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.

The 2019 Flood of Mississippi and Testing Kodak Ektar 25 Film

Introduction

Dear WorldofDecay readers, I am a dreamer. I keep hoping I will be able to buy some Kodak Ektar 25 (or Royal Gold 25 – the same emulsion) which has been frozen all these years and will respond perfectly, as if it was fresh. In previous posts, you have seen examples of 120-size Ektar 25. but I concluded that it was too late and was time to move on. Ha, I can’t keep my own advice. A seller on eBay claimed that three rolls of 135 Ektar 25 had been stored frozen in an old photography studio. The price was reasonable, so I bought them.

Expired Ektar 25 film - was it really stored frozen all these years?

The Flood of 2019 - More Examples

As of spring and early summer of 2019, much of west central Mississippi was inundated by Mississippi River floodwaters and local runoff, making for plenty of interesting photographic subjects. I have posted photographs before, but here are some examples that I took with our 1971-vintage Pentax Spotmatic Camera. My wife bought it new in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Inundated houses off US 61 near Floweree Road, Redwood, Mississippi (135mm Super Multi Coated Takumar, tripod-mounted). Click any picture to enlarge to 1600 pixels wide.

Farm road, US 61 near Floweree Road

Tar paper shack, US 61 near Floweree Road, Redwood, Mississippi (55mm Super-Takumar). This is in the area that would be drained by the Steele Bayou pumps if they are ever installed.

Dead dogs, US 61 near Floweree Road. 55mm ƒ/1.8 Super-Takumar lens

 

Trump sign, US 61, Vicksburg, Mississippi (135mm, tripod-mounted). The pumps refer to massive units that Congress authorized in 1941 to be installed near the Steele Bayou flood gates. They would pump water out of the lower Delta and into the Yazoo River. These would be some of the largest pumps on earth and would now cost over $300 million. The US Army Corps of Engineers, farmers, and environmentalists have been arguing over the pumps for 75 years.

 

Flood waters north of Haining Road, Vicksburg (35mm Super-Takumar lens)

Trees north of Haining Road, Vicksburg (35mm Super-Takumar lens)

Big River Shipbuilders, 404 Port Terminal Cir,. Vicksburg (35mm Super-Takumar)

Summary

This first roll of expired 135 Ektar 25 surprised me:

The good: some of the frames are superb, like the poster of Trump Finish the Pumps.

The bad: On many frames, the colors are definitely off. Blue was not recording correctly, and many scenes were too green. However, that is not completely unexpected because here in summer, there is so much forest and wetland, the green light bounces back down from the humid summer sky. I noted this many years ago when I started a roll of Kodachrome in Greece and finished it in Mississippi. The Greek scenes were quintessential blue and glowing with light; the Mississippi scenes were green and muted – same roll of film, same Leica and lenses. Regardless, I was able to partly correct most frames with the auto color correction function in Photoshop CS3.

Scanner issue: I scanned this Ektar 25 with a Plustek 7600i scanner controlled by Silverfast Ai software. The Ai does not have an Ektar 25 profile. The closest appears to be the Ektar 100 profile (the modern emulsion), so this may account for some of the color issues. But I am sure the Ektar 25 is just too old now. I corrected the color on some frames by using the neutral grey dropper on pavement, concrete, or metal roofing, but afterwards, I needed Photoshop CS3 for further correction.

Camera motion: I also experienced some camera movement, so I am not being quite stable enough when hand-holding. And I slightly mis-focussed the 35mm Super-Takumar several times. The old Spotmatic has a rather grainy finder screen. I have had excellent results from this 35mm lens before, so my copy is not damaged.

Grain: This Ektar 25 seemed to be coarser grain than I remember. Possibly the emulsion degrades when it is old, but I am not sure. Maybe I am romantically remembering how fine-grain it was in the old days.

All in all, it was a fun experiment, but realistically I should concentrate my efforts on contemporary films, such as Kodak Ektar 100. This old Ektar 25 seemed lower contrast than when it was new, so I may try another roll in an environment with bright hard sun (such as my upcoming trip to the US southwest - Route 66, here I come again).

This is Abandoned Films 02f (the 02 series pertains to Ektar 25).

Here is a March 2021 test of 120 Ektar 25 in and around Vicksburg.

On the Dixie Overland Highway, Historic US 80 - west Mississippi (MS-02)

We will continue on our trip in Mississippi along what is left of the Dixie Overland Highway, now US 80.

