From the Archives: Rolling Fork, Mississippi

Rolling Fork, the county seat of Sharkey County, is a city in the southern Mississippi Delta north of Vicksburg. On March 24, 2023, a deadly EF4 tornado struck the city and flattened a strip through the community. The tornado killed 17 people in Rolling Fork and in nearby Midnight and Silver City. In March, my wife and I donated bottled water to the relief effort (photographs in my May 13 post). 

While sorting through folders of negatives and slides, I found some early 2000s digital and film photographs from Rolling Fork. Here is a quick look when the was semi-intact. The town had been poor and struggling economically for decades, so much of the downtown was in poor condition even 20+ years ago.

Bear Affair, 2008

Rolling Fork celebrates the Great Delta Bear Affair most years. The photograph above was from a cheerful 2008 Affair. The fest celebrates the time that president Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear that had been tied to a tree for him. A toy company saw the marketing potential, and the Teddy Bear has become a beloved children's toy. Despite the tornado damage, Bear Affair returned to Rolling Fork on October 27 and 28. I was out of state, but I read that Elvis showed up. Darn, missed the good stuff again.

Former Courtney's Store (hardware and garden supplies). 

Courtney's Store was a long-time hardware and garden supply vendor on Walnut Street. A friend and I explored many years ago and saw vacuum tubes and other goodies in the back. Mrs. Courtney's son, Willard, was our hairdresser in Vicksburg for some years. He was murdered during a drug deal in Rolling Fork sometime after 2010. 

McKenzie's store, also on Walnut, was mostly demolished by the tornado.

Sharecropper cottage south of town near the former Red Barn

The former Red Barn, built in 1918, collapsed on April 30, 2011. All wood has been removed, but the two silos still stand.

Mont Helena mansion north of town.

Mont Helena is a remarkable colonial revival mansion built by Helen Johnstone and George Harris in 1896. Fire destroyed the first mansion, and I do not know if the one you see today is from 1896 or slightly later. In the late-1980s, the house was vandalized and a wreck, but various owners lovingly restored it. Somewhere, I have some slides of the house in its ruined condition.

53 East China Street, March 2003 (Olympus OM2s camera, 35mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko Shift lens, Fuji Superior 200 film)

China Street, once a busy commercial hub, was lined with abandoned stores. I do not know their condition now.

24 East China Street, the former Danzig's Furniture store

Barnes' Grocery 614 Chestnut Street) and an asphalt-sided shotgun house (612 Chestnut).

Blue Front Cafe, Chestnut Street (50mm ƒ/3.5 Zuiko Auto-Macro lens)

Grace United Methodist Church, 6260 Grace Road, Grace, Mississippi (35mm Shift Zuiko lens)

The residents of Rolling Fork are a tough bunch and are in the process of rebuilding. Good for them. 

I took the 2003 photographs with an Olympus OM2s camera on Fuji Superia 200 film. I still have two Olympus lenses and need to buy a body on which to use them.

Mouldering Unused: Vicksburg's former Post Office and Federal Court House

Former Post Office and Federal Court House, undated post card

Former court house from Monroe Street (135mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

The former U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is an imposing limestone edifice at 820 Crawford Street in Vicksburg. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History's Historic Resources Inventory describes it as a Classical Revival building begun in 1935 and completed in 1937. It was designed by architect Claude Lindsley under the administration of of Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1933 to 1939. 

A five-story, stuccoed, Classical Revival office building, facing north, with a flat roof. The first floor facade is scored to look like stone and has three sets of double bronze doors with fanlights and elaborate bronze entablatures and eight casement windows with transoms. The three entrances are recessed behind large arches. The second, third and fourth floors are separated from the fifth floor by a heavy cornice and from the first floor by a heavy belt course on which is inscribed "United States Post Office and Court House". The facade of these floors is broken by two recesses dominated by three-story Ionic columns and pilasters. The original lobby is intact.

In 2003, the federal government planned to transfer the Post Office to the City of Vicksburg, but the plan fell through and the City never took possession. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that the building contained asbestos throughout that had not been removed. Possibly this or other potential maintenance issues convinced the city to not accept the property. The federal government sold the building to private owners around 2007.

Vicksburg's new post office is a functional but totally uninteresting (OK, ugly) building on Pemberton Boulevard. Because of reduced need for space, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi relocated to the city of Natchez. 

In the 1980s and 1990s, my friends in the Cam-Arts camera club and I met in a conference room on an upper floor in the building. At that time, the US Army Corps of Engineers Lower Mississippi Valley Division occupied offices on the upper floors. It was a comfortable room with reclining, sleep-inducing plush chairs and a 1970s color scheme.

