Return to the NYA Gymnasium, Edwards, Mississippi

NYA gymnasium, Fuji X-E1 digital file, 14mm Fujinon lens.

Kodak BW400CN film, Leica M2 camera, 50mm Summicron (Type 4) lens.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) gymnasium, formerly part of the Edwards High School, is continuing to deteriorate. The roof is beginning to fail, and in this climate, you know what that portends. I have photographed here before, but the building interests me, so I returned a couple of times in 2018 with different cameras. My friend, Suzassippi, provides some history of the gymnasium in her 2016 article in Preservation Mississippi.

Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm Distagon lens.

The big old gymnasium smells wet. Part of the roof lets light through.

Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm Distagon lens.

The rooms in the rear, including the former shower room, is open to the sky. I took this photograph by placing the Hasselblad on a ledge and stopping the lens down to f/11 or f/16.

Kodak Ektar 25 film (expired), Rolleiflex 3.5E camera, 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens.

Black and white is great for these old buildings, but the infamous institutional green is worthy of recording for posterity. This grotesque green was (is still) found in thousands (millions?) of institutions around the United States. Yuck. The photograph above is from a roll of Kodak Ektar 25 that I bought on eBay. It was long-expired and almost ruined, but I managed to save part of the roll. Sadly, Ektar 25 is no more.

When Film goes Bad (expired Ektar 25 film)

Former Edwards High School gymnasium, Magnolia Street, Edwards, Mississippi

I finally used the last of my stock of long-frozen Kodak Ektar 25 color negative film. It was quirky and a bit hard to use, but had a unique color palette. As a test, I bought two rolls from a fellow on eBay who claimed they had been refrigerated. I tried one of the rolls and it was fine. Then I bought two more rolls from another seller who honestly said he did not know the storage conditions. Many of these expired films come from estate sales, where a buyer opens an old camera bag and finds film. This time, the film was clearly ruined. Of a roll of 12 exposures from my Rolleiflex 3.5E, most were grossly underexposed, and I could only extract 5 frames. I used an exposure index (EI) of 12, but possibly if I tried EI 4 or 6, I might have saved a couple more frames. Regardless, I discarded the other roll. Really, it does not make sense to buy expired color film stock unless the seller can guarantee it has been frozen.

Expired black and white film is more forgiving because, of course, you do not have a color shift. I am still using 3-decade-old Kodak Panatomic-X film, which has been frozen all this time.

Crossroads store, Old Port Gibson Road, Reganton, Mississippi

The venerable Crossroads Store in Reganton, on Old Port Gibson Road, has been in business for a century. It is an example of the type of country store that once served farmers and workers who did not have access to a car in an era before strip malls and supermarkets. The day I took this picture, the store was hosting a crawfish boil, and everyone was having a good time. They invited me to eat!

Unoccupied house on Old Port Gibson Road, Reganton, Mississippi

Templeton Grocery, Jack Road, Hazelhurst, Mississippi

Templeton Grocery, Jack Road, Hazelhurst, Mississippi

The old Templeton Grocery at the intersection of Jack and Dentville Roads, northwest of Hazelhurst, is another example of an old neighborhood country store. This one was sheathed with asphalt shingles. These were similar to roof tiles and were equally durable, and were often made to resemble bricks or stone. Asphalt sheathing was popular mid-20th century but now is typically associated with low-income neighborhoods or old industrial or mill towns in the northeast.

Shack-Up Inn, Clarksdale, Mississippi

Finally, we have a frame from the Shack-up Inn in Clarksdale. This is a Blues-oriented inn where the guests stay in old farm silos or shotgun shacks. I had tried a roll of Ektar 25 from an eBay vendor who claimed the film had been frozen. Most frames turned out all right, but some clearly showed that the film had aged. Too many years have gone by since Kodak discontinued Ektar 25. Sadly, it is time to move on to a contemporary medium format color negative film.

These photographs are from a medium format Rolleiflex 3.5E twin-lens reflex camera with a 75mm ƒ/3.5 Schneider Xenotar lens. All frames tripod-mounted. I scanned the film with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner at 2820 dpi.