The present US 80 crosses the Pearl River south of downtown Jackson and runs north of Interstate 20. West Jackson was a bustling commercial zone in the post-World War II decades. Preservation Mississippi has written about some of the motels and other architecture along this strip. Today, 80 is a bit (well, very) dingy. The scenery is marred with fast food restaurants, old warehouses, pawn shops, and strip malls that clearly saw better years a long time ago. I recently wrote about the old Metrocenter Mall, which is only partly occupied now (click the link).

Clinton

Kansas City Southern tracks view east, Old US 80 near Clinton, Mississippi
(Olympus Trip 35 camera, TMax 100 film)

Post Drive, Old US 80 (Olympus Trip 35, TMax 100 film).
The fence has been extended and now obscures all of the yard

US 80 runs through Clinton just north of I-20 (near Mississippi College) and then merges with the interstate.  I assume the old route was absorbed by the interstate. But the frontage road south of I-20 west of the Norrell Road exit may be the old Dixie Highway. It winds through woods and past old houses and farmland.

Bolton

Old Hwy 80 east of Bolton (Olympus Trip 35, TMax 100 film)

East of Bolton, it is hard to tell how much of Old Hwy 80 is the Dixie Overland and how much is modern frontage road.

Main Street, Bolton (Olympus Trip 35, Tmax 100 film)

Mack's Cafe, Old US 80, Bolton (Kodachrome 25, Leica, 50mm lens)

The first "main" town we reach is Bolton. We have explored Bolton before (click the link). There is not much to see there now.

Edwards

Trailer east of Edwards
(GAF Versapan film, Leica M2, 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens)

Former Dodge dealer (no longer extant), Edwards, Mississippi
(Yashica Electro 35CC camera, Ilford Delta 100 film)

National Youth Administration gymnasium
(formerly Edwards High School, Edwards, Mississippi)

Edwards is the next town on our trip west. Edwards, too, has seen better and more prosperous days a long time ago. I previously wrote about Edwards in the rain.

Woodman of America hall (no longer extant), Edwards, Mississippi
(Kodachrome slide, Leica M3, 90mm ƒ/2.8 Tele-Elmarit lens)

A former coworker tried to preserve this Woodman of America building, but the last time I drove through town, all that was left was a concrete slab. 

Shotgun house, 304 Old Hwy 80, Edwards (Olympus E-330 digital camera) 

Former filling station, US 80, west of Edwards (Fuji X-E1 digital camera)

A few older shotgun houses remain in Edwards.

Old US 80 west of Edwards, Mississippi (Fuji X-E1 digital camera)

Smith Hall, Bonner Campbell Institute, Edwards
(Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm lens)

Heading west, you pass the grounds of the Bonner Campbell Institute, formerly the Southern Christian Institute. Sadly, most of the historic buildings have been demolished, despite their status on the National Register of Historic Places. I thought the pillared Smith Hall was quite elegant.

Big Black River

Big Black River crossing, Old US 80
(Hasselblad, 50 mm Distagon lens, Fomapan 100 Classic film)

Bridge commemoration (Olympus E-330 digital image)

Proceeding west, old US 80 descends and crosses the Big Black River over the 1929 R.H. Henry Bridge.

US 80 near Bovina, Mississippi (Fuji X-E1 digital camera)

The Dixie continues west bypassing most of the town of Bovina. The road is narrow and would be dangerous to bicycle because of a lack of shoulders and the fact that some people drive much too quickly.

Vicksburg

Former "Colored Motel" east of Vicksburg
(Pentax Spotmatic, 24mm SMC Takumar lens)

Lobby of former "Colored Motel"
(Pentax Spotmatic, 24mm SMC Takumar lens)

As the Dixie Overland approached Vicksburg, motels welcomed the weary traveler. One pink and now very overgrown motel just east of Mt. Albans Road formerly had a sign, "Colored Motel." I may have a picture of it somewhere but have not found it yet. It has been unused since the 1980s or earlier. Currently, the building is being engulfed by kudzu.

Pinewood Motel, US 80, Vicksburg, closed since the 1980s
(4×5" Tri-X negative, Tachihara camera)

The old Pinewood Motor Lodge has also been closed since the 1980s. I suspect these businesses were unable to compete with newer hotels built near Interstate 20, which was constructed through Vicksburg in the early 1970s. As of 2019, all the remnants of the Pinewood have been razed.

