Mississippi Railroad Towns: Crystal Springs and Hazelhurst

Crystal Springs

The City of Crystal Springs is about 20 minutes south of Jackson along Interstate 55. Most people rush by on the interstate, but it is a pleasant community and worth a stop. It looks more prosperous than many other Mississippi towns that I have visited. The city was formed in 1858 when the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad built facilities in the area. Copiah county was known as the "Tomato Capital of the World" because in the late 1930s, the county canned and shipped via rail car more tomatoes than any other county (anywhere in the USA?). You can even attend the Tomato Festival in June.

Former Wolf Hotel, 1854 West Railroad Ave., Hazelhurst (Kodak Royal Gold 25 film, Leica camera)

Crystal Springs in 1920 (from Mississippi Dep. of Archives and History)

Wolf Hotel (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II, 90mm lens)

I am not sure exactly where the 1920 photograph was taken, but a traveler getting off the train in Crystal Springs may have stayed in the Wolf Hotel. Most towns had a businessman's hotel of this type convenient to the depot. Many (most?) European towns also have Bahnhof hotels, many of which are still in use. I have stayed in many of them over the years.

I talked to some old-timers at the Pawn Shop in the ground floor. They said the upstairs was a mess and they were slowly restoring it. I would have enjoyed exploring, but possibly the floors are not sound. Next trip...

Warehouse, 501 E. Railroad Ave. (Kodak Royal Gold 25 film, 50mm Summicron-DR, 1/8 ƒ/8)

Shop, 345 West Railroad Ave. (Royal Gold 25, 50mm Summicron-DR, 1/8 ƒ/5.6

I saw an old corrugated steel warehouse on East Railroad Avenue. Was it once for tomatoes or lumber? Most of it was not photogenic, but I liked the door and steps. An abandoned car repair shop on East Railroad Avenue was also had an interesting door.

Obviously, this has been a cursory look at Crystal Springs. I will revisit soon.

Hazelhurst

Continue south a few miles and you reach the small town of Hazelhurst. This is another Copiah County  town whose development was stimulated by construction of the railroad in the 1860s. Again, a bridge across the tracks provided a good viewpoint for a photograph. Some of the commercial buildings in town have been converted into apartments and stores. 

Gallatin Street overpass, Hazelhurst (Moto G5 photograph)

View south from Gallatin Street (4×5" Kodak Super-XX film)

Lumber warehouse from South Ragsdale Ave. (4×5" Super-XX film, 240mm G-Claron lens, 1/4 ƒ/64, yellow filter)

Hazelhurst is also a cheerful little town. The big lumber (or tomato?) warehouse next to the tracks was empty, but the commercial stores in town were mostly in use. 

A block of old stores on Georgetown Street faces the railroad tracks. These buildings ones have definitely seen better days. The stucco facade is unusual, possibly a renovation some decades ago?

A cow cornerstone! You see some interesting features in small towns.

We will explore some more Mississippi towns in future updates. Thank you for riding along.

2021 Mid-State Road Trip - Central Mississippi (Hopewell and Crystal Springs)

Last May, mid-COVID, I was bored, restless, and grumpy. My wife and I had not been far afield in over two years. Walking and bicycling were getting boring. It was time for another road trip to central Mississippi.

Utica

Harris Carmichael Store, MS 27 (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens)

Porch at Harris Carmichael Store

The Harris Carmichael Store is on Hwy. 27 near Utica. Mr. Carmichael died in 2005, and I do not know if the store operated after that date. It is is good condition, so someone maintains the property.

Hopewell and Vicinity

I had driven on Hopewell Road before while driving from Mendenhall to Crystal Springs. I saw some old buildings that were worth another visit. I returned on May 20 with Royal Gold 25 film in my Leica and looked around. The unincorporated community of Hopewell, in Copiah County, is pretty quiet.