This is no. 02e of my irregular series on Abandoned Films.

Gone Forever: Smith Hall at the Bonner Campbell Institute, Edwards, Mississippi

The Bonner Campbell Institute or college, formerly the Southern Christian Institute, is west of Edwards, Mississippi, along Old U.S. Highway 80 (once known as the Dixie Overland Highway). The college was one of the early institutions in America dedicated to educating African Americans during the era when most southern states did not consider them worthy of education. I have written about the Bonner Campbell before. In late January, while driving west on Old U.S. Highway 80, I saw that the handsome pillared building known as Smith Hall was totally gone. This motivated me to scan my 2010 film negatives and share the photographs.

The Southern Christian Institute was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. A Vicksburg friend, Ms. Nancy Bell, who is director of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, did the survey work and wrote the descriptive text. She confirmed that at that time, the buildings were in good condition. The following text is from the official description:

"The Southern Christian Institute (SCI) is situated on 53.6 gently rolling acres at 18449 Old U.S. Highway 80 near Edwards in western Hinds County. The property is rectangular in shape and has 1,434 feet of frontage along the south side of Highway 80 and a maximum depth of 1,776 feet. The campus' seven buildings are situated to either side of a roadway that runs perpendicular to Old Highway 80, and these buildings are linked by concrete walks. The one and two-story structures are constructed of rusticated concrete block, brick, and stucco. Also on the campus are a bell tower and a water tower, and other amenities include a swimming pool and a playground. There are mature pecan, live oak, and cedar trees scattered throughout the property.

In 1882, SCI purchased the plantation of Col. McKinney L. Cook and immediately began repairing the existing buildings, which included the c. 1853 Greek Revival mansion house, a two-story, frame, five-bay, center hall structure with hip roof and two-tiered, full-width gallery. Within five years, a two-story classroom building, a small bam, and two two-room tenant houses were constructed. In 1891, an addition was made to the original plantation mansion to house a girls' dormitory, and over the next 44 years, numerous buildings were constructed, including dormitories, a president's house, a teachers' home, industrial building, and classroom building, in addition to auxiliary buildings such as a grain house, stables, buggy shed, and laundry building.

The campus presently includes seven buildings: the president's house, administration/ classroom building with auditorium, an assembly hall, dormitories, cafeteria, and a multipurpose building that was constructed in 2000. The old Cook mansion was destroyed by fire around 1970, and all that remains is a chimney, which stands on the north end of the campus. The existing historic resources were built by the students during the first 35 years of the 20th century, and many reflect the Colonial Revival style that was popular during that period."

I had always admired this building from the road. When I photographed it in 2010, it has suffered some vandalism, but the building looked sound and the asbestos roof seemed intact.  From the official description:

"Smith Hall Girls' Dormitory 1915 Colonial Revival. Facing west, this building is a two-story, U-shaped, stucco-over-metal lathe, dormitory building (15,412 s.f.) on a raised rusticated concrete block basement with an asbestos covered hip roof. Several colors of asbestos tiles were used to spell out "1914 Smith Hall" on the west side of the roof. There is a two-tiered porch that extends across two thirds of the front fa$ade and over one-third of the north side. This porch is covered by an asphalt-shingled hip roof, with exposed rafter tails, which is supported by tapered stuccoed wooden columns (on the second floor) resting on rusticated concrete block."

Approximate location where Smith Hall once stood (digital photograph).

Allison Hall, the cafeteria complex, has also been demolished.

"Allison Hall (Stanton Hall, Cafeteria) 1909 Colonial Revival influence. Facing east, Allison Hall is built in two sections: the rear section is a two-story square and the front section is a long, one-story, rectangular building. The front section is constructed of rusticated concrete block and topped with an asphalt hip roof. There are ten bays on the main facade: two 2/2 double-hung wooden windows, a single-leaf glazed wood door with a sidelight and transom (configuration of this entry was originally double-leaf with a transom), and two 2/2 double-hung wooden windows."

This building is still standing, but I was unable to check it during my recent visit.

