to be dangerous, sub-standard, or vermin-infested, and the owner cannot be located or refuses to make repairs, the city has the authority to demolish it. The spray-painted number indicates that the inspector had been to the property. The interior photograph shows the inside of No. 1507. The City used to fax the demolition list to me; then one day they said I had to go downtown and pay for photocopy reproduction. Odd.

Surprise, the second house was also No. 1507. Both are now gone.

The color photographs are scans of Kodachrome 25 film, scanned with a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 as TIFF files. Nos. 1 and 2 were taken with a Leica M3 rangefinder camera with 50 mm f/2.8 Elmar lens. This was a 1970s version of the 50 with dual focus scale.  The black and white view of 1507 (the second 1507) is a scan of a 4×5-inch Tri-X sheet, exposed with a 75 mm f/8 Super-Angulon lens.  I developed the Tri-X in Kodak HC110 Dilution B.  This has been my normal development method since the 1970s.

More Cottages on Pearl Street, Vicksburg

Some of you readers may remember my 2010 post on historic Pearl Street, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. As I wrote then, many of the early-20th century houses had been or were in the process of being torn down. Here are some more examples of architecture along that road (from my 2006 files).

This is No. 2114 Pearl. Notice the sun awnings running along the entire front. The siding is a type of asphalt tile patterned to look like stone blocks. I recall these were common in the mid-20th century, durable and providing some degree of insulation.

Here is No. 2118, nicely restored with vinyl siding. The Kansas City railroad yard is behind and down the hill.

No. 2123 was a substantial cottage and has been boarded up for years.

This nicely-painted cottage on a landscaped lot is No. 3513 and has a view of the bend of the Mississippi River.

Finally, this handsome cottage at 3607 Pearl. I will look through the archives for more Pearl Street examples.

All photographs taken with a Sony DSC-W7 compact digital camera.