Intersection of North Union and Franklin streets

Intersection of North Union and Franklin streets. . , In the 1800s, Franklin Street was headquarters for plantation supply houses, and the street was filled with wagons. Main Street merchants offered house wares and dry goods, and it attracted more carriages. Many of the downtown merchants were Jews, whose families had arrived in Natchez in the early 1840s. Most of the buildings on the south side of Franklin Street in this area were built or remodeled shortly after the Civil War. Many featured cast-iron balconies like those in New Orleans., The personality of Franklin Street changed in the 1900s when it became home to stores with wholesale and cheaper goods. African Americans often shopped on Franklin Street, which had a mixture of businesses started and run by African Americans, Jews, Italians, and others. Black-owned businesses included the Star Theatre and the Dumas Drug Store. Franklin Street became a hub for Civil Rights protest marches by African Americans in the 1960s. , Dr. Albert W. Dumas (seated in the center above surrounded by his family) was one of the first African American doctors in Natchez. He built the Dumas Drug Store and ran a hospital for African Americans. In 1925, he built four store buildings on Franklin Street. The local paper commended him for showing "confidence in the city's future." , The Hamiltons, an African American family, operated the Star Theatre (shown below) on Franklin Street that showed movies for the local black community in the mid-1900s., A line of Civil Rights marchers leads from Franklin Street along Pine Street (now Martin Luther King Street) to Main Street. A Civil Rights protestor holds a sign proclaiming, "We want a Black Christmas," on Franklin Street near the Savoy Grill in 1965. This year-long economic boycott, coupled with armed protection and strong- armed enforcement within the African American community, was the model for gaining civil rights in Mississippi. , Civil Rights marchers crossing Pine Street (now Martin Luther King Street) at the corner of Main Street in 1965.