"Administration/Classroom Building 1926. The Administration/ Classroom Building, which faces west, is a two-story, brick, rectangular classroom building on a raised stuccoed basement and crowned by a gable roof with parapeted end walls. A three-bay, gabled, projecting pavilion is in the center of the main facade. There are nine bays on the front facade: four large multi-light, metal, louvered windows; two pair of non-historic, double-leaf doors with covered transoms; and a central pair of non-historic double-leaf doors flanked by multi-light metal louvered windows. A wide concrete band separates the first and second floors and another accents the cornice. The second floor windows have plain concrete lintels. There is an additional wide concrete band that runs across the gable end of the cross gable, above which is a pair of fixed six-light windows with a shaped concrete head mimicking a hood mold."

"Bell Tower 1926. The bell tower is a two-tiered brick structure with an asbestos-shingled hip roof having exposed rafter tails. Brick piers support a wide concrete platform on which brick piers support the roof, which is trimmed by a wide concrete cornice. The bell hangs from the upper tier's ceiling."

The site was also listed on the 10 Most Endangered Places in Mississippi register, which needs to be updated to register the loss of buildings.

Dear Readers, this is how we lose out architectural heritage.

The 2010 black and white photographs were taken on Kodak Panatomic-X film with a Fuji GW690II medium-format 6×9 camera, tripod-mounted. I developed the film in Agfa Rodinal 1:50 and scanned it with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner.

Small Towns in Mississippi: Return to Edwards (B&W film)

Kansas City Southern railroad and Front Street, Edwards, Mississippi

Edwards, Mississippi, is a small town just south of Interstate 20, near a bend of the Big Black River. Before World War II, the Big Black was a Federal navigation project and was dredged and kept clear of snags, but now it is no longer maintained for commercial traffic. Like many small Mississippi towns, Edwards was prosperous up through the 1970s, but has slipped into a multi-decade decline and population loss. As usual, I do not understand the causes, considering the town is on the Kansas City Southern rail line between Vicksburg and Jackson and has easy road access to I-20. It is a mystery.

Walker Evans (American, 1903 - 1975) Railroad Station, Edwards, Mississippi, 1936, Gelatin silver print 19.3 x 24.2 cm (7 5/8 x 9 1/2 in.). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

This is supposed to be a picture of Edwards taken in 1936 by Walker Edwards. Was it taken from the same bridge as my photograph no. 1 above? Was there once another bridge or crossover from which Evans took this frame? Where is the church on the left? I think the 1936 photograph may be mis-labeled and show another town. But it is not Bolton nor Bovina.

Front Street parallels the KCS tracks. The city hall is there, with the police department a short distance away.

103 Magnolia St., Edwards, MS

205 Magnolia St., Edwards, MS

Magnolia Street has some gracious old houses, demonstrating former wealth in the town.

This is the former Dodge automobile dealer, at the corner where old U.S. 80 makes a sharp right-angle turn. An old-timer in town told me that Edwards was prosperous enough in the 1970s to have two car dealerships. (Update April 21, 2018: the old car shop is being demolished)

The high school gymnasium was designed by architect James Manly Spain in the Art Moderne style. It was completed just before we entered World War II in 1941 by the National Youth Administration (from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History). I have photographed this building before, and there has been no change in status.

The water tower is a prominent feature at the corner of U.S. 80 and Main Street. I was surprised it was over a century old. The big rivets are an example of early 20th century steel and iron construction. This was solid construction, intended to last the ages.

Main Street, which runs north-south, was once, well, the main street, with stores and small companies.

Both the east and west sides of South Main have stores with collapsed roofs. (Update April 21, 2018: this southernmost building has been demolished)

On Main Street north of the tracks, the former Woodmen of America building was in poor condition in 2008. A former coworker from the Waterways Experiment Station had bought the historic building to preserve it, but the task may have been too much for her. It is now gone. Other historic buildings on Main Street were demolished in the mid-2000s, with the bricks salvaged for use in McMansion construction (recall, this was in the last gasp of the construction orgy before the 2007-2008 housing collapse).  Much of Utica's former commercial core suffered the same fate.