We finally reach Vicksburg. Here is an old Chamber of Commerce brochure, courtesy of Preservation Mississippi. US 80 crossed the Mississippi River on the old 80 bridge, now closed to road traffic and pedestrians but still leased by the Kansas City Southern railroad. Today, US 80 and I-20 use a new bridge, built in the 1970s. We will explore US 80 in Louisiana in a future article. I will not cover Vicksburg in this article. Just type "Vicksburg" in the search box and you can find plenty of articles about the city - color, black and white, summer, winter, snow, and even some digital.

Quincy Market, Boston, Massachusetts - Reuse of Historic Market Buildings

In my previous article, I related the sad news that the famous Durgin Park Restaurant in Boston closed in January, 2019. Durgin Park was located in the north-most granite building of the Quincy Market complex. The granite came from the famous Quincy Quarry, where my friends and I rock-climbed in the 1960s (but that is another story for a future article).

Quincy Market in the mid- to late-1800s, from Boston Public Library 

Faneuil Hall from the Custom House Tower, Nikkormat camera, 105mm lens

Government Center and Boston City Hall, 1970, from Custom House Tower, Nikkormat camera, 28mm lens

Boston's well-known Faneuil Hall is just to the west, and beyond that, Government Center, with its 1960s Brutalist-Moderne Boston City Hall ("the world's ugliest building"). Up through the 1950s, the area west of Faneuil Hall was known as Scollay Square, a formerly vibrant commercial and entertainment district. But by World War II, Scollay was grungy and run-down. My dad called it Squalid Square. In the late-1950s, the City of Boston razed more than 1000 buildings and redeveloped the area as Government Center. Unfortunately, we have no family photographs of Scollay Square.

Although the City developed Government Center in the the 1960s, Quincy Market retained its commercial tenants up through 1975 or 1976, continuing to be occupied by wholesale butchers, fish vendors, and green grocers. In the photographs above, you can see cars and trucks parked in front of well-used shop fronts (these are scans of Kodachrome and Agfachrome slides; click any picture to enlarge it). I remember buying a Christmas tree there one year and taking it home via the MBTA subway. A friend told me that her father, who worked on the family farm near the New Hampshire border in the mid-20th century, remembered taking vegetables by truck to the market.

Quincy Market reconstruction before the Bicentennial, view from Durgin Park Restaurant

Quincy Marker reconstruction, Kodachrome slide, Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens

In preparation for the nation's Bicentennial, the granite buildings of Quincy Market were completely renovated and leased to restaurant and retail space. 

Readers may recall that before the Bicentennial, historical preservation had minimal respect in the United States. Let developers condemn, pillage, and build new was the common approach to older "blighted" neighborhoods, especially if they were occupied by African Americans. Many books have been written on how corrupt mayors and city governments destroyed historical neighborhoods in the name of "progress" and payoff from developers (e.g., see Fullilove (2016) or O'Connor (1995)). Now we have mid-20th century parking garages and crappy blighted apartments

Quincy Market from Faneuil Hall, 1980

Quincy Market and Custom House tower, 1980

Winter evening, 1980, 28mm lens

By the 1970s, respect for our historical and architectural legacy was finally developing in the United States, and the Bicentennial was a catalyst for historic preservation in many east coast cities. The Boston project became a poster child for what could be done in older cities with a bit of imagination and respect for the past. The Quincy Market redevelopment was an outstanding success, and tourists flocked to the newly revived market district (Quincy 2003). It has remained popular for four decades.

No more butchers or wholesalers, just chocolate. © 2008 Paul Murphy (digital file)

Three cheers for the new Quincy Market - or was it for the pizza? Pentax Spotmatic, 28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens

Quincy Market from window in Faneuil Hall, Leica M3, 35mm ƒ/2 Summicron-RF lens

Readers who have not been to Boston: do go and enjoy a walk through history. Try the restaurants (but sadly, Durgin Park Restaurant closed in January 2019), have a craft beer, munch a bagel, and think about the sailing ships that once docked between these handsome buildings. 

References

Fullilove, M.T., 2016. Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, And What We Can Do About It, Second Edition. New Village Press; Second edition (November 1, 2016), 304 p.

O'Conner, T.H., 1995. Building A New Boston: Politics and Urban Renewal, 1950-1970. Northeastern University Press, 368 p.

Quincy, J. 2003. Quincy's Market: A Boston Landmark. Northeastern University Press, 256 p.