Drew is a small agricultural town in Sunflower County. It is just off US 49W, between Tutwiler and Ruleville. I have been to Drew twice and both times was impressed by the grain elevators and symbols of its agricultural prosperity (or former prosperity), and unimpressed by the general state of decay and impoverishment.
Front Street parallels the former Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (Y&MV) line. Many of the elevators were built next to the tracks.
During my 2017 visit, there was a heavy but brief rain, after which the light was sublime.
The corrugated steel lends a lot of shape and texture to photographs. These old elevators were impressive scale, and now they sit unused. The buildings were closed and I did not want to try to get in as I was alone.
On Union Avenue, I came across an abandoned store with one of the 45° entryways that you often see at corner shops. There was a Teddy Bear nailed to the power pole out front. I stopped and set up my tripod. Two young ladies with extreme cleavage stopped their car and seemed amazed to see me photographing. When I said I was interested in the Teddy Bear, they said it was a memorial because a guy was shot there a few days before. It is grim that violence is such a defining characteristic of life in many communities.
East of town, Hitt Chapel on Rte. 32 sits quietly on its own in the farm fields. The peacefulness is such a contrast to the troubles that exist downtown.
Most horizontal photographs were taken with a medium-format Fuji GW690II camera, the square with a Rolleiflex 3.5E with Xenotar lens. The film was the long-discontinued Kodak Panatomic-X. These negatives were scanned on a Minolta Scan Multi medium format scanner using SilverFast Ai software. The photograph of Hitt Chapel is from Kodak BW400CN film and a 35mm Pentax Spotmatic Camera (purchased in 1971 and still in operation).
5 comments:
Great pictures. The "For Colored" store image is shocking.
Excellent work.
I looked at the railroad and my deed has the railroad on it that goes through and what was said is there's still abandon that is attached to my property The city's tore up most of the stuff and ripped out tracks that doesn't belong to them because they'd have to go to the state to remove artifacts which is attached to my property and the reason I was getting a whole lot of grief I seen an engine and steam locomotives that still on my tracks which is 50 mi of Mississippi Delta Plus I'm a disabled service connected vet and I'm going to attach all of it to my service connected DDT 14 since the pandemic I wasn't able to get up there and file my military documents with the county about the property way back few years and it's from the old plantation and that's why I understood I was getting grief from the back lot that didn't exist of the era there was only two lights there a 100 ft piece of property and mine which is one point seven five acres in the yellow dog goes the Mississippi Delta tracks in which an engineer would love this track and I can understand how the city destroyed what was there especially since it had history and the railroad that was also there that was on my deep the yellow dog is known as well as the other railroad that is on my deed as well which come from 400 North main Street Drew Mississippi it went right downtown I think the mayor and the city police has been in office too long to ignore the significance of the historic value of the town and let it run down while they're the ones that ran it down instead of fix it up these citizens are dumping trash all over the place I don't think it's going to attract too much at all but you take it but a turntable there on my property and leave the same city so the city's got a lot of growing to do with different leadership in the town and I think the mayor in the city police switch back and forth for mayor to city police it makes things real bad especially when you got squatters in the same city that's in the office that's pretty much destroyed the town when I was there last time businesses was want to leave town because the leadership in town so I was hoping that they turn things around and get rid of those bring new leadership in and look at the historical value of what's there and stood them tearing it up which has to do with old plantation that I do on the man at the back light says he owns deal homestead be on home stands on my property which is the plantation which is the front lot there was no three lights there during the time The steam engine did everything went right through the lock there it crossed 49 and come right into town
Do you have any information about the movie theater in Drew MS?
Sorry Unknown. I do not know anything about the theater. I will try to drive back to Drew sometime soon and look around again.
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