Today’s picture is labeled in the Farm Security Administration archives as being taken in Belzoni, but that didn’t seem right to me. The three-story building with the Fincher Hardware sign sparked a memory, and sure enough, I found about the same angle on Google streetview in Lexington, just up the road from Belzoni, but not in the Delta. The sweet bank with the corner dome is gone, unfortunately.
Farm Security Administration. Center of town on Saturday afternoon, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi. Marion Post Wolcott (1910-1990), photographer. Date Created: 1939 Oct.? Medium: 1 negative : nitrate ; 35 mm.
See other Mississippi Streets:
- 1920s Yazoo City
- 1910s Vicksburg
- 1950s New Albany
- 1960s Meridian
- 1930s Camp Shelby
- 1950s Pascagoula
- 1960s Neshoba County Fair
- Drew 1937
- Tupelo 1936
- Vicksburg 1936
- 1940s Gulfport
- 1940s Columbus
- Greenville 1927
Categories: Belzoni
Preservation in Mississippi 
Before & After. I like before – the 1939 snap is great! Horse & wagon along with automobiles and a horse with saddle tied up, all the men are wearing hats make me wish for a time machine to travel back to this Saturday afternoon in town.
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People’s Drugs is still in business, larger store on the south side of the square. Also on that side is Thurmond’s Hardware, worth a trip to Lexington all by itself.
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It makes one wonder how many other mistakes were made, doesn’t it?
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The Farm Security Administration — Office of War Information photography project does have quite a few miss identified locations. I’m not sure as to what level and when the mistakes were made thought. From my discussions with colleague in other states this is not a Mississippi phenomenon. http://photogrammar.yale.edu/map/
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Streets were much more attractive eighty years ago. What a lovely historical shot!
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Apparently, they were just never satisfied with that bank building: http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/series/cooper/detail/20705
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Who can resist putting a tower on a building with a rounded corner?
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And then taking it off and … doing that “modern” thing they did with the slitted windows, etc.
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Oh, and removing the rounded corner!
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I’m not convinced it’s the same building, but it does have a suspiciously similar shape and height.
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I think it is, but then, upon closer inspection of the Merchants & Farmers, I don’t believe it’s the same as the one above, so I could be wrong about any and all of it. I feel akin to those folks trying to authenticate that alleged photo of Billy the Kid playing croquet.
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It’s the correct building. If you take the google shot and increase the contrast of the photo, you can read the sign on the side of the building, which is identical to the photo taken by Russel Lee for the FSA.
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