Edwards, Mississippi - December 2007 

Walker Evans - Main Street storefronts, Edwards, Mississippi - 1936

In the early Spring of 1936, Walker Evans was in Mississippi photographing for the Farm Security Administration. These two pictures were taken in the town of Edwards, about 15 miles east of Vicksburg in February and March of that year.

I believe the picture below was taken from the wooden bridge over the tracks in Edwards (see yesterday's post below) looking to the west. The railroad depot and other buildings to the right of the tracks are no longer standing. The storefronts in the picture  above would be out of the frame on the left, facing the tracks. The sidings have been taken up and a single track still  carries freight trains through the town.

Walker Evans - View of railroad station, Edwards, Mississippi - 1936

This picture of the railroad depot was included in the expanded section of photographs in the 1960 edition of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Both photos are courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Storefronts -  LC-USF342- 001295-A [P&P]
Railroad station -  LC-USF342- 001295-A [P&P]

Dixon's - Edwards, Mississippi

Several scenes for the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou were filmed in and around Edwards, including the very last scene in the movie. Some movie magic is involved as the characters walk down the street in this scene. The first buildings they pass do not exist in Edwards but when they reach the building with the Dixon's sign, pictured above as it appeared in 2007, they are in Edwards and the rest of the movie takes place in town.




The old wooden bridge over the railroad tracks in the center background of the movie's final shot (filmed in 1999) was torn down in 2006 and replaced with a new bridge. When I took the picture below in 2007, construction of the new bridge was almost complete. To the right of bridge is the Queen Anne style Alonso James Lewis house, which was built around 1895 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Water Tower - Edwards, Mississippi

Edwards began as a plantation settlement which became known as Edwards Depot when the Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad came in 1839. The depot was burned in 1863 by the Union army. The present town of Edwards was incorporated in 1871. Freight trains still pass through, but no longer stop.

In December 2007 I spent a winter's afternoon in Edwards. There was not a cloud in the sky and the winter sun was bright. This week we will look at a couple of pictures taken in Edwards by Walker Evans in 1936 as well as some of the photos I took on that quiet Sunday.

Kansas City Southern Freight on the outskirts of Edwards, Mississippi