More Decay: Raymond Road and W. Highland Drive, Jackson, Mississippi

After walking around the deserted and trashed Nova Park apartments at 1115 Raymond Road in southwest Jackson, I drove a few blocks eastward. There were more empty apartments and abandoned houses.

This was another empty apartment just east of the Nova Park that I described in the previous post. It was a different architecture but still a generic commercial unit. However, it looked reasonably modern and intact; why was it empty? Some of the air conditioner units had already been looted.

Further east, I saw some tired and closed stores. 

And then there were the tired and abandoned homes. The brick Craftsman cottage with the tile roof was a handsome little home in the day, with well-done brickwork? Look at the interesting arches. What happened? Where did the residents go? 

From I-20, you can see another group of empty apartments near the turnoff to US 49. These are (or were) the Highland Square Apartments on West Highland Drive. I drove by, and most are forlorn and empty, but not trashed. As of 2021, it looked like a few units were still rented, but most were closed. Once again, what happened?

This ends our short tour of Raymond Road and West Highland Drive. Stand by for more Jackson exploration in the future.

I took these photographs on Fuji Acros film using my 1949 Leica IIIC and its original 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. I added medium or deep yellow filters for scenes with sky.

Trashed apartment, Raymond Road, Jackson, Mississippi

Raymond Road is south of Interstate 20 in Jackson and connects Terry Road with MS 18 a few miles to the west. I rarely drive on Raymond Road, but in early 2021, I came across the abandoned Nova Park apartment complex at 1115 and could not resist stopping. It yelled "Dump" and "Come photograph me."

From a distance, the buildings look reasonably modern and intact, just architecturally boring. The roofs are fine. What happened?

Pass through the gate on one side and the trouble starts immediately. Like other apartments that I have photographed before, it looks like the tenants left in a hurry. Their possessions, televisions, toys, and junk are strewn about. The sheetrock has been trashed as vandals stole metal.

The worst thing about any abandoned property in Jackson is that it becomes a dumping ground for old tires, personal trash, and construction debris. Is there no municipal mechanism for disposing of materials? The perpetrators have no civic pride or regard for how they hurt nearby residents? Tires mean pockets of standing water, which means mosquitoes in summer. Trash demonstrates how a neighborhood is degrading.

I drove by about a year later, and, from the street, the site looked about the same. The hollowing out of America....

These photographs are from Fuji Acros film taken with my little 1949 Leica IIIC camera and its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. For most frames, I used a medium yellow filter and measured light with a Gossen Luna Pro Digital meter. I scanned the frames with a Plustek 7600i film scanner.  Click any frame to expand it and see more details.

Thank you for reading and standby for more Jackson adventures. For older articles, type "Jackson" in the search bar.

Return to the Dead Car Wash, Robinson Road, West Jackson

A few months ago, I wrote about an abandoned car wash at 4420 Robinson Road in Jackson (near the semi-unused Metrocenter Mall). The paint was imaginative, but it looked like a suitable topic for black and white film, as well. Without further ado, here it is, a monochrome visual treat for the eyes.

Across the street is an old pizza restaurant and a closed Shell gasoline station. I recall buying fuel there because it was a bit cheaper there than at many other outlets. But now - a gas station that could not make a profit? 

These are 4×5" Super-XX frames from my Tachihara 4×5" wood camera. I took the two of the car wash with a tiny little 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens. 

We will have more Jackson photographs in the future. Can't you wait?

The Technicolor Car Wash of Robinson Road, Jackson

I have written about Robinson Road before. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it was busy and looked reasonably prosperous. Now it is a wasteland of closed restaurants and shops and semi-occupied strip malls. I did a bit of exploring in early July (2021), and then I saw it: a decorated car wash. Nice job! But it was closed? Surely a car wash could stay in business. There was plenty of traffic and no end of dude-mobiles thumping along Robinson Road.

I also took some 4×5" frames with Super-XX film, but this may be a site better suited for color. I will post the Supper-XX frames some time in the future.

This is the former Mississippi Music. I recall shopping here in the early 1990s, but I can't recall if we bought a piano here. Now it is forlorn and moldering away.

These are digital files from my Moto G5 mobile phone.

Time Capsule: the Morris Ice Company, Jackson, Mississippi

Morris Ice Company, Jackson, Mississippi (BW400CN film, Leica IIIC, 5 cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens)

Background

Last December (2019), quite by chance, I found a treasure in Jackson. On the way to Jackson Ice to buy ethanol-free gasoline, I saw a car at the old Morris Ice Company warehouse at 652 S. Commerce Street. Next to the building, an old electric pump partly smothered with vines called out to be photographed. A young fellow, Mr. Jack Pickering, looked at my Hasselblad camera with interest and said he had recently bought the building along with 4 acres of land from the heirs of the Morris family.

Pump formerly used to supply water for ice-making operation, Morris Ice. Co. (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens)

A story in the Jackson Business Journal describes Mr. Pickering's ambitious plans:  https://msbusiness.com/2019/01/old-ice-plant-to-turn-back-pages-of-downtown-jackson/.
He plans to convert the shop into a party/band/restaurant/function place. As of 2019, Pearl River Canoe rents one section of the building. I saw gorgeous wood lath canoes drying on racks, and some guys were trimming wood slats. They make these magnificent canoes totally by hand from willow and other indigenous woods.

I asked Mr. Pickering if I could take some pictures inside, and he generously said I was free to take pictures for about a half hour. A movie group was already inside and had set up lights with colored gels. Someone was going to pose with grandma Morris's 1962 Cadillac, which looked pretty good except for flat tyres. My favorite Panatomic-X film was in the film back. Being a slow film, most of my exposures inside were 1 sec at ƒ/5.6, but one exposure was 20 seconds. One of the cinematographers also admired my Hasselblad film camera.

Ice Industry

During the mid-late 1800s, the ice trade was a major industry for the northern states of the USA. In winter, workmen sawed blocks of ice from frozen lakes and rivers. They stored the ice in specially constructed ice houses using sawdust for insulation. Led by the New England states, ice companies shipped ice around the world - as far as South America and even India. 

In the Civil War, the union armies used ice to reduce fever of wounded souldiers. After the war, cattle companies depended on ice to ship beef to stock-houses in Chicago and to ship finished meat products to eastern cities and even across the Atlantic Ocean to Great Britain. 

The problem with block ice cut from frozen lakes was loss from melting, despite the best attempts at storage and insulation. By the 1880s, improved refrigeration equipment became reliable and capable of mass ice manufacture. In the early years of the 20th century, commercial ice plants finally supplanted ice cut from lakes. 

Mississippi History Now features a very interesting article titled "Making Ice in Mississippi" by Elli Morris (the great-granddaughter of the founder of Morris Ice Company). A Civil War veteran originally founded the Morris Ice Company in 1880.* The original company sold ice that had been shipped down the Mississippi River from northern states. The ice factory at S. Commerce Street was in operation from the 1920s to 1988. It was one of the largest ice distributors in Mississippi. According to Morris,

"With the advent of inexpensive manufactured block ice, new businesses could operate year round in Mississippi, while others moved to the state for the first time. Dairy farming, concrete production, chicken processing plants, bakeries, and florists are a few types of industries that prospered using manufactured block ice. Two industries in particular, farm produce and seafood, grew hand-in-hand with the rise of manufactured block ice."

In 1988, Mr. Morris sold his business to a Carthage ice company. I do not know how long the factory on S. Commerce Street remained in production after that.

Former loading dock (Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens)

Interior Photographs

The inside of the Morris Ice Company is a amazing time capsule of early 20th century machinery. It is a spectacular setting of tubes, big machines, tools, belts, old shelves, and low-angle lighting.

The belt-driven compressors were for an ammonia cycle, where chilled ammonia circulated through pipes in salt water tanks. The molds made 300-lb ice blocks. Trolleys ran on rails along the rafters to carry the ice blocks to waiting rail cars or trucks.

1920s electrical control panel based on slate panels (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

The company had its own electricity plant and sold excess electricity the City of Jackson. The electric pump outside (see photograph no. 2) was for the former well, which tapped an aquifer 600 ft below. All the levers and fuses on the electric control panel were mounted on slate panels. This had been a totally manual, old-fashioned operation. I thought it was amazing that the electrical panel had survived the decades.

The desk contained time booklets for all employees back to the 1960s. There was no computer technology here.

Diesel engine (Hasselblad 50mm Distagon lens, 20 sec ƒ/5.6)

This large old diesel engine would turn a pulley. Some of the compressors were turned by electric motors, but possibly this was a backup in case the electrical power failed (see the newspaper article quoted below).

This is a collection of oil cans from the old days. I am sure there was a significant oil consumption keeping the many bearings lubricated.

When the movie crew started, we walked outside and Mr. Pickering took me around back to meet a photographer. This gent lives in a garage apartment. He also commented on the Hasselblad. He said he had just given Pickering one of his Nikkormat cameras and was going to teach him how to do film photography. I told them my first serious camera was a Nikkormat that I bought at Lechmere Sales in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The photographer said he knew the place because he graduated from Boston University in the late 1960s. Come to find out, we both used to visit the same camera stores in Harvard Square back in the day. He also used Panatomic-X years ago. Small world.

Most photographs are from medium format Kodak Panatomic-X film from a Hasselblad 501CM camera. As I noted above, most were 1 or ½ sec. exposures, and I used a tripod to stabilize the camera for all photographs. I specifically scanned at low contrast to show all the texture and detail of the machines. Click any photograph to expand it. When the virus restrictions are finally over, I will ask Mr. Pickering if I can return with my 4×5" camera and record some more of the textures and patterns.

Notes

* CLIPPING FROM:
Clarion-Ledger 
Jackson, Mississippi
01 Oct 1988, Sat  •  Page 20

108-year-old Morris Ice sold to Carthage business
The company, one of the city's oldest, will be called Jackson Ice Co 

By Carol B. McPhail Clarion-Ledger Business Writer  

One of Jackson's oldest businesses Morris Ice Co. is being transferred to the owner of Carthage Ice Co. in Carthage. The company, created by a Civil War veteran in 1880, will start to make ice under the name of Jackson Ice Co. in about three weeks.  

Wendell Harrell of Carthage will take over the business, starting today.
Hebron Morris, president of Morris Ice, will retain the property and lease it to the new owner.  

Harrell is expected to keep most of the approximately 20 veteran workers at the Jackson plant, the second ice plant built in the state.  

Morris, the founder's grandson, said the 65-year-old plant simply was not able to keep up with its more automated competitors. The building on S. Commerce Street re placed an earlier one destroyed by fire in 1923. "With the repairs and replacements required to build a modern plant, we just didn't feel like we could make that investment," Morris, 57, said Friday. He added that the company had been seeking a buyer for the past 45 days.
The plant makes 300-pound blocks of ice a foot thick and 4 feet tall that freeze in IV2 days. Yearly sales average $300,000.  

Workers pour water into cans that are submerged in tanks cooled by ammonia coils and a water-salt solution. Today, most companies use electric-powered compressors to freeze ice in chips, a 30-minute process.  

Morris said one of the rare features of the plant is that it uses gas engines to power the compressors. Those engines have been chugging loudly in the area since most Jack-sonians can remember. "It's going to seem pretty unusual for it to be quiet," Morris said.

More Scenery in South Jackson: East Rankin Street

Canadian National rail line, view south from E. Rankin St., Jackson, MS (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Over the last few years, I have been exploring the industrial area in east Jackson. As a follow-up, during the winter of 2019-2020, I wandered around East Rankin Street with my medium format cameras. Jackson never disappoints regarding dumpy places to photograph. This part of town was once industrial, but today, many of the warehouses are unused, and I see little evidence of a revival.

There are a number of car repair shops off Rankin, some in business, some comatose. This place repairs the classic square Volvos.

Town Creek, Jackson, Mississippi (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, yellow filter) 

Near State Street, a bridge carries E. Rankin Street over Town Creek. The waterway is revolting, with trash, debris, and stagnant water. A 2013 article in Jackson Free Press described some plans to make the water course a recreational asset for the city:

Many see Jackson's multiple creeks as nothing more than drainage ditches. They are undevelopable space offering only the threat of flooding, bank caving and snakes. Other cities, however, are increasingly recognizing the value that urban creeks can offer as parks, recreational corridors, and in improving water quality and environmental health. 

Town Creek stretches from northwest Jackson (through the heart of the proposed "Medical Corridor"), past the Jackson Zoo, to where it flows under downtown Jackson, day-lighting again just to the south of the Mississippi Museum of Art. Numerous planning sketches have been drawn for the downtown portion of Town Creek, stretching from the art museum to its confluence with the Pearl River. The future of the "Town Lake" and "River Walk" portions of the creek, however, are largely tied to flood-control planning along the Pearl.

 

Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) advisory map for Town Creek, 12 Dec. 2014.

This map from MDEQ shows Town Creek in central Jackson.

Town Creek from E. Rankin Street (Moto G5 digital file)

Auto Platinum, a now-defunct car shop, backs up to Town Creek. These two cars are Cadillac Allanté coupes. These were 2-seaters with bodies made in Italy and final assembly in USA. Platinum must have intended to restore and sell them, but now they sit forlorn and lonely in the grass.

State Street view north, Jackson, Mississippi (Panatomic-X film, Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar, yellow filter)

We reach State Street, a major north-south road which eventually connects with US 80 and I-20 a short distance south of the Rankin intersection. State Street is pretty grim in this area. Auto Platinum had an interesting sign with a Corvette perched on top. The fiberglass body was light weight, so a suitable item to perch on a billboard.

State Street view south, Jackson, Mississippi (Panatomic-X film, Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar, yellow filter)

This was once car dealership row. The Paul Moak Volvo dealer was formerly across the street, but they moved to a new shop next to I-20 many years ago.

This has been a very brief view of parts of south Jackson. We will continue our survey in the future. For more articles about Jackson, type "Jackson" in the search box.

On the Dixie Overland Highway, Historic US 80 - west Jackson, Mississippi (MS-03)

Hideaway Club, 200 Oklahoma Street (Hasselblad 501CM camera, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar lens, Kodak Panatomic-X film)

Introduction

Dear Readers, I have written about US 80, formerly known as the Dixie Overland Highway, before. I covered it in three chunks: east Mississippi, west Mississippi, and east Louisiana. This time I will cover west Jackson between State Street and I-220.

In the post-war era, the Dixie passed south of downtown Jackson and served as a urban industrial and commercial zone. General Electric and other companies built factories there. Preservation Mississippi wrote about the Jackson Lamp and Glass Works in a 2016 article. On a recent MPB (Mississippi Public Broadcast) talk show, some reporters remembered how during the 1980s, 80 was the place to go for good restaurants and other activities. I recall a restaurant called the Green Derby.

What Happened?

Today, US 80 in west Jackson is horrifying. Hotels and motels are closed or cater to a rough clientele. Stores are shuttered. Factories are empty shells. Trashy cars crash over potholes and gaping expansion joints in the crumbling pavement. Payday loan stores occupy storefronts in seedy strip malls. Former filling stations have been converted into various functions or abandoned entirely.

Former gasoline station (possibly Pan Am or Amoco), Gallatin at Oklahoma (at US 80), Jackson (Moto G5 digital file)

Example of Pan Am gasoline station, location unknown (from 1961 MSU yearbook, provided by Thomas Rossell)

Over the years, a coworker and I both lamented the decline of Jackson. He experienced it personally, having lived in west Jackson in the 1970s and early 1980s. A pertinent article from City Journal by Aaron M. Renn, titled, "The Lifeblood of Cities," describes the decline of so-called middle neighborhoods.

"The media tend to portray urban neighborhoods as either booming gentrified districts or zones of impoverishment. Neighborhoods in between get overlooked. But these older urban and inner-suburban “middle neighborhoods” may be where the next generation of urban problems—or solutions—will be found. Cities once held vast tracts of such neighborhoods, populated by workers in manufacturing or the civil service. With what analysts call a “barbell” economy dividing increasingly into rich and poor, it’s no surprise that urban middle-class neighborhoods are feeling squeezed."

In the post-war period, especially the 1950s and 1960s, Jackson was a bustling and thriving industrial and commerce city. (So were Greenville, Meridian, and other Mississippi cities). Thousands of modest homes were occupied by traditional middle class families, where dad was the main breadwinner and mom was at home or working part-time. Former middle neighborhoods, neither slum not wealthy, went downhill when the demographics changed as a result of loss of jobs, crime, drugs, deteriorating schools, and changing social conditions.

The author noted how today, there are an increasing number of single women households, and those families are often low income. The houses are not maintained and deteriorate. Soon, the entire neighborhood looks degraded. Therefore, people with means move to the suburbs, which, in USA, means white flight to government-subsidized suburban developments (i.e., socialism for developers). The older neighborhoods are left behind with diminished tax base, crumbling infrastructure, and crime.

This is a complex topic with numerous factors at play, such as tax policy, zoning codes, subsidy of developers, political corruption, and cheap land in the far suburbs. Regardless of the reasons, we have grossly mismanaged urban and suburban growth in the United States. Many American cities look more shoddy, dirty, and dilapidated than cities I have visited in the Third World, let alone anywhere in Europe.

Former Gipson Discount grocery store, 1420 Hwy US 80 (Panatomic-X film, 80 mm Planar lens, yellow filter)

BelAir shopping plaza, 1999 US 80 (Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar camera, Panatomic-X film)

This sign for Bel Air has a 1960s moderne appearance. The shopping plaza is pretty seedy, and some of the stores suffered a fire in 2011. The "Land of Sleep" has been gone for decades. However, the Patel Brothers store has an excellent selection of Indian and Pakistani groceries and spices.

Jackson Southwest Hotel, 2649 US 80 (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm F/4 Distagon lens, 1 sec. exposure at ƒ/5.6)

I saw a rutted driveway that went up a hill just west of Ellis Avenue. At the top, an urban decay treasure: the former Jackson Southwest Hotel at 2649 US 80. It was horrifying. The window frames and wiring had been looted by metal scavengers. I did not venture too far into the building by myself, but the lobby was worth capturing. (Click any photograph to see the gruesome details enlarged.)

An article from WLBT Channel 3 on May 31, 2013, stated:

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - The former Holiday Inn and Jackson Southwest hotel on Highway 80 in Jackson was once a popular spot for dinners, meetings and social functions -- now it's a dilapidated eyesore. 

"It makes everything around it look like Beirut. Does this not look like somebody bombed it. People leave their properties and go somewhere else and we allow them to do this," said Nina Holbrook of the Metro Area Coalition. Many windows on the building are broken, and the 14-acre property is overgrown. Recently someone broke through the gates and thieves have been rummaging for metal and copper. 

Holbrook says the building was sold at auction to P & N Properties in Hattiesburg for about $50,000, and the owner was hoping to flip it for a huge profit, which never happened -- and now probably never will due to it's condition.

The Pearl Street AME Church purchased the wreck around 2015, but all plans for renovation have been thwarted by vandals and homeless occupants.

Former Green Derby Restaurant, at the corner of US 80 and Ellis Ave., built in 1955 in a very post-war modern architecture. Post card courtesy of Preservation Mississippi.

Best Western Metro Inn, 1520 Ellis Ave., Jackson (Panatomic-X film, 250mm Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

On the way back to I-20 via Ellis Ave, I saw another decay treasure, the former Best Western Metro Inn. The sign proudly proclaims "Gorgeous Atrium and Indoor Pool." Oops, what happened to the windows? This dump closed in 2015. WLBT Channel 3 reported on April 26, 2018:

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - Properties along Highway 80 in Jackson continue to be targeted by metal thieves. The abandoned Metro Inn on Ellis Avenue and Highway 80 is the latest property to be hit. 

Metal thieves have ripped the entire front off the rooms, including windows and doors, just to get to the metal frames. 

Thursday, people were seen loading their haul into a truck and taking it to the nearby Can Man where it appeared they received cash for the stolen metal. 

Jackson - on its race to the very bottom....

UPDATE, April 26 2021: The Metro Inn is being crunched up and demolished!  WLBT Channel 3 wrote on April 20, 2021:

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - It’s been the scene of numerous crimes and an eyesore for years, but this week the old Metro Inn is being torn down. 

It’s a sight many locals were happy to see this week. The demolition of Metro Inn on Ellis Avenue is in full swing. 

The property, which went into foreclosure in 2015, has been the sight of numerous crimes since then. Vagrants moved in tearing off scrap metal.

To see earlier articles, please type "Jackson" in the search box.

The square photographs are from Kodak Panatomic-X or Tri-X 400 film, exposed in Rolleiflex 3.5E or Hasselblad 501CM cameras. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film. I scanned it with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner controlled by SilverFast Ai software.