205-207 W. Lafayette Street

 

     While having lunch at the newly opened Café Lafayette on the corner of Lafayette and Shannon (207 W. Lafayette), I couldn=t help but remember some of the other businesses at this spot. I=ve only been in Jackson 27 years so the first memory I have, like many others, is buying tomato plants when it was Marvin Jones Seed Store. Where the café is now was once the inside store with gardening tools and seeds. The outside area was covered with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, herbs and everything you might want to have a great garden. Every year they would end my visit with the phrase, Agood luck with your tomatoes.@ Guess they knew I needed all the luck I could get to grow them.

     Dennis and Annette Woolverton, the new owners, have gutted the place and breathed new life into the building. They plan to create a courtyard on the vacant lot (207 W. Lafayette). While looking into the history of Shannon Street last year, I found that this section of Jackson had an interesting variety of landowners and in turn, they had an interesting variety of tenants.

     In the 1850's a merchant was located at 207 and a livery and carriage/wagon repair shop was at 205. In 1887, the city map records the lot at 205 W. Lafayette as Aruins of the fire.@ Now according to Harbert Alexander, the area was not burned in the Agreat fire of 1864," considering the structures of the time, anything could have caused the fire that destroyed the livery. In the 1900-1901 City Directory, Mid Joyner was located at 205. Their specialty was rubber horse shoes and the conversion of metal buggy wheels to rubber wheels.

     Mr. John Long, mentioned to me recently that he remembers an old-fashioned grocery store at 205 during the 30's. The store had crackers in a barrel, cookies in the case for a penny, pickles and many other items. Each Saturday families would do their shopping and many of the men would gather at the grocery while waiting on their wives to finish shopping. Carvers Feed and Seed Store was next door at 207, also located on that side of W. Lafayette was a small restaurant that served beer and the Checker Board Grocery *

     In the 1940's the corner grocery became Jerry=s Market. In the 1950's Carver=s became Marvin Jones Seed Store. The seed store expanded when the market closed. Eventually a small greenhouse was erected at 205. For many years Marvin Jones Seed Store was the place to go for seed, plants and advice for that perfect garden. In the late 1990's, Rob Monk purchased the building with the vision of putting in a blues café. He remodeled the building and opened the Shannon Street Café. Unfortunately, several factors kept it from being a success. Now with it=s new look, 207 West Lafayette is Café Lafayette, serving Cajun food and on weekends you can hear some great music. This is just another example of how Downtown Jackson is coming back to life, but along with the new we should remember the old during our downtown wanderings. Thank you to the staff of the Tennessee Room, Mr. Jim Driver, and Mr. John Long for taking time to tell me about the Jackson they remember and love.

Thought you would like to know:   *Mr. Hopper=s store was named The Checker Board Grocery because he had the Purnia Feed Company paint the store as a promotion for their feed.