House, Tillson Road off MS27, Crystal Spring (35mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens) 

Fixer-upper house, 1148 Hopewell Road, Hopewell (25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens)

Fixer-upper house, 1162 Hopewell Road, Hopewell (25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens)

Fixer-upper, Hopewell Road, Hopewell 

Come on, give me some tender loving care, Old River Road, Hopewell

The red door, Hopewell Road (1/2 sec. ƒ/11, 50mm Summicron-DR lens)

Where is my VCR? Hopewell Road near MS 27, Crystal Springs (1/8 ƒ/16, 50mm Summicron)

How do you really think? Hopewell Road near MS 27, Crystal Springs (50mm Summicron)

These are negatives from the long-discontinued Kodak Royal Gold 25 film. I knew that it had been frozen since new and felt confident that it would be viable. I exposed it at Exposure Index (EI) = 16 in my Leica M2 camera. For many frames, I used my Leitz 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens and tripod-mounted the camera. This was the Type 2 Summicron from the 1960s, a superb optic that many film photographers still use. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner operated with Silverfast Ai software.

My previous experiments with Ektar 25 film, which was the same emulsion, were less successful, most likely because the Ektar was even older. For current use, buy the modern Ektar 100 film.

Mid-state Mississippi Road Trip Part 3: Hazelhurst, Crystal Springs, Pattison

Dear Readers, this is the third installment of our mid-state Mississippi road trip. This time, we are approaching Interstate 55 from the east. I-55 approximately follows the much older US 51.

Beauregard

Shack or former store, Beauregard Rd., Beauregard (Kodak BW400CN film, Leica IIIC camera, Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens)

Victorian cottage, Elmore Street, Beauregard (note the white circle, a pinhole in the rubberized Leica IIIC shutter curtain)

Beauregard is a small town of only 326 in Copiah County. It is on old US 51, and likely had much more commercial traffic in the era before I-55 was built. I looked around the historic Beauregard Cemetery but did not take any pictures there. This cottage on Elmore Street must have been quite handsome in its day, as were a number of other older homes in the vicinity. 

Hazelhurst

Hwy 51, south end of Hazelhurst (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, yellow filter, ¼ sec ƒ/8.0½)

207 Caldwell Drive, Hazelhurst (digital file)

Hazelhurst is the seat of Copiah Country and was first settled in 1819. The city is just off I-55 about 35 miles south of Jackson. I had never driven through town, just buzzed by on I-55. I assumed that it would be reasonably prosperous because of its proximity to the interstate, but what I saw on old Highway US 51 was pretty rough. The house in the photograph above was empty but clearly had been a nice home in the early-mid-20th century. The car title loan company occupying an old Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company station says a lot about the financial conditions in the town.

Pine Bluff Lodge 428, 11155 Dentville Rd., Hazelhurst (BW400CN film, Leica M2, 50mm ƒ/2.0 Summicron-DR lens)

Templeton Grocery, 1011 Jack Rd., Hazelhurst (BW400CN film, Leica M2)

Templeton Grocery, 1010 Jack Rd., Hazelhurst (expired Kodak Ektar 25 film, Rolleiflex 3.5E with 75mm Xenotar lens) 

Some of the side roads in the area are pretty out-of-the-way. Dentville Road runs west-northwest out of Hazelhurst. About 13 miles west of Hazelhurst, an old grocery store occupies the junction with Jack Road. The store was closed but boarded up and not abandoned. I experimented with some expired Kodak Ektar 25 film in my Rolleiflex, but the film was well past its prime.

Crystal Springs

Wilson's Meat House, Crystal Springs (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera)

On my 2019 trip, I was heading home, a bit disappointed with the day's photographic opportunities. But wait, a big cow on Hwy 51 just south of Crystal Springs. Just waiting for a portrait. It was too good to resist. I love scenes like this. I should do a cross-country expedition looking for cows, chickens, catfish, and what-not - folk art at its best.

Pattison

Store, MS 547 near White Hall Rd., Pattison (Kodak TMax 100 film, Olympus Trip 35 camera)

Store, MS 547 near White Hall Rd., Pattison (Kodak TMax 100 film, Olympus Trip 35 camera)

House on Lopiah Rd., Pattison (Kodak TMax 100 film, Olympus Trip 35 camera) 

In 2017, my wife and I drove home through the center of the state via Hwy 547. We passed through Pattison, a quiet and rather sad little town. It was probably more prosperous 50 years ago.

This ends out mid-state road trip. I have written about other small towns further north, such as Utica, Edwards, Learned, and Bolton.

Most of the photographs above are from film cameras. The house in Hazelhurst and the cow portrait are from Kodak's long-discontinued Panatomic-X film taken with my Texas Leica (the Fuji GW690II camera with 90mm Fujinon lens). Many of the others are from BW400CN film taken with Leica M2 and IIIC cameras with various lenses.