Two historic buildings in downtown Okolona, the old Merchants & Farmers Bank and its next-door neighbor, met their demise in the bad weather on Tuesday night, according to WTVA. A third building, dating to the 1880s, appears to be in a partial state of collapse.
The M&F Bank was built in 1903, and with its stone façade and Romanesque style, it was individually listed on the National Register. The MDAH Historic Resources Database has this to say about the building:
Its Richardsonian Romanesque features, its stone construction, and its pressed-metal interior are all rare in Mississippi. It was one of three banks chartered in 1897. The bank building was constructed in 1903 and is unaltered. The most notable feature of the building is its surprisingly intact interior.
This is what this section of Main Street looked liked when Google streetview came through in 2013:
You can read the follow-up story at WTVA.
Categories: Banks, Demolition/Abandonment, Disasters, Historic Preservation, Okolona
Preservation in Mississippi 
What a loss–such a beautiful building, and sadly, my only view of its beautiful angled entrance.
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Thank goodness for you good photo! So sad this great work of art is gone. I hope the bricks are salvaged and put to good use.
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My grandmother Lola B. Quinn lived about 3 houses from the overhead bridge on North Main Street in Okolona, MS. My mother and I lived with her from about 1940 to 1944. When I was about 5 or 6 my mother would be home from the Army Defense Plant where she worked in Aberdeen. On Saturdays she would take me to cowboy movies downtown. On the way home we would run to cross the overhead bridge before a train crossed underneath because cinders from the train would get in our eyes. Once a week a train called the Doodlebug would pass under the overhead bridge and we would sit on the bluff above the tracks and wave to the passengers. We would also wave to the troops on the troop trains passing through during WWII.
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My daughter is writing a book about my life. She needs a picture of the Overhead Bridge on North Main Street for the book. I lived near the bridge
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