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| Madison St. (Old US 80), Bolton, Mississippi |
Bolton is an old agricultural town in Hinds County on the east-west Kansas City Southern railroad line between Jackson and Vicksburg. Many Vicksburgers who go to school in Raymond take the exit from I-20 and pass through Bolton in a hurry, likely not paying much attention. Like many other small towns, Bolton has faded. The small commercial strip is mostly empty, the shops and nearby houses rather run-down. It is sad.
The gas station at the corner of Old US 80 and Bolton-Raymond Road is now a fast food joint.
I do not know if Bolton ever had a passenger depot. This old railroad warehouse or shed is at the crossing of the Bolton-Raymond Road. I have photographed it several times over the years. The tracks and bedding are in good maintenance because this is the main Kansas City Southern east-west line.
Jackie's Beauty Boutique is just a few steps from the railroad warehouse. On January 9, 2014, the Hon. Bennie G. Thompson in the House of Representatives asked his colleagues to recognize Ms. Jackie Bailey for her contributions to the community (
Congressional Record, 113th Congress, Second Session, Volume 160-Part 1)
East of Bolton, Old US 80 runs through woods interspersed with farm fields. I am not sure how much of the route is the real 80, the former Dixie Overland Highway, and how much is 1970s-vintage frontage road.
Proceed west on Madison Street, which is also Old US 80, and you reach the police station in a tiny modern office. Across the street is a closed gas station.
Continue west, and we have cottages and shotgun houses in various states of habitation and maintenance. I like the symmetry of these older cottages. Unfortunately, there is not much more to see in Bolton.
I took most of the black and white photographs with an Olympus Trip 35 compact 35mm camera on Kodak film. I wrote about the
Trip 35 in January. I also wrote about the Trip 35 on the
35MMC blog.
Update: I found a 1996 Kodachrome slide of Bolton.
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| Madison St., Bolton (Kodachrome 25 film, Leica M3, 90mm ƒ/2.8 Tele-Elmarit lens) |
9 comments:
Reminds me somewhat of the town in Nebraska where my dad was from. Amazing how the whole middle of the country was hollowed out. The Trip 35 seems like a handy camera for documenting such places.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Hollowing out is an appropriate term to describe what has happened to much of interior USA. These little towns do not offer much for energetic youngsters, and as soon as they finish high school, they leave for college and clear out to coastal cities. Even much of Jackson, the state capitol, has hollowed out.
I remember a movie called The Beast Within being filmed at a house over on Texas St back in 1981. The house still looks the same but in the movie it was yellow.
You make this town look so vacant and tragic.. I live here. The photo of the empty square Pic taken at 10am on a Sunday? Cause it would look empty with everything and everyone in church. Otherwise, it’d be packed with now a-newly opened steakhouse , public library, general store aka “the store”, a bank. The tire shop across the street from the police pic is now the steak house gutted and rebuilt n gorgeous I might ad. We replaced the tire shop with a little plant you might have heard of. “Continental tire company”. so with all that being said yes the town is small. But vacant “hollowed out” NO. It’s a small town, little to no crime, yes sir, no mam, thankyou, please, holding and opening the door, stop to talk, everyone’s a friend and a neighbor, laid back, porch swing, sweet tea, gospel music from the Methodist church every evening on the p.a. System up and down church st great place to live and raise a family or a chicken with 2 cats and a faint goat. You decide. There’s no race card here. Everyone’s on a first name basis unless age decided mr or mrs before. Earths very own little stress reliever with no red lights and a water tower. 😉. KLB
KLB, thank you for the update on Bolton. I will take another trip there and possibly re-photograph some of the revived shops and activity.
If you only knew the real history of Bolton. It was a large town with thriving business's and a hotel. Before Jackson was the Capital city, Bolton was the place to be. A fire destroyed the Sherrif office with most of the towns historical documents. My Great Grandfather was the Marshall in 1905. His wife's mother, Susan E Murrell owned the hotel in Bolton. Check out the cemeteries for other family names.
Thank you for the interesting story about the fire and your great grandfather.
Hello Andrew -
I am a producer on a TV show, and we would like to use one of the images on this blog. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Margarita Sullivan
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I grew up in Bolton. We moved there in 1968. It was a thriving town with lots of business. Several big farmers and businesses downtown. Not an empty building on main street. This all changed around 1973 when Bennie Thompson was elected mayor. It has been a constant decline since then. Very few businesses left there. Not sure who made the comment that Bolton is thriving but these pictures VERY MUCH portray how it looks today. I moved back to the area and it is disheartening to see all the abandoned houses and businesses. As far as the continental tire plant, that is considered Clinton.
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