Written by Coleman Lowery
If you grew up in Jackson in the 1940’s and 1950’s you thought the city had only two parts, one was North Jackson with the main drag of North State Street and the other was West Jackson with main drag of West Capitol Street.
The number 2 bus went from downtown out to North State to Council Circle, where it turned around and went back down North State to Capitol Street and West Capitol. It then turned at the city limits where West Capital became Clinton Blvd and the bus went back downtown.
North Jackson people went to Bailey Junior High and West Jackson people went to Enochs Junior High and we hated each other. The Bailey-Enochs annual football game was the highlight of the year. Little did I know then that 20 years later I would fall in love and marry I.C. Enochs’ great granddaughter!
In the 10th grade, we all came together at Central High School and became classmates and good friends. Built in the 1920’s, CHS had a military fort architecture style and an outstanding faculty. Generations were taught math by Miss Spann and Mrs. Latta, English by Miss Breland, Miss Hutchinson, Miss Musselwhite, and Mrs. Russell. Speech was taught by Miss Patton, Latin by Miss Johnston, and French and Spanish by Miss Tizon. Biology by Mrs. Harris and Physics and Chemistry by Miss Fletcher, History by Mrs. Sykes, Miss Ruff and Chief Taylor, and Miss Carter and Mr. Weems were the counselors. There were many other great teachers but these are the ones that I had and knew. For many years the principal was Mr. McEwen and his assistant was Mr. Holiday, who later became principal. The Big Eight Football championship was brought in many years by Coach Doss Fulton.
After school every day we went to Primos on Capitol Street where the fried cinnamon rolls were a dime and then we boarded the bus with our school tokens, which were 2 for a nickel and went home.
Central High School is now closed but in a great example of historic preservation the building is now the office for the State of Mississippi Department of Education. The CHS alumni association is very active to this day and each May has a picnic in the front yard of the building which is still well attended by all the graduating classes; and memories of being a CHS Tiger are shared and laughed over.
Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com. Please join us in celebrating Jackson on August 5th at 5:00 in Banner Hall!
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