At one time, there was a well-equipped photographic darkroom somewhere in the building. Via a convoluted path, I ended up with a giant stainless steel sink that had once been in this darkroom. In 2003, I donated it to Vicksburg High School when the art teacher taught a photography class. The City plumbers plumbed the sink, which I hope it is still in place.  

Several times, I asked Shirley Waring, who represents a company that owns the building, if I could take some photographs inside. She agreed but subsequently never responded when I sent emails or called. Nancy Bell, director of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, told me that one photographer offered serious money to photograph inside, but to no avail. 

This handsome old building sits, leaks, and moulders, year after year. Fate: unknown. 

Handsome entrance with arched doorways (28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens.

Ramp added long after original construction (24mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar)

Arched doorway with heavy bronze doors (24mm lens).

Detail of facade above arch (24mm lens)

A now-rare fallout shelter sign has survived

The rear of the building was distinctly more utilitarian, with a loading dock and fire escape stairs.

Original steel frame windows (30mm ƒ/10 Kodak lens adapted to Leica thread mount).

Loading dock stair (30mm ƒ/10 lens).

As I wrote above, this fine old building sits unoccupied and unmaintained. Eventually, decay, leaks, and plumbing issues will render it uneconomical for anyone to reuse it (this may be already happening). Too much time has passed. Who will pay to demolish it? 

I took the 2023 photographs on Kodak Plus-X film with a Pentax Spotmatic F camera. The last two photographs are on Fuji Acros film. 

Kodak Plus-X, Another Expired Film Treasure (Abandoned Films 10)

 

Oh oh, trouble. I experimented with another famous discontinued film. I had not used Kodak Plus-X since the 1980s or maybe the 1990s. My photography friend, Jim Grey, sent me two rolls and said go forth and photograph. How could I resist! I loaded the first roll in my Pentax Spotmatic F and rated it at exposure index (EI) = 100. 

Kodak's Plus-X was a staple of black and white photography in the USA for decades during the mid-20th century (1954-2011). Kodak finally replaced it with TMax 100. Kodak claimed TMax 100 would do everything that Plus-X could and could also replace their famous Panatomic-X film. Well, maybe. But many old-time photographers mourned the loss of the traditional cubic grain films and turned to Ilford for its FP4 Plus and Pan F films. But let us drop that controversy for now.  

Here are some Plus-X examples from around Vicksburg, Mississippi. I used my new/old Pentax Spotmatic F camera (see my previous article).

Former gas station/store on Warrenton Road (28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Monroe Street view south (135mm ƒ/3.5 lens)

Green Street (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC lens, yellow filter)

Rough apartment on Bowmar Avenue (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC lens, yellow filter)

Washington Street view south (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar lens)

Furniture in the woods, Johnson Street

Unfortunately, this is a common disposal method for old furniture here. It's a shame, because River City Rescue will pick up old items and sell them at their store.

728 Johnson Street (no longer extant)

This was a basic 1950s or 1960s house clad with asbestos siding. I opened the door, and a homeless fellow was sleeping inside.

733 Johnson Street (no longer extant)

Many early 20th century houses in Vicksburg were built on steep hillsides. The roads ran along the top of the ridges, and cottages had their front doors at street level. The backs were perched over the slope, supported by wood posts. These lots can not be redeveloped once the house is condemned and torn down. This results in Vicksburg becoming less densely developed over time. But yet the city still needs to maintain roads and utilities. Therefore, maintenance remain high but is supported by fewer properties that generate property tax revenue. 

Delta, Louisiana, from the road on the main stem Mississippi River levee. 35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens, yellow filter.

Summary. Plus-X was a refined traditional cubic-grain film. Fuji Acros, my normal 100 film, looks different and is finer grain. But I would not hesitate to use Plus-X if I wanted a mid-speed emulsion. I wish it were still available fresh. Ilford's FP-4, which is current, is probably similar to Plus-X. I last used FP-4 in the 1980s and need to try it again.  

Appendix

This is a 1948 (I think) Kodak data chart for three of their popular 35mm black and white films. At that time, Kodak rated Plus-X with and exposure index of 50. Later (in the 1960s?), when the ASA standard became the normal method of rating film speeds, most films abruptly doubled their exposure index. This  looked convenient, but many old-time photographers continued to give their film extra exposure to ensure that there would be image information in deep shadows.