Jackson MS Landmarks

Farish Street Neighborhood Historic District

The Farish Street Historic District was a dynamic black business area years back. Neighborhood commerce leaders wish to begin to redevelop it by bringing back a couple of buildings right into bars and also restaurants. The Alamo Movie theater on historic Farish Street has actually been restored and is area owned. Back in the 1930s and 40s, Robert Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton resided in the Farish Street area. Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and also Duke Ellington performed on Farish Street.

Hawkins Field Airport

The Hawkins Field Airport is owned and run by the City of Jackson and is utilized by the armed forces as well as civilians. It was opened up in 1928, and also paved runways were added in 1936. The U.S. Military used it for flight instruction in World War II and also substantially expanded it. In 1963, jet planes began flying in to Hawkins Field Airport. Hawkins Field Airport sits on 602 acres and also has two runways in operation. 2 WW2 runways have been deserted for many years.

Jackson State University

A public, primarily African-America university, Jackson State was founded in 1877. The existing campus was initially constructed in 1902 and now includes 51 buildings on a 245-acre campus. The sports program is a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Walter Payton is its most renowned alumnus. 75% of Jackson State's students are from Jackson as well as the state of Mississippi.

Poindexter Park Historic District

West of downtown Jackson, The Poindexter Park Historic District is going through a re-birth. Habitat for Humanity as well as Operation Weed and Seed strive to restore the district. Poindexter Park has various restored houses on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the old mansions was owned by Mississippi's 2nd governor, George Poindexter. He was a delegate, representative, as well as senator that was born in 1779.

Buddy Butts Park

The Mississippi River Basin Model Waterways Experiment Station at Buddy Butts Park was made use of to model potential floods in the Mississippi River basin from 1949 up until 1973 and sits on 200 acres. It was constructed from 1943 to 1966 by the United States Military Corps of Engineers. Its objective was to offer the Military Crops required details to predict flooding along the Mississippi River. The location around the Missouri River was finished by 1952 and modeled the spring floods of that year. It was operational to Memphis by 1959 and was finished in 1966. Nonetheless, operational expenses and computer system modeling made the model out-of-date by 1973. As of 2013, the model is overgrown as well as deserted, yet open to the public.

Jackson Police Department

Starting in 1822, the Jackson Police Department has been of service to the citizens of Jackson MS. They began putting on uniforms in 1873, with detectives designated in 1878. A lot took place in 1909 with the inclusion of police officers on horseback, and also plain-clothes detectives. Early on, policemen made use of telephone call boxes on light poles to reply to one-way radio transmissions. The existing head office structure opened in 1952 at 327 East Pascagoula Street and it contains both the municipal court and also prison. There are now 4 precincts.

Jackson is the capital of Mississippi and also is one of 2 county seats of Hinds County. Named after General Andrew Jackson, it was established in 1821 to be the state capital. After the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863, General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union forces over-ran Jackson and also destroyed it. There was a gas boom in the 1920s, and also it's nicknamed "The City with Soul."

The Jackson market has a population of 579,332. It belonged to the Choctaw nation at one time. Mississippi Choctaw are currently part of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and also reside in numerous Native-American communities in the state.

The initial European inhabitant was Louis LeFleur, and also Jackson was originally referred to as LeFleur's Bluff. In 1821, a state-commissioned report claimed LeFleur's Bluff was a beautiful location and also had lots of water and also timber and accessibility to the Natchez Trail. The site then ended up being the seat of state government. It was plated in 1822 in a grid pattern, and city blocks contain numerous parks. The railroad was built through Jackson in 1840, which triggered growth after the Civil War.

Jackson was a production facility for the Confederacy during the Civil War, making it a target of Union forces in 1863. Considering that the city was ruined, few antebellum buildings have endured. Nonetheless, the Governor's Mansion, the Old Capitol building, as well as the Jackson City Hall continue to be.

After the War Between the States, economic recuperation was slow. Mule-drawn streetcars became electric in 1899. A new capitol was built in 1903.

Born in Jackson in 1909, author Eudora Welty won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for, "The Optimist's Daughter." The Jackson Town library was named for her, and her house is a National Historic Landmark. Jackson experienced a growth explosion in the very early 20th century, and also a new Union Terminal was built. The King Edward Hotel opened up in 1923 and also was a facility for distinguished occasions. The 1919 Standard Life Building established the record for the biggest reinforced concrete structure at the time.

Natural gas fields were discovered in 1930 causing another boom that minimized the results of the Great Depression. This sector trailed off in 1955.

During Mississippi's extended Prohibition, alcohol consumption and also gaming flourished across the river in Flowood's Gold Coast. Those organizations closed down when Mississippi legalized alcohol in 1966. The state permitted riverboat gambling in 1990, and also several casino sites have opened up.

Hawkins Field ended up being an important U.S. Military airbase in World War Two, containing the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School after Nazi Germany overran the Netherlands.

Jackson was a crucial hub of civil liberties demonstrations in the '60s and also was the terminus of the James Meredith March. Meredith was the very first African American to enroll at the U of Mississippi. The first lung transplant took place at the University of Mississippi Medical Facility in 1963. Malaco Records calls Jackson its home base and is a leader in gospel, blues, and soul. Paul Simon recorded at Malaco in 1973.

Harvey Johnson, Jr. ended up being Jackson's first African-American mayor in 1997, and he was a champion for the Convention Center. Jackson was denoted as one of the ten friendliest cities in the USA in 2013.

Jackson is in Hinds County and also some areas of Madison as well as Rankin counties. The eastern line is the Pearl River. It's bordered on the north by Ridgeland, on the east by Flowood and also Richland, the south by Byram and the west by Clinton. It has an overall landmass of 113.2 square miles and also is drained by the Big Black as well as Pearl Rivers.

Jackson rests on top of a dead volcano that's 2,900 feet below ground. The buried peak is under the Mississippi Coliseum. Jackson-Evers International Airport has continuous service to six cities.