Twas the Saturday after Thanksgiving and all threw the town. Not a human was stirring. No one's around. In most places all across the fruited planes, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving is when people go to town. This is not the town they go to. I had my normal slow sales day in Mendenhall Saturday. It may have even been a little slower than a normal Saturday. Most of the stores held to the tradition of closing early on Saturday and by 3:00 pm mine was the only one open on Main Street. My only customers after then were a few people from across the rail road tracks who saw my car and came up the street. At 4:30 I walked out on the side walk and took a look around, then got the idea to take a few photos.I keep a cheap camera in my desk drawer so I dusted it off and put batteries in it. The view finder is crooked and it tends to make every thing too dark but what the heck. The town is sort of crooked and dark so I figured it might be a match.
I started with my next door neighbor. The old theater is a reminder of the past glory of this town. One portion of the building is now a pool hall that opens 5:00 till about 9:00 pm most nights. He does it just to give local kids something to do. There is another small room in the theater that is now a law office. The lawyer owns the whole building.
These two photos are what used to be Main Street Hardware. It was a booming business for a while but is no more. That building was bought at auction by a man who stores junk in it.
I am not sure what that two story building used to be. I know that a layer does use one room up stares but the bottom is just storage. There are three more buildings in the photo up the hill. The first is an empty board front building with boards pealing off. The first white one with the round windows is Cash For Checks and is one of the busier places on main street. The white building higher up the hill is an appliance repairman.
This is the building on the other side of mine. It used to be a florist. Down hill from the florist was once a flee market store.
This is the view up main street from Old Hwy 49. The only car on the street is mine. The rail road tracks are behind me and the poor side of town are across the tracks.
Ok I admit it. I took the photos in a way that makes the town look more dead than it really is. When I get around to it I might get my better camera and take photos of places like Ed's and Stephen's. Those stores are still hanging on.
16 comments:
A photo really is worth a thousand words. This blog shouts loud what your other blog says. This town looks dead but it is not hopeless. I have heard of worse places comming back but it takes a leader.
Cliff is one of the few business owners who has not totally given up on down town Mendenhall. The only way to save it is to not give up.
I don't see how anyone can say Cliff hasn't given up on Mendenhall. All he does is bad mouth it. I for one am tired of an individual who doesn't even live here running down my home. If it's so bad WHY DON'T YOU GO BACK TO YOUR OWN HOME TOWN??? His own family wishes he would quit writing such things about their home too.
Cliff is one of the few people who still tries to run a business in down town Mendenhall. He has a right to say the truth about the town where he works. Every thing he says is true. I believe he would not say any thing bad if he did not think good would come of it. If he thought the town was totally hopeless he would just move away and forget it.
Mendenhall might be the town where he works but not the town where he lives. He does not give a damn about any part of the town other than the street where his busines is. Second thoght he does not give a damn about that street either because that is the one he makes fun of most often. He does not know any other street. He has probably never visited any of the nicer spots. He makes fun of us rednecks but he probably ate his thanksgiving turkey in Rankin County. Come on Cliff Tell us where you ate Thanksgiving dinner.
I ate Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house in Mendenhall. It is in a nice part of town. I really enjoyed getting away from the hectic business world and relax a little. I have never said that Mendenhall is not a good town to live and raise a family. I never said it is not a good place to go to church. Execpt for certain problem spots like the quarters, Mendenhall may be above average as a family friendly town. It is the business side of town that is hurting bad.
Look at those photos again and read what I said. I said that I did not photograph places like Ed's and Stephen's which are doing well. Palmira, uptown appartments and storage and Southern Respiritory are doing well. We have a pawn shop, two drug stores a radio shack and even a tanning club that are looking good. There are two insurance agents several beauty salons and a floor covering store. I am remembering those off the top of my head and am sure I missed several. I invite all to come see for your self.
We do have trouble attracting people down town and we do have some very silly ordinances written by politicians who do not understand marketing. There are also several other serious problems that hold this town back, but I am not willing to say it is a dead town. If it were a hopeless place I would not continue trying to run a business here.
People say that the troops who defend our nation start wars. People say that FEMA causes desasters. People say that the people who recognize and try to fix problems are the cause of them, expecially when they come from somewhere else. You do not make a place better by pretending there are no problems. I will not stop trying to improve the things around me.
Is Cliff trying to pass himself off as the Savior of Mendenhall? We do not need to be saved by someone who was not even born here.
I was born in Mendenhall and have lived here for 63 years. I remember when this was a great town. It is now a dieing town. Cliff is right that it is a great place to go to church and raise a family but not a great place to do business. I know that Cliff is as rough around the edges as Kirk Fordice and Frank Melton combined but he is right. I also believe that no one local has the answers and we must look to some one from out side to help. Rankin county does it right so why not listen to some one born there.
Considering how much you hate our town why would anyone from here ever vote for you?
Do you really think Cliff hates Mendenhall? I think it is refreshing to see some one honest about what he sees.
I do not hate Mendenhall. Mendenhall has some very serious problems that cannot be solved by people with heads planted in sand. The first step is to admit that we see the elephant in the livingroom.
Menenhall is a gret place to go to church and exept for certain places like the quarters it is a good place to raise a family. It is the business areas that are suffering. I am a country boy at heart. I understand why people want to hold onto the small town atmosphear but you cannot preserve any thing by holding too tight. that only drives out new business and leaves the old ones isolated.
I know that some people have seen the uncontroled growth explosion of North Rankin County and know that it came so fast that it changed the way of life for many people. The factors that caused that do not exist here. Unless something drastic happens like Hwy 13 being converted into an interstate there is no need to fear uncontroled growth but I think a healthy growth is about to happen soon.
Since Jimbo Sulivan became chief petty crime has gone down. I still have shop lifters in my store but not as many as before. People still come to my store under the influence of drugs but at least they no longer sell it openly on Main Street. The pool hall next to my store gives a safe place for kids so there are fewer delequent juviniles. It has been a long time since they shot store front glass on graduation night. The changes are commimng.
Yea, like high way 13 will be converted into an interstate. Who thought of that one?
13, an interstate, please!
You said your self that one of the busiest places on Main Street is the cash for checks and you gave the pool hall on Main Sreet credit for holding down Juvinile Delequency. Do you know that under the Mendenhall zoning plan both of those businesses are not legal? They operate under a grand-father clause. If they ever close even temporarly they cannot reopen.
You spoke too fast my friend. You said that petty crime is down and they no longetr shoot up the town on graduation night. Now there is a story in the paper that said some one is killing pet dogs and another story about someone beating up mail boxes. Sounds bad to me. Those are not only bad but indicators of even worse things to come.
Actually converting Hwy 13 to interstate is not as far out as you may think. There is a proposed beltway around Jackson that would follow some existing roads. The rout has not been fully decided but there is a chance it would replace Hwy 13 threw Mendenhall.
The idea of widening 13 between 49 and 149 is probably seperate from that belt way project. I may have a few more things to say about that later.
Crualty to animals leads to crualty to humans. Disrespect for peoples things like their mail box leads to disrespect for the people how own them. That is major but it did not happen in Mendenhall.
Yes, I know that those businesses are grand-fathered. I have more about that later.
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