Unknown Gift Shop?

The caption at the library says the Gift Shop is unknown, but it looks like the left side of Lofton's to me.  Or am I mistaken? UPDATE: I'm told this is the interior of Millanes.

Fading Away -- Jayne's Mill on the Bogue Chitto River

This gem is from an old newspaper owned by Bettie Hatcher Cox.  She graciously allowed Deenie Tallant to scan in this and other interesting historical accounts of Brookhaven, MS.  My sincere thanks to both of them for allowing me to share this on Sippiana.

One note: Samuel Jayne was from Long Island, New York.

Aerial Views of Whitworth Campus and a Question

The real question I have is: who knows whose big white house that is in the upper right hand quadrant? I think it would be approximately where Boling Motors was once located.

UPDATE: Thanks to Jerry Case and John Case, we have a better idea of the home's origin and demise. It was built by Thomas H. Perkins Sr.  Date unknown.  John Case's sister Sue says that the house in 1948 was either owned or rented by their Aunt, Reba Durr, who in turn rented out rooms to boarders.  At some point, John and Sue's father was hired to demolish the house, but I am not clear on when that happened.  The staircase got a reprieve and went on to serve a useful purpose in the Case home in Bogue Chitto. (Reba Durr was the dietician at Mamie Martin and later, Whitworth College, when it re-opened.)

Thank you to Jerry, John and Sue for your help.  If anyone knows when the house was built or any other information, specifically a picture from ground level, please send it on our way!

Update: Bill Perkins reports that the house originally belonged to Ella May Perkins. A treasure trove of Perkins' pictures and other pieces of family history, which included an old photo of this once magnificent home, was destroyed not long ago in a house fire.  How very sad.

Shipps Flowers and a WOODIE!

Found this postcard today for sale on EBay. To my mind, it's worth the price.  Check it out!

Cotton, Brick and Dairy Industries

OK, the last photo is not from Brookhaven, but it was the closest thing I could find to illustrate the importance of the dairy industry to the area, as other industries waned.  If anyone has photographs of B&B Dairy, please contact me.

Lumber and Gravel -- On a Grand Scale

Find the Haven Location!

The Storm Building -- Just to Make Your Head Spin

Brookhaven Baseball Team -- Familiar Faces Abound!

From the LLF Library, John Holly Williams Collection

UPDATE: This posting originally appeared on April 24, 2012 on this blog.  It is from the Fourth of July 1958 and the team was sponsored by Earl Smith Motors.

As best we can tell, with the help of Jerry DeLaughter and Peggy Richardson, the following folks, left to right, are in the picture:

Back Row: Ralph Sartin, Sam Carruth, Jon Lauderdale, Hilton Ball, Leslie Parsons, Sherman Swalm

Middle Row: Richard Sutton, Mike Smith, Othel Anding, Jerry Case, Billy Coleman, Charles West

Front Row: Charles Abrams, ??, Wade Thornill, Jerry Baily, Norris Sears, Ronnie Grenn.

Thanks for the input and please see the posting from April 14, 2013, for some of these players in action.

The "New" Jitney Jungle -- This One Facing Phillips Army Surplus

Note the house to the left that is no longer there.  Does anyone know the story of that home?

The Play's the Thing!

Whitworth College students performing in a play.  Photo credit: LLF Library.  Photographer Unknown. The saddle oxfords may be a clue as to the date this was taken.

Update:  On the back of photo reads: Jodie Baylis, Penn Yan, New York and Katsey Harrington, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The saddle oxfords in the foreground would indicate that this picture is from the early to mid 1950s.

Most of Us Know This As the Old Hodges' Men's Shop

More from Mr. Williams' Old School Collection.  The Samuels now own this building and are renovating it to look like it did "back in the day."  Two thumbs up to Hal Samuels and family!

Ten Cents a Gallon? Probably!

From the John H. Williams Collection, possibly taken for the Leader Times.  Dated 5/24/1958.

The two men are unidentified.  Recognize anyone?

Beyond the Garden Gate

From Mr. Williams' "Old School" collection, an unidentified house and family.

Getting Ready for the Big Day

Margie Becker with Thelma Hedgepeth adjusting the back of her dress

Whitworth College Dorm Room in 1894

To put this in perspective: Grover Cleveland was President, and an economic depression was gripping the United States, as a result of the Panic of 1893.  Mark Twain referred to this era the "Gilded Age." We may be tempted to refer to it as the "Gay '90s," although that expression wasn't coined until the 1920s. Thomas A. Edison had just introduced an early moving picture device known as the Kinetoscope.

Kees Motor Company Front Office?? NOPE!

I have shown this picture to folks who would have had knowledge of Kees Motor Company at this time and they do not recognize any of the people pictured. To be honest, there are quite a few broken or "crossed" links in the LLF Library online images, and this might well be one of them.  If anyone out there recognizes even one of these folks or the background, please let me know.

UPDATE: Yep, it's a crossed wire: The woman has been identified as Sis Brennan, the long-time City Editor of the newspaper, most likely then called the Leader Advertiser.  The photo was probably taken in the Leader's offices, given the amount of newspapers on the shelving.  The identities of the two men are still uncertain, although one person with a terrific memory has suggested the man on the left might be Mr. S.E. Babington.

UPDATE II: Yet another suggested the man on the left may be Jap Becker.  A check of a photo of Mr. Babington shows his hair to be straighter than this man's. So, there's more work to be done!  Keep those cards and letters coming!

Toe Shoes, Short Shorts and Long Sleeves -- Whitworth Campus

Unsure of the date or names. From the Library Collection of Whitworth College photos.

Whitworth Girls: A Study in Contrasts

"Audrey McCoy - Mansfield, Ohio, 3 in rear L to Right - Nancy Gillard - Imlay City, Michigan, Betty Breen - New Orleans, La., Carolyn Saxon - Jackson, Miss."

"Yvonne Rollins - Houston, Texas, Susana Ayomerick - Camaguery, Cuba, Carolyn Saxon - Jackson, Miss., Nancy Gillard - I[?] City, Mich., Rochelle Barnes - Hugoton, Kansas, Janet Carlson - Moline, Ill., Betty Breen - New Orleans"

The modern day photos are from the 1950s, in a best guess.  The middle photo is marked 1900 and is of the gym class and their instructor.  What a difference a few decades make!  (A Whitworth class actually traveled to Cuba in 1940.  I had suspected these beach photos were taken during that trip, but on closer reading, they were probably from a later Florida excursion.)

Gee Willy, Ain't We Got Fun!

This photo was sent to me by Marti Parker.  The original is in a store known as Billie Goats in Downtown Brookhaven.  In the background of these unknown folks is what I think is a view of Brookhaven's "First Hospital" -- the two-story structure. If anyone recognizes any of the happy faces in this photo, please advise.

A Gathering of Cars -- Updated

Looks like ambulances or hearses to my eye.  Anyone have a clue as to where this photo may have been taken?  I'm coming up empty.  (From Mr. Williams' collection, of course!)

Update: This is what is now Brookhaven Funeral Home.  The bungalow to the right is now Rainbow Florist.

Hot-Cha-Cha-Cha, a Celebrity Comes to Town! Sunset Carson Himself!

Sunset Carson, born Winifred Maurice Harrison (November 12, 1920 - May 1, 1990) was an American B-western star of the 1940s, who had the occasion to visit Brookhaven and have his photo taken by Mr. Williams.  Help in identifying the people with him and the establishment in which these photos were taken would be greatly appreciated.  I noticed just today that Jimmie Meese Moomaw has a whole chapter dedicated to Sunset Carson in her book, "Southern Fried Child." 

Public Library in the Piney Woods, July 1937

The first two photos were taken during the Great Depression by Dorothea Lange, a government sponsored photographer of significant note.  The exact location of these photos, which are on file in the Library of Congress, is not disclosed, except to say southwestern Mississippi.

The photos are significant, not so much for what they depict, but for the photographer who took them. For more information on this pioneering female photographer, Google her name and read the Wikipedia article on her, from which the last photo was lifted.  If nothing else, click on the last photo and take note of her tres cool sneakers, vintage 1937.

Is THIS the Future Home of Stahl Urban?

From the Library of Congress Files: Textile Factory built by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and leased to private industry to bring payroll to Brookhaven, Mississippi.

Jack's Shop, owned by Mr. Jack Piper

He Came in Through the Front Room Window …

An Excerpt from the Feb. 18, 1989, Interview with Sam P. Jones

by Bob and Betsy Jones

On File at the Lincoln Lawrence Franklin Library

(NOTE:           Back in the day, most everyone in Brookhaven didn’t lock their doors or windows. This episode most likely occurred in the late 1940s, early 1950s, at the landmark Scherck-Jones Home on S. Railroad Avenue.  Bob Jones included this story in his delightful book “Mississippi Gumbo.”

The following is Sam Jones’ own re-telling of the tale, in yet another playful indictment of his “no good” German Shepherd Mickey -- with a few minor edits on my part for clarity’s sake.)

Bob Jones:    I remember one person we knew came through the front window of your house.

Sam Jones:   Let’s don’t go into that here.

[female]:       As I recall, he crawled into bed with you and was irate the next morning, wanting to know what you were doing in his bed.

Sam Jones:    No, I had gone to bed that night. It was another rainy night, just a good night to stay home and go to bed and keep warm. And I woke up in the middle of the night with the feeling that somebody was in the room with me.

I could just feel it. Then I heard -- the bed kind of shook a little bit. I said, “There can’t be anybody here, but just to be sure, I’ll say something.” I said, “Who’s there?”

And I didn’t expect an answer, but an answer came back, “It’s me.”

[female]:       Who was the man?

Sam Jones:   Buddy Moreton. I still couldn’t believe it -- that there was anybody there, answering, there couldn’t be anybody there and I said, “Well, I’m just imagining this, can’t be anybody there.”

So I reached out for the lamp, which was on the table by my bed, and there wasn’t any lamp there, I was going to turn it on and there wasn’t any lamp there at all.

So then I knew I was crazy, and there wasn’t anything going on. But I kept fooling around and finally found it on the floor where it had been knocked over.

I turned it on and all I could see in the bed was somebody with the cover up to here and a pair of horn rimmed glasses and hat pulled down over the ears.

I pulled back the cover and I said, “Who are you, what are you doing here?”

He said, “You know me, Sam.  Turn out the light and go to bed.”

And he said, “Put that cover back on me.”

So I pulled the cover back over him and I thought, my God, what am I doing, and I pulled it off again.

I was sitting on the bed, sitting on the bed with my knees, just looking at him, and about that time my no-good dog Mickey, who was supposed to be a watch dog, but he slept upstairs with Ruth and Ella Mae in the winter-time because he was cold, came in and Ella Mae (followed) right behind him to see what was happening.

He (Buddy) was drunk. He was so drunk, he didn’t know what he was doing.

Ella Mae and I talked about it; we said, “What to do?”

And I said, “Maybe we’d just better leave him here.”

She said, “Yes, but you’ve got to let somebody know where he is; let his family know where he is.”

And so, first I called Kermit Roberts who worked for him, (and said, “Buddy Moreton is down here,”)  and Kermit said -- everybody I talked to said the same thing … I got so sick of having somebody say, “Well, what’s he doing down at your house?”

Bob Jones:    Kramer Roberts or Kermit Roberts?

Sam Jones:   Kramer Roberts. Yes, he worked for Buddy. And I told him what had happened and he said, “Well, Ursula, his wife, is out of town. I’ll come down if you want me to and take him over to my house, but that’s all I can do.”

I said I didn’t want to do that. I (just) wanted somebody to know about where he is.

So I hung up, that was enough for me, but wasn’t enough for Ella Mae.

She said, “You better call somebody else, maybe you better call Dr. Atkinson, if there’s anything you can do for him.”

So I called Dr. Atkinson at two o’clock in the morning and I told him, I said, “Buddy Moreton is at my house. I don’t know where he came from but he’s drunk as a cooter. He’s in bed. What can I do for him?”

The reason she wanted me to call Dr. Atkinson is because (Buddy) had severe heart trouble and was just out of the hospital with a little heart attack.

Dr. Atkinson said the same thing, “What’s he doing down at your house?” I said, “I don’t know.”

