Shotgun Shacks, Rigby Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Rigby Street is an out-of-the way dead-end lane west of Washington Street. Drive west on Polk Street, cross Washington Street at the fire station, and you are on Rigby. The houses in these photographs were west of Oak Street.


Once there were probably tens of shotgun shacks lining both sides of the street, but in 2006, only four were left. They were examples of the ubiquitous narrow one-floor wood houses built in great numbers during the early 20th century. The first one beyond Oak was 507, occupied in May 2006 when I took this photograph.

The second was 509, also occupied and reasonably neat.


No. 513 had clearly been deserted for years and was being overtaken by the vines. This reminds me of shows on the SyFy channel, were evil vines overcome and squash a house, often with the occupants inside.

513 had once been fixed up with wood paneling on the walls. The original fireplace had been boarded up. You can see wood tongue-and-groove where the door trim has been removed. I am not sure if the walls were ever plastered or if originally they had cheesecloth tacked to the wood with wallpaper over the cheesecloth (a common practice here in the late-1800s and early 20th century).

As of August 2011, all of these houses are gone, and the jungle has grown so luxuriously, there is little evidence that the house lots ever existed.

(Photographs taken with a Sony DSC-W7 digital camera.)

Lost architecture: Pearl Street, Vicksburg

Pearl Street is one of Vicksburg's older streets and one of its more interesting. It parallels the railroad line, which has run along here since before the Civil War. The architecture ranges from beautiful bed-and-breakfast homes to shotgun shacks. In the photograph above, the brick building to the left once housed Tuminello's Restaurant. It has been closed since the 1990s and the building stands empty. Visitors who have not been here recently occasionally ask me about it.
The land drops off quite steeply to the west, as you can see in this view of no. 1806. Like many early 20th century Vicksburg houses, the builders placed the front at ground level and had no qualms about supporting the rear on stilts, often 10 or 12 ft above the ground. This building has been razed. Houses can no longer be built on these steep lots anywhere in town.
Number 1804 was its neighbor, seen here in a 2002 photograph. It, too, has been razed.
At one time, there must have been tens of shotgun houses facing the tracks, but most have been torn down. The two above are at 2302 and 2304 (all square photographs are from a Rolleiflex camera using Kodak Ektar 25 film).
No. 2330 is a classic neighborhood store. In an era before people had private cars, the city had dozens of stores like this serving neighborhoods, but most have closed now.
Many of the houses on the 2400 and 2500 block dated from the late 1800s or early 20th century. One by one they have been torn down. The one above is no. 2414.

1997 photograph of 2521 Pearl Street, taken on Agfa Scala film.

The two houses above are 2515 and 2521. They had a view over the tracks and the railroad yard further down the hill along Levee Street. During the steam era, coal smoke must have deposited grime whenever a locomotive puffed by. Now the residents have to listen to the deafening horns of the diesel locomotives.
These two cottages above (nos 2529 and 2531) were identical architecture and are now gone. They were near the corner of Pearl and Fairground Street. Fairground will be the subject of a future essay.
No. 2607 was a handsome duplex.
Further north, near the former Vicksburg Lumber Co., was a trio of shotguns, nos. 2004, 2006, and 2008. As of 2016, the one on the right has been razed, and the two others are empty.

The photographs above are from a variety of early-vintage digital cameras and from film. The square frames are scans of Kodak Ektar 25 film shot through a Rolleiflex medium-format camera.

 UPDATE JULY 2021:  For a more complete inventory of Pearl Street houses, please click the links below

South of Fairground Street

Central section

North of Klein Street

More Shotgun Shacks: Arcadia Place, Vicksburg

Arcadia Street and an extension to the south, Arcadia Place, is another one of Vicksburg's hidden streets. Other than residents, there is little reason for outsiders to drive or walk here. The view above shows 6 matching shotgun shacks on Arcadia Place in 2004 and 2014. Arcadia is west of Drummond Street along the bayou, and access is via Avenues C or D. Arcadia runs north-south parallel to Washington Street, but Washington is up on the hill and there is no access. Google Maps shows two connecting streets, but this is impossible topographically (lesson: don't believe everything shown on online maps).

The east side of Arcadia Place features a classic series of six identical shotgun houses. The photograph above shows the group looking north from no, 2909. I do not know who owns them. They have been in various stages of renovation and paint for at least a decade, but a couple of units may now be occupied. With fresh paint, they look pretty good.

This is the house closest to Avenue D, no. 2901 (above).

We follow with No. 2903. This the third in the group, 2905.

Here is 2907. Notice the center pillar is an original lathe-turned post. The one on the right is new and made from 2x4s, but in the open Vicksburg style.

And finally no. 2909. This, too, lost its original posts.

Further north, the houses consist of modest cottages of 1930s or 1940s-vintage. I noticed many have dogs behind the fences, and I assume the residents are fearful of crime.

Some houses have been deserted, like this weed-covered wreck. The red paint means it is on the city's tear-down list. Like many other parts of Vicksburg, this neighborhood was probably more densely-populated and more vibrant in the 1940s. There was probably a community grocery store nearby.

Square photographs exposed with a Rolleiflex 3.5F camera on Kodak Ektar 25 film. Ektar 25 was the finest-grain color negative film ever made and was perfect for architecture.  The 2004 black and white was Kodak Panatomic-X film in a Fuji 690II camera. Panatomic-X was a classic thin-emulsion, fine-grain film and responded well to Agfa Rodinol developer. The 2014 black and white was Kodak BWC400 film (a C-41 type of film. similar to color print film but only containing monochrome dye) in a Pentax Spotmatic camera.