Driving south through Mississippi on Interstate 55. It’s a cool, rainy morning, the kind of spring day you sometimes get in the South before the summer heat and humidity settles in. I pass the signs for Crystal Springs, Hazelhurst, Wesson, Brookhaven, Bogue Chitto, Summit—towns that lie to the east along the tracks. The tracks, and the Interstate, lead me to McComb. In town, I stop for a morning cup of coffee, and make my way to the former Illinois Central depot.

In 1872 Henry S. McComb decided to move the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad’s locomotive and car maintenance shops away from New Orleans and its saloons. He purchased land in Pike County and the city of McComb was born. The railroad attracted other industries to the area, including a sawmill, ice plant and cotton mill. For over 100 years, McComb was a railroad town, and nearly every inhabitant’s livelihood depended in some way on the railroad.

In 1987, the railroad, by then the Illinois Central Railroad, closed the doors of the McComb shops and a way of life disappeared. The McComb City Railroad Depot Museum is dedicated to keeping the memory of railroading in McComb alive.

Edd Fuller – Photographs and text Copyright 2019

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