Jackson Southwest Hotel

Robert E. Lee Hotel: Interior Images

by atufft

As I walked by the old building, a local businessman caught my attention and offered to show me the inside of this old building. It was Saturday and normally these office buildings are closed in quiet Jackson. But, he has a "snack shack" inside and was able to show me interior features. The building floors were marble, the elevator doors were painted brass, door knobs had Robert E. Lee's portrait, and there was were nice architectural windows on the Mezzanine level. The Robert E. Lee Hotel has been converted to Office use and is primarily used by Mississippi state government departments now.

Jackson, Mississippi

by jholley534

I stopped through Jackson for about a week while on a road trip. It's a medium sized city with most of the attractions, stores, and restaