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The Mississippi River circa 1909. "Vicksburg waterfront." A panorama made from three 8x10 glass negatives (the widest image, pixel-wise, that Shorpy has ever posted -- be sure to scroll all the way over to the right). The nine-story skyscraper is the First National Bank. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Thanks for the link to the panoramas you've stitched. I now have to look forward to hours in the time machine.
This view shows the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad (Y&MV) depot, not the L&N.
I know of one panorama William Henry Jackson composed for Leadville, CO, although I don't know if it was while he worked for DPC. His "stitching" technique involved three large prints on easels, which he re-photographed. I found the process documented in a series of photos in the Denver Public Library.
Fascinating - rewards hours of scrutiny! Just wanted to say a sincere thank you for putting this one together and sharing it with us.
The sternwheel packet Alice B Miller, seen here to the right, was built in 1904 at Jefferson, Indiana, as the Frank B. Hayne. She became Alice in 1908 and met her demise by fire in Vicksburg in 1915. Source: University of Wisconsin LaCrosse, Murphy Library.
Having lived in Vicksburg, I can tell you that while a number of the buildings shown along the Mississippi riverfront have been torn down and replaced, still, many of the buildings pictured in this panorama are still there, being re-purposed with new businesses and tenants through the years.
On Washington Street, the street the First National Bank building is on (still there, its main floor used still as a bank with professional offices on the other floors), many of these buildings still remain. You'll notice the many steeples and cupolas on the skyline.
Going from left to right, the first steeple is that of Christ Episcopal Church (still there); the two-storied brick building with the cupola right on the river (with train cars pictured in front) is the old L&N Railroad Depot, now a Visitor Center. Atop the hill, the building with columns on all sides and the cupola on top is the old Warren County Courthouse (built in the late 1850s), now the Old Courthouse Historical Museum. Right across the street from the Old Courthuse, you see the "steeple" of the City Jail. Past the First National Bank Building, going east up the hill is the tower of the Carroll Hotel (a picture of which was posted on Shorpy several years ago -- The Carroll was torn down sometime in the late '40s or early '50s).
The church that is pictured was St. Paul's Catholic, destroyed in the early 1950s when a tornado did a lot of damage as well as killing a number of people. A new church was built on the site in the 1950s. The squareish tower is the top of the Army Corps of Engineers headquarters, now used as the HQ of the Mississippi River Commission. The tall steeple at the left is Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. At the extreme left, the top two floors of the light-colored brick building (another skyscraper of five stories!) was a popular department store known as The Valley, which did business until sometime in the late 1970s or early '80s. The building has been converted into condos.
At this time, the downtown streets of Vicksburg were not dirt but were paved with brick. The streets going east, up the bluffs from the river were (and still are) paved with cobblestones in order that vehicles can get some traction going up and down. When I started driving as a teenager in the 1960s, I was told that if you could learn to drive on the hilly streets of Vicksburg -- in a car with a standard transmission -- you could drive anywhere!
I notice from the satellite view that the channel fronting most of the city is now the Yazoo River, not that there is much of a waterfront left. Such a channel change is something that General U.S. Grant unsuccessfully tried to engineer in 1862-1863, but it looks like nature finally did what 19th Century military engineering could not, as nature always does.
Vicksburg was home to the Biedenharn Candy Company, the first bottler of Coca-Cola. Although the drink was created in 1886, it was sold mainly at druggists and soda fountains. Biedenharn started bottling the drink in 1894.
are buildings in disrepair, could they be civil war casualties?
[From 50 years earlier? That's fire damage. - Dave]
An amazing photo. The thing I am thinking about is that all the ladies seem to be wearing long white dresses and the streets appear to be all dirt. Their clothing must have gotten filthy in a very short time from simply walking the streets. I am also loving the Steam Boat Exchange Saloon, I wonder what curious sights were beyond those doors ??
Way on the right, a Coca-Cola sign.
[Actually there are three. - Dave]
Typically photos of this vintage display horse & buggies AND early automobiles. Was Vicksburg behind the times or could it be the photo pre-dates 1909? Either way, this a facinating snapshot of a moment in time along the Mississippi River.
[The First National Bank building was completed in 1907. - Dave]
This is a remarkable image. I wonder if Detroit Publishing produced any more of these stitched multi-image panoramas.
[Click the "Panoramas" link above the photo. The stitching is all done by me, and Photoshop. - Dave]
I seem to recall parts of this (great) panorama as previous Shorpy photos. Can someone post links to them?
[One photo. Our Search box would take you here. Waiting in the wings, there is at least one other version of this scene taken the same day, for a total of three. - Dave]
What a fascinating image. An unexpected surprise was the "Quong Yulin & Co." grocery, a few blocks away from "Sol. Fried" store.
Wikipedia currently lists Vicksburg at less than 1 percent Asian. Vicksburg's 165-year old Synagogue now has just 20 members.
I wonder how much of the construction along the waterfront is post-war. Vicksburg experienced quite a boom in population growth between 1860 and 1870.
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