Natchez in Adams County, Mississippi — The American South (East South Central)
Bluff Park and North Broadway Street
Natchez Trails
May 28, 2018
1. Bluff Park and North Broadway Street Marker
Inscription.
Bluff Park and North Broadway Street. Natchez Trails. , The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad built the passenger station on the bluff shortly after 1910, and the Illinois Central Railroad was the last railroad to own it. Like many smal towns across America, Natchez lost passenger service as the Automobile Age reached full maturity. By the end of World War II, passenger trains no longer stopped in Natchez. Abandoned railroad stations have been a primary focus of "adaptive reuse," a preservation movement to use old buildings for purposes other than those originally intended. This station became a restaurant in the mid-1970s.
About 1890, grocers and cotton factors Samuel Geisenberger and Joseph Friedler built a large warehouse adjacent to the railroad on Broadway Street. Both were second generation Jewish businessmen. Callon Petroleum Company bought the historic Geisenberger and Friedler building added a third story, and renovated the building to serve as company headquarters in the mid-1980s.
The Natchez Cotton Mill, built in 1872, sat on the site of the hotel built in 2007 that faces Broadway, and the nearby Rosalie Cotton Mill soon followed. The mills reflected local efforts to expand the region's economy beyond growing and ginning cotton to manufacturing cotton. These efforts also included cotton seed oil mills. In 1887, a boiler explosion killed five workers in the Natchez Cotton Mill. Neither of the downtown cotton mills exist today, but the small houses built for workers survive in the area of Madison, North Wall, and Maple Streets. The 1907 arrival of the boll weevil and the Great Depression ended the city's efforts to develop cotton industries.
The Natchez Rotary Club installed the fountain in the Bluff Park in 1969 in honor of the club's fiftieth anniversary.
The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley
Railroad built the passenger station on
the bluff shortly after 1910, and the
Illinois Central Railroad was the last
railroad to own it. Like many smal
towns across America, Natchez lost
passenger service as the Automobile
Age reached full maturity. By the end
of World War II, passenger trains no
longer stopped in Natchez. Abandoned
railroad stations have been a primary
focus of "adaptive reuse," a
preservation movement to use old
buildings for purposes other than
those originally intended. This station
became a restaurant in the mid-1970s.
About 1890, grocers and cotton factors
Samuel Geisenberger and Joseph
Friedler built a large warehouse
adjacent to the railroad on Broadway
Street. Both were second generation
Jewish businessmen. Callon Petroleum
Company bought the historic
Geisenberger and Friedler building
added a third story, and renovated
the building to serve as company
headquarters in the mid-1980s.
The Natchez Cotton Mill, built in 1872,
sat on the site of the hotel built in 2007
that faces Broadway, and the nearby
Rosalie Cotton Mill soon followed. The
mills reflected local efforts to expand
the region's economy beyond
growing and ginning cotton to
manufacturing cotton. These efforts
also included cotton seed
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oil mills. In
1887, a boiler explosion killed five
workers in the Natchez Cotton Mill.
Neither of the downtown cotton mills
exist today, but the small houses built
for workers survive in the area of
Madison, North Wall, and Maple
Streets. The 1907 arrival of the boll
weevil and the Great Depression ended
the city's efforts to develop cotton
industries.
The Natchez Rotary Club installed the fountain in the Bluff Park in 1969 in honor of the club's fiftieth anniversary.
Location. 31° 33.775′ N, 91° 24.322′ W. Marker is in Natchez, Mississippi, in Adams County. Marker is at the intersection of North Broadway and Franklin Street, on the right when traveling south on North Broadway. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Natchez MS 39120, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 5, 2018. It was originally submitted on June 5, 2018, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 303 times since then and 28 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on June 5, 2018.