Drive around the streets and the scene is pretty depressing. Joe's Lounge on Utica Street is a short distance from a collapsed store. (Update April 21, 2018: the collapsed store is gone and the lot is empty.)

On Williams Drive, a store of modern construction, also closed.

Just off I-20, the fellow who restores old cars still has interesting Detroit iron in his yard. I am not sure if all these very cars are still there because the lot looks a bit more empty now. I have not seen any Edsels recently, but there may be some in there under the kudzu.

I took the 2017 photographs with my Yashica Electro 35CC compact rangefinder camera on Ilford Delta 100 film. There was rain and drizzle, and the contrast worked out perfectly with this film and development. I bought this little Yashica as a convenient walkabout camera for an upcoming trip to Nepal. The 35mm ƒ/1.8 Color Yashinon-DX lens, a Sonnar type, is very high quality. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY developed the film.

The 2008 frame of the old Chevrolets is from Kodak Panatomic-X film, taken with a Fujifilm GW690II medium format camera.

Another Rural Gymnasium: Edwards, Mississippi

On January 26, 2016, Suzassippi wrote about Rural Gymnasiums in the Preservation Mississippi blog. Here is another example to add to the list.

This gymnasium is at the corner of Magnolia Street and old US 80 in the town of Edwards. From what I can tell, the building has been closed for years, but it has been secured. All doors were locked.

I was not familiar with the National Youth Administration. The Mississippi department of Archives and History has a web page with photographs of NYA projects. They were lucky to complete this building in 1941 because once the World War II started, much civilian construction was interrupted or cancelled. According  to Preservation Mississippi, the gymnasium was designed by architect James Manly Spain in the Art Moderne style.

Photographs taken with Kodak BW400CN film in a Leica M2 rangefinder camera and 50mm f/2.0 Summicron lens. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i scanner using Silverfast Ai software and resized with ACDSee Pro.

Update May 31, 2016: The interesting blog, Preservation Mississippi wrote a more detailed description of the gymnasium.

Burks Grocery, Cook Road, Edwards, Mississippi

On our continuing tour of country stores, here is one more: Burks Grocery on Cook Road, Edwards. 

The modest wood building is south of Highway 27, set among small homes and trailers.

Burks Grocery, Cook Road

The store also sold gasoline.  The sales were recent enough to be in the unleaded era (post-1970s).

On a quiet afternoon, sit on the porch and chat with your neighbors. We have lost a lot in our society with the transition to giant supermarkets and Super WalMarts. Who sits outside the Kroger and chats with his neighbors?

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 or Fuji X-E1 digital cameras, tripod-mounted. On the G3, I used a manual-focus Olympus OM 50mm f/3.5 macro lens.

Willis Store, Middle Road, Edwards, Mississippi

In the last article, we looked at an abandoned store at the junction of Newman and Canada Cross Roads. Proceed east a few miles on Canada Cross Road and you get to the intersection with Middle Road.  This is the site of the Willis Store.

Country stores in Edwards, Mississippi

Willis Store, corner of Canada Cross and Middle Roads, Edwards, Mississippi.

The building is in reasonably good condition and has modern lighting. But the price in the gasoline pump shows an older era.

This gasoline pump was last used when gasoline was $1.249/gallon, even though the "1" in the leftmost window is no longer visible.  If it was 24 cents/gallon, that would date this pump to the mid-1960s, a couple decades too old.  My friend remembered the business as active in the early 1980s.  Also, he told me that there was another old store in the woods south of the intersection, but the woods were thick, and I saw no remnants.

Jax Beer was brewed by the Jackson Brewery of New Orleans. Prior to 1956, it was brewed by the Jax Brewing Company of Jacksonville, Florida.

Historic home on Bill Strong Road, Edwards.

If you continue east, the road becomes Bill Strong Road.  About a mile east is a handsome historic house with six pillars.  The house may be unoccupied, but a cat crossed the porch, and just to the right, and couple of curious cows watched me.

The first three photographs were taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera and the 27 mm f/2.8 lens.  The old house was with a Panasonic G3 camera and 20 mm f/1.7 lens.  The black and white frames were reprocessed with PhotoNinja software.