Demolished: the old Mississippi Hardware Store, Washington Street, Vicksburg

2400 Washington St., Vicksburg, February 2008 (Olympus E-330 digital file)

Mississippi Hardware Company formerly occupied a rambling building on the corner of Speed and Washington Streets in Vicksburg. At one time, likely the late-1920s through the 1940s, the building was a car dealership. My friend, Martha, told me that she and her husband bought a 1941 Studebaker there in 1945 when her husband returned from World War II. When it changed into a hardware store I do not know (can any readers help?).

For most of the 1980s until 2019, the building was not commercially used. For a few years in the 1990s, a pawn shop occupied part of the front. I remember stopping by a couple of times. Then, for years, an antique flatbed truck with an antique Austin car on the bed was parked under the overhang. Part of the roof collapsed in the early 2000s. Finally, the City of Vicksburg condemned the building. I chatted with the contractor who was doing the demolition. He said the work was difficult because of the debris from the roof. Also, he had to brace a rear wall, which was in danger of collapsing on the downhill property.

Former Mississippi Hardware Company, 2400 Washington St., Vicksburg, June 2019 (Kodak Ektar 25 film, Pentax Spotmatic camera, 24mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens)

(Kodak Ektar 25 film, Spotmatic camera, 24mm Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens)

June 13, 2019 (digital file, Fuji X-E1 camera)

Giant crab (Kodak Ektar 25 film, Spotmatic camera, 24mm Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens)

Former basement, Speed Street (Kodak Ektar 25 film, Spotmatic camera, 24mm Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens)

The site is now grassy and slopes down to the west. Another piece of our architectural heritage is gone.

Most of the June photographs are from the long-discontinued Kodak Ektar 25 film, which I exposed in a Pentax Spotmatic camera with a 24mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens. I scanned the film with a Plustek 7600i film scanner. The colors were off on this expired film, but Photoshop CS3's auto color correction function largely corrected the colors. The film is lower contrast than when it was new, which suits me for my type of photography.

Vicksburg's Seale-Lily Ice Cream Parlor and Tire Emporium (B&W film)

Tri-State Tire, at 2209 Washington Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi, occupies an unusual old shop with decorated pillars and big plate glass windows. This was a former Seale-Lily ice cream parlor. Preservation Mississippi has written about Seale-Lily stores in Jackson, but I found little information about a Vicksburg store. In 1943, a cash prize winner filed a lawsuit because he claimed that the Seale-Lily Vicksburg store did not award him the prize. The summary of the lawsuit did confirm the address of 2209 Washington Street. I buy tires at Tri-State, and my friends there generously let me take some photographs when my tires were being replaced. One of them said the Seale parlor closed in 1958 or 1959.

2209 Washington Street, Vicksburg, MS

View of Washington Street looking north.

I am not sure what this style of architecture is called. The arches have a vaguely Mediterranean  appearance, but the tiles along the roof facing give it a Southwestern look. As you can see, the glass windows once went to the top of the arched frames but were changed some time in the past. Tri-State has been here since the 1980s, and before that, a tire re-capping business occupied the premises.

The building was decorated with medallions and a checked pattern on the facade. The current owners have recently painted. I wish they could return to the original round-top windows.

These are ½ sec. exposures taken with my 24mm Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens. I placed the camera on a shelf or beam and set the self-timer to eliminate vibration. As you can see, the fluorescent lights create some odd blooming. Still, I am pleased with this 1970s lens and am surprised how much detail the film recorded in the black tires.

The tire technicians told me that many years ago, there was a tall stainless steel tank in the middle of the room where the tire racks are located. I assume the Seale operation made ice cream in it.

I think they really do not want customers to wander around in the shop.... (Photographers exempted?)

This is the former Coca Cola bottling factory at 2133 Washington Street, about a half block north of Tri-State Tires. The 1938-vintage building has been leased by several users since Coca Cola vacated the premises about 20 years ago. The current tenant (or owner) sells furniture and gift items now.

All photographs are from March 6, 2018, taken on Kodak Tmax 100 film with a 1971 Pentax Spotmatic camera. The sepia image is from a Moto G5 mobile phone.

Abandoned Fuel Terminal, Mulberry Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi (in film)

Kansas City Southern tunnel under Washington Street, Vicksburg

1898 keystone

Mulberry Street runs from Washington Street down the hill to Levee Street, on the dry (east) side of the Yazoo Canal floodwalls in Vicksburg. An abandoned oil distribution terminal is located next to the Kansas City Southern railroad tracks, where they make a turn and go through a tunnel under Washington Street. This complicated rail routing has existed since before the Civil War. The beautiful brick and stone tunnel has a keystone with an engraving of 1898.

There are a couple of steel utility buildings on the site. Not too exciting. Washington Street is on the hill above.

One building had piles and piles of old invoices and receipts. I guess this is the paperless office we hear about so often.

I revisited the terminal on a sunny day spring 2017 when I was testing my newly-acquired Hasselblad. These three are with Tri-X 400 film. Not much has changed. There is still a faint aroma of petrochemicals. Mississippi is easy for this type of photography because many abandoned sites are unlocked and open.

The horizontal photographs are from a Fuji GW690II 6×9 medium format rangefinder camera and Panatomic-X film. The square photographs are from a Hasselblad 6×6 camera with a Zeiss 80mm f/2.8 CB lens using Kodak Tri-X 400 film.

