156-166 St. Catherine Street
Natchez Trails
The 1928 Natchez City Directory lists Italian immigrant Sam Anzalone as operating a grocery store at 158-160 St. Catherine Street where he sold gasoline for 21 cents a gallon. Many of the late- nineteenth-century Italian immigrants farmed and sold groceries.
Left and right are two views of 158-160 St. Catherine Street, the grandest surviving commercial building on the street.
The right half of the brick building is older and dates to the mid- nineteenth century. The builder of the late-nineteenth-century addition created the illusion of a single building by adding a two- story gallery that extended the full width of each section.
St. Catherine Street was home to many Italian businesses and families.
Two doors up from 158-160 St. Catherine Street was the shoe business of Dominic Di Stefano, another Italian who sold gas and tires. A receipt (right) made out to George Kelly of Melrose documents that owners of Natchez mansions traded on St. Catherine Street. Kelly enjoyed good times with the Italian community who made wine during Prohibition. He was also an honorary member of the Italian Society, Sons of Columbus (far right).
Not long after he immigrated to Natchez, Italian Vincent Tuccio capitalized on the growing popularity of the automobile to market gas and tires. He later expanded his business and relocated to downtown.
Doris Rasberry (above right)and her husband Robert opened the Quality Grocery and Market at 158-160 St. Catherine Street at the end of World War II. For almost 40 years it served the residents of the St. Catherine Street area. The store also delivered groceries, both to homes of poor families and to the mansions of the rich. Regular customers Catherine Evans (above left) and her children were members of the Quality Grocery family since they residents of the St. Catherine lived adjacent to the store on DeMarco Alley.
Robert and Doris Rasberry worked together in their grocery store, the Quality Grocery and Market.
Erected by City
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Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers. In addition, it is included in the Mississippi - Natchez Trails series list.
Location. 31° 33.417′ N, 91° 23.368′ W. Marker is in Natchez, Mississippi, in Adams County. It is on St. Catherine Street 0.2 miles west of McCabe Street, on the left when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Natchez MS 39120, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southwest Mississippi and in Natchez Trace Corridor. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Viceroyalty of New France, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least
Credits. This page was last revised on September 2, 2022. It was originally submitted on March 1, 2018, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 880 times since then and 26 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 1, 2018.
