CRAWFORD — Turning into town from 245, the cares of the rest of the world seem to slip away.
The streets are quiet, detached from the hustle and bustle of larger cities.
A half-dozen wanderers talk and laugh near a seemingly abandoned old building in mid-afternoon, listening to music resonating from a pickup.
It”s a prelude of what”s to come: The juke joint will open its doors when the sun goes down, welcoming locals and visitors into one of only a handful of businesses in Crawford.
The quiet town — once bustling with energy — has declined in population and businesses over the years.
One by one, its mom-and-pop stores, once the heart and soul of the town, shut their doors.
In their places, now reside dilapidated buildings and empty concrete slabs.
“When I grew up, it was more of a mom-and-pop type town,” recalled Fred Tolan, mayor of Crawford. “It basically was self sustained … When those things went away, nothing came to replace it.”
Tolan, 48, grew up in Crawford, served in the U.S. Army Reserve and always stayed close to home.
But his story is a rare one. Most young people, including seven of his eight siblings, leave Crawford for good. Tolan”s mother, Mollie, and older brother, Robert, still live in the town.
“The kids that grew up in this area mostly they just leave, and they don”t ever return,” Tolan said.
And it”s because of the quality of life, he explained.
With law enforcement nearly 40 minutes away, little opportunity for recreation and few jobs, the town isn”t as appealing for business and potential residents as it once was. About 650 people live in Crawford, according to the last Census report; 99 percent are black and most are senior citizens.
“You can”t go around the corner and buy a box of washing powder,” Tolan noted.
But Tolan, who has been on the job for about eight months, hopes to change that.
Looking forward, looking back
“We would love to see this town change and have some business here,” said Jewell Holcomb, who also grew up in the town.
Holcomb, 72, remembers a different Crawford.
“We loved it,” she said of growing up in the town.
Her father owned H.G. Bell General Mercantile.
“I grew up in that store. When I was 12 years old, my father would leave to run errands, and I would be his little clerk.”
The store later burned, and her family built the Meadows Store.
Back then, there was a bank, two gins, a post office and “a number of stores in town.”
“We had a little theater, and that would be open on Fridays and Saturdays,” Holcomb remembered. “It”s been closed for a long time now.”
Holcomb”s son, Keith Hancock, and daughter, Sheila Unruh, both own businesses in Noxubee County.
“They have to go where they can get a job and work,” said Holcomb.
Mamie L. Brown”s son, Devrice L. Brown of Columbus, and daughter, Dionne Taylor of Jackson, also moved to find work.
Brown, 76, has lived in Crawford all her life.
She”d like to see ambulance services in the immediate vicinity.
“We”re at the far end of this county, and by the time an ambulance gets here a person could be expired,” she said.
Sewer project
Decades after its prime, the town is working to get modern amenities, like properly functioning sewage systems, to all its townspeople.
Through a $100,000 grant from the Mississippi Development Authority, the town is adding 15-20 houses along School Street onto the town”s sewer system.
“It”ll be a great advantage to me,” said Sandra Dora, who lives at the end of School Street.
Dora, 57, has lived in Crawford since 1985.
“We”ve had so much trouble with our sewage backing into the yard,” she added.
During the summer, the smell from sewage gets so bad, Dora and her neighbors can”t sit outside and enjoy the warmth.
Even after the School Street project is complete, there still will be dozens more homes along Farmers Market Road, Martin Luther King and the surrounding area still not on the town”s sewer system.
“Right now, sewer is my top priority,” said Tolan, pointing to raw sewage draining into a ditch along School Street.
Considered distressed
“Lowndes County is considered a very wealthy area, as a whole. But this is the only area of Lowndes County that is considered by the state as distressed,” said Lowndes County District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith. Crawford is part of his district.
Much of the county”s wealth is due to the Lowndes County Industrial Park, about 15 miles from Crawford.
“I had hoped with the growth at the industrial park, the town would benefit,” said Holcomb. “But it seems like nothing could ever get going around here.”
Like Tolan, Smith is working to help correct drainage and sewage problems in Crawford.
“The (tap) water tastes so bad, you can”t even drink it,” Smith said, who hopes to secure federal funds to get the water lines out of ditches and placed at the shoulders, easily a multi-million dollar project.
“They”ve got those lines in the ditches, so you can”t dig deep enough to correct the flow,” he noted, pointing out three-quarter inch PVC pipe, exposed, in a ditch.
“We had big problems the last freeze,” said Tolan, who supposes the water lines were put in about four decades ago. “It affected the vast majority of the town. Once they freeze, we don”t have water.”
It usually takes about three days to repair the lines; Tolan makes many of the repairs himself.
In the meantime, townspeople used bottled water. Tolan has a 24-case of water handy in the trunk of his car.
Left behind
“It just stayed still,” Smith said of the town. “When the rest of the world was progressing and moving forward, it just stayed still.”
He attributes the challenges facing Crawford to “years of bad decisions and neglect.”
“Not a lot of changes over the years,” Charlie Jones, owner of Jones Grocery on the corner of Mill and Main streets, said of the town. “We”d like to see some.”
Jones has owned the store — which offers everything from plumbing tools to bread and meat — for 10 years, and the liquor store next door for 32 years. He lives 10 miles east of Crawford.
His business is one of only a few, including Stop One Deli on Highway 45 Alternate and Max One Stop, both convenience stores.
“Ideally, we could put together a list of things that need to be done,” Smith added. “Reality is, I don”t know. Because we”re talking about a lot of money in a time when not a lot is being given away. … With the way the world is now, you just can”t live like this.”
Despite the tasks ahead, Tolan and other community members aren”t giving up.
Tolan ran for mayor because he is “trying to make life better for the people who live here.”
“There are a lot of children here, and they do need activities,” said Holcomb. “I just think that we”re going to have to have a lot of pride. We just need to get more people that are interested that will get the grants and money we need.”
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