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.

Condemned South Street Apartments, Vicksburg, Mississippi

South Street Apartments, 1201 South Street, Vicksburg.

The Triple Six apartments at 1201 South Street were built in the mid-1960s. At the time, they were probably clean and decent, and even today, from a distance they do not look too bad - just totally boring. There was even a swimming pool once, but now it is concreted over. But over time, the apartments descended down the food chain and became nasty.

Passageway leading to Adams Street

Typical kitchen unit, South Street Apartments.

According to the Vicksburg Post (Dec. 24, 2013) the City condemned 40 percent of the 41-unit complex in 2012 under the City's slum clearance ordnance because of neglect. Empty units have been vandalized and stripped of metal, and are havens for drug activity. Another apartment complex on Crawford Street, owned by the same company, has also been condemned. A January Post article said both complexes have been sold and will be renovated - let's see if anything comes of it. We so often hear these promises in Vicksburg.

It is odd how some of the former tenants left piles of clothing and possessions when they vacated. Don't they need them wherever they moved?

I met some of the local youngsters, who were glad to wander around with me while I took photographs.They were friendly and polite - the poor kids seemed bored.

1124 South Street, Vicksburg

South Street has some early-20th century apartments. The units at 1124 belong to an organization that helps homeless people.

1122 South Street, Vicksburg.

I think the old house at 1122 belongs to the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Cherry Street. Notice the odd arched covering over the 2nd story porch. I am glad that buildings like this have been preserved.

Photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera, tripod-mounted.

UPDATE August 28, 2022. The South street Apartments are still unoccupied and have been seriously vandalized. A Vicksburg Post article noted that Habitat for Humanity owned the complex after 2016. Now, a developer has bought it.