During winter and early spring of 2020, I kept finding early 20th century houses in Vicksburg that had once been nice homes and were now neglected or ripe to be condemned. One of these was on the south end of Howard Street.
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| Howard Street view north towards Clay Street (Fuji X-E1 digital file) |
Howard Street runs perpendicular to Clay Street. Most people know it because it runs along the west side of the St. Aloysius High School property. Remnants of a streetcar track stick out of the pavement in places (yes, we once had streetcars in Vicksburg). Cross Clay Street and proceed south, and Howard Street deadends at a parking lot and dirt driveway. The driveway leads to a late-1800s cottage, which must have once been a very handsome home.
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| 1303 Howard Street, Vicksburg (Kodak Tri-X 400 film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm Distagon lens, green filter) |
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| 1303 Howard Street porch (50mm ƒ/4.0 Distagon lens, ⅛ ƒ/11) |
The house was built on the edge of a hill and had a nice sunset view to the west overlooking Spring Street.
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| Once elegant parlor. Note light coming in from ruined roof (Tri-X film, 50mm Distagon lens, 1 sec ƒ/8) |
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| Handsome bay window with view to the west (Fuji X-E1 digital file) |
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| The horizontal lath shows that these walls were plaster-covered. The chimney was probably for a coal insert stove. |
As of late-2020, the house is still extant. Status: unknown.
The square photographs are from
Kodak Tri-X film, exposed through my Hasselblad 501CM camera and the 50mm ƒ/4.0 Distagon lens. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film in Xtol. I scanner the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner controlled by Silverfast software.
UPDATE JAN. 3, 2023: The house is gone totally.