Then he started laughing. He just couldn’t stop laughing. He said, “He’s all right. The best thing to do is just leave him there, keep him wrapped up.”

                       Ella Mae said, “You better call his mother and father.”

I said, “I can’t call. I don’t want to upset them.” 

She said, “Yes, you have to.”

So I called. Gert, who is his mother, answered the phone. So I disguised my voice. I said, “Mrs. Moreton, is ... may I speak with Mr. Moreton?”

And she said, “Sam Jones! What are you doing calling at this time of night? Is something wrong with Buddy? It must be something about Buddy.”

I said, “No, it’s nothing. Just let me speak to Tom.”

And he got on the phone and HE was drunk. “What’s he doing at your house?”

I said, “I don’t know what he’s doing at my house!”

                        And (finally) Ella Mae said, “Come on, I’ll fix you a bed upstairs.”

So we started upstairs and Ruth (now aware of the excitement) asked, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?

(… Ruth never came downstairs; she had stayed upstairs. It was cold as it could be and I was running around that house on the cold floor with my bare feet.)

And Ella Mae said (to Ruth), “You and Mickey are the darndest people. Somebody, a burglar, could come in and run off with Sam, and you (two) wouldn’t do a thing about it.”

Ruth started giggling, giggled all night long. I was in bed shivering. 

I could hear her giggling. I’d get so mad. I said, “She’ll be sorry if I have pneumonia in the morning.”

                        So I was just getting to sleep when I heard bang, bang, bang! on the back door. And I got up and went downstairs and it was the Arrington boy -- Mr. Moreton and the Arrington boy, who was Buddy’s brother-in-law -- A.C. Arrington. They were going hunting, (and were wearing) hunting clothes.

They wanted to know what about Buddy. And I said, “Come in see for yourself.” And I took them in there and they saw there was nothing they could do, so they went on and left. But that was something.

                        The next morning, I guess, about six o’clock, I said I might as well go on and get dressed, so I went on in my room and went in the bathroom and so forth and came out.

Just as I came out, Buddy woke up. “Sam Jones, what are you doing here?”

I said, “This is my house. This is my bed.”

“Aw,” he said, “It’s not. It can’t be. I went to bed over at Mr. Behan’s last night.”

I said, “You might have thought you did, but you went here.”

And he just couldn’t believe it and he started crying. And he said, “I’m sorry, I’ve been drunk before, but never so drunk that I didn’t know what I was doing.”

I said, “That’s what you did.”

(And) that was the end of that.

                         

Clocks Galore! Does Anyone Recognize This Gift Shop?

The caption at the library has it as an "unknown gift shop," but I am thinking it might be Staffler's.

Charles Smith and His Famous Chickens

From the Lincoln Lawrence Franklin Library Jackson Studio Collection, Photo by Don Jackson

1951: The Spinning Wheel, a Teen Hang Out

If these kids are an average of 16 or 17 years old, they would be 77 or 78 today. Recognize anyone?


UPDATE: A big thank you to John Case, who tells me that his brother Carroll and his sister, Sue Case Richardson Stout, recognize this as not the Spinning Wheel, as the photo caption says, but the Wagon Wheel.  


It was located where Applewhite's was (just down from Art Studio) and was open only about a year.  Sue says most of those she recognizes are from her BHS Class of 1951, but there are underclassmen there as well.  Here are some of the names of those she recognizes:  Melvin Flowers, Jimmy Douglas, Charles Milner, Donald Samuels, Frank Tuminello, Eugene Burris,
Janet Smith, Lynda Hedgepeth, John Smiley.


Lynda Hedgepeth is my first cousin and is the tiny little thing in the booth, in the middle picture. I kept staring at her thinking she sure did look familiar!  I forgive myself, however, 
because I was born two years after this photo was taken.  Thanks again to the Cases for help in this.


ANOTHER UPDATE, THIS ONE FROM JIMMIE MOOMAW:" I recognized Phil Parker, Jerry Kees, Dan Day, Paul Williams, Jimmy Thompson, Janet Smith, Lynda Hedgpeth, Bill McAtee, Donald Samuels, Tex Samples, and Robert Vincent Panzica."