Downtown
In the last article, I looked at houses along South Washington Street. Let's take a semi-random walk in the southern part of Vicksburg plus one view downtown and see what interesting photons passed through my camera lens and into the film emulsion. Most of these frames will also be from color negative film, mostly Kodak Ektar 100. Please click any picture to see more details.
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| Downtown Vicksburg from China Street (Royal Gold 25 film, Leica M2, 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens) |
As of 2023, The Vicksburg apartments are being renovated. Residents had to move to other accomodations around town. I hope this continues a downtown revival. The brick building in the left is the long-unused
Junius Ward Johnson YMCA. It has been empty for at least 20 years.
South Washington Street Area
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| View west towards the Mississippi River from Washington Street (Hasselblad, 80mm ƒ/2.8 lens) |
This the view west to the Mississippi River (the shiny water at the horizon). The Yazoo canal is out of sight just beyond the water tower. The water tower is a remnant of the cotton compress, of which very little remains now. With an amazing view like this, in most cities, a neighborhood like this would have gentrified. This one is still a mess.
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| Washington Street view north near Bowman Street |
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| Tri-State Tire, 2209 Washington Street |
This unusual building with decorated arches was once an ice company. Then, in the 1960s, it was the Seale-Lily ice cream store. Mr. Christ bought it in the 1970s and converted the building into a tire business. His daughter, Susan Christ, runs the business now and provides courteous and efficient service. I wrote about Tri-State in 2018.
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| 1009 (?) Bowman Street |
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| 1007 and 1009 Bowman Street |
Turn right from Washington Street onto Bowman Street. Some of the housing stock is seriously degraded.
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| Magnolia School, Bowman Street |
The former Magnolia School has been unused since at least the mid-1980s. Former windows were bricked in decades ago. From the 1920s to the 1950s, this was one of the most progressive schools for African-American students. J.G.H. Bowman, the principle of Magnolia Avenue High School, was highly respected for his dedication and accomplishments in running the school. The street is now named after him.
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| 807 Speed Street |
It looks like the occupants ran out of blue paint. Speed Street is pretty rough.
Drummond Street Area
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| Pink house, 2721 Green Street |
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| Ducks in a row, 911 Bowmar Avenue |
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| 2815 Drummond Street |
This four-unit apartment has been empty for at least five years. The front porch is sagging. As so often with these older houses, status unknown.
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| Johnny's truck, Candee Street |
This ends our short walk around Vicksburg. I took the 2023 photographs with Kodak Ektar 100 film using my new Pentax Spotmatic F camera and 50mm ƒ/1.4 or 55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar lenses. Watch for more Vicksburg photographs soon. Thanks for coming along!
2 comments:
Interesting about the Y building. As late as the 1990s, a co-worker of mine lived at the Y in a tiny little room like that.
When I moved to Vicksburg in 1985, a few of the residence rooms in the YMCA may have still been occupied. I do not remember when they closed the upper two floors with the residence rooms permanently, maybe the early 1990s? On modern standards, these rooms were bleak and cramped. They had one electric outlet. For many young men in the mid-20th century, a YMCA was home, often for years.
Kodachromeguy
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