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Mississippi » Delta Region » Tunica County » Tunica and Vicinity » OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 61 IN TUNICA COUNTY

OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 61 IN TUNICA COUNTY

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c. 1900–1920s. Old Highway 61 between Robinsonville and Dundee

Following the abandoned Y&MV Railroad line, Old Highway 61 in Tunica County passes through an agricultural landscape interrupted at regular intervals by plantation commissaries that until the 1950s marked the center of their agri-industrial communities. This straight highway drive contrasts with the winding section (DR8) between Hollandale and Leland.

At Robinsonville, the Hollywood Café (1585 Old Commerce Road) moved into this one-story 1920s brick building, the former B. F. Harbert Commissary, in 1984 after its own building burned. Vocalist and pianist Muriel Wilkins performed regularly here and was immortalized in Marc Cohn’s 1991 song “Walking in Memphis.” In Evansville, the one-story Owens Bros. Commissary (c. 1920), now Evansville General Store, features a double cast-iron storefront. Assorted support structures, new metal corn silos, and a frame front-gabled one-room schoolhouse (c. 1900) cluster nearby. About four miles south, the Clayton Plantation Commissary (c. 1910) is a two-story brick commercial building. At Maud, the one-story brick J. W. Lake and Son Commissary and adjacent board-and-batten tenant cabin probably also date to the 1910s.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Jennifer V.O. Baughn and Michael W. Fazio with Mary Warren Miller
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Data

What's Nearby

Historic Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot, Delta Cultural Center
Edwardian Inn (William A. and Sallie Short House)
Phillips County Courthouse
St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Historic Temple Beth El, Delta Cultural Center

Citation

Jennifer V.O. Baughn and Michael W. Fazio with Mary Warren Miller, "OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 61 IN TUNICA COUNTY", [Lula, Mississippi], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MS-02-DR46.

Print Source

Buildings of Mississippi, Jennifer V. O. Baughn and Michael W. Fazio. With Mary Warren Miller. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2021, 125-126.

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