UPDATE APRIL 7, 2018:  The pumps, valves, and metal stands are gone. The site is covered with new soil and gravel.

Vicksburg from the Archives, 1993-1994, Ektar 25 film

I recently had some old Kodak Ektar 25 film negatives scanned that I exposed in 1993 and 1994. Even with the passage of only 20 years, you can see changes in slow-moving Vicksburg.

Let's take a walk on Washington street and head south. This is the Vicksburg Cafe at 1625 Washington Street, formerly at the corner of Washington and South Madison. I do not remember when the building was torn down. And now I realize why the Warren County library, seen to the left, did not have an entrance on the south side. The architect likely felt there was not enough space for a driveway and entry stairs. But now this is an empty lot, and this side would be a much more suitable entry area for the library than its inadequate and awkward parking lot on Walnut Street. And the library's entrance on the north side of the building is totally useless.

F&G Beverages at 1701 Washington Street has thrived and grown. The drive-through on the left is gone now. Whenever I bicycle by, the store has customers. I better not write what I think of this demonstration of small-town prosperity.

Dollar General has also thrived, but this building at 1713 is gone.

This is the view north from the corner of Washington and Bridge Streets. The former Mississippi Hardware company is in the distance to the left. In World War II, the build housed a fabric and sewing manufacturer.

Nick's Auto Parts, in the old brick corner store (1733 Washington Street), is closed.

The next building south was the Vicksburg Seed store. I recall that several additions or porches on the side were torn down over the years.

This view looking north is over the railroad viaduct.

If you turned east and walked up Belmont Street, from some of the parking lots on the north side, you could look north over the railroad cut. There were once a number of houses and gardens (mini-farms) on the slope. Most are gone now. Some of the shotgun shacks were the classic Vicksburg type where the entrance was level with the road but the back projected out over the slope, supported by wood posts. A retired city engineer told me that these post houses cannot be rebuilt or permitted if they collapse. But they were common in the early 20th century as a way to accommodate the area's complicated topography.

I took these photographs with a FujiFilm GW690II medium-format camera with 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens using Kodak Ektar 25 film. This was a fine-grain, contrasty emulsion, and was a bit hard to use but spectacular if you wanted fine detail.

Washington Street Motels, Vicksburg, Mississippi

South Washington Street was once the main entry route to Vicksburg for travelers coming from the South on Highway 61.  Also, drivers coming from Louisiana and Texas would have crossed the old Mississippi River bridge, turned left, and driven north on Washington Street to reach town.  To cater to travelers, several motels lined Washington Street. Today, only the Dixiana is left. Let's take a tour from south to north.

This is the old Mississippi River bridge, photographed in 1994 before the multi-floor parking garage was built, which partly blocks this view. The bridge has been closed to car traffic since the early-1990s, but Kansas City Southern railroad runs trains across the river many times a day. Numerous people have proposed opening a biking and walking trail on the old roadway, but petty squabbles and lack of imagination have squashed these plans to date. Can you imagine what a fantastic tourist attraction this would be, a chance to walk or jog high above one of the world's great waterways?  This is a photograph taken with a Fuji GW690II 6×9 camera on Fuji Velvia film.

This is a view looking west of the old bridge from the banks of the river. You can reach this site easily by parking in the Ameristar Casino parking lot and walking south through the woods. Just look out for snakes.

This is the Ameristar Casino Hotel. It sticks up from the flat bluff like some Neolithic monolith. The Magnolia Inn occupied this site before the new hotel was built. A coworker's wife worked at reception at the older motel in the late-1980s, and was fired when she let a black couple check in.  Before the Magnolia was built, it was an empty field where the carnival set up temporary quarters.  (Photograph:  Kodachrome 25 film taken with a Leica M3 and 90mm Tele-Elmarit lens.)

Heading North we reach the Dixiana Inn, still in business. It is a venerable establishment and has been here for decades. There is a view from the bluff at Louisiana Circle.

Plaza Motel, Washington Street

Next, to the north, is the former Plaza Motel at 4033 Washington Street. I think these units are now apartments, but am not sure. The main building resembles a World War II barracks, similar to two units in an apartment complex next to the Waterways Experiment Station.

This is the view north on Washington Street near the ramp that drops steeply to Diamond Jacks Casino.

This was very unusual: an art-deco filling station that had been converted into apartments.  The service bay had been enclosed with a plywood wall.  Did people sleep in there?  I wonder if there were fumes from old spilled oil and solvent? The filling station was periodically repainted with the characteristic red stripes to accentuate the horizontal lines. The sepia-color print was made on Polaroid 4×5" instant sepia film with a 75mm Super-Angulon lens.  It was a wonderful emulsion.

Riverview Motel, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Just to the north was the Riverview Motel, an old-fashioned motor court. It was located at about 4009 Washington Street, near the bend in the road, and it did have a great view.

This map, with 1995 building footprints, shows the former Riverview Motel.

The Riverview and the filling station/apartment were demolished in 1995.

Proceed further north, and as far as I know, there were no more motels. But there was another filling station, now a car detail shop. There is not much commercial activity on Washington Street now. I assume the I-20 corridor siphoned it away, along with general decline in industrial activity.

Children of Washington Street, Vicksburg

Finally, some of the local children were interested in my Leica camera and agreed to pose for an informal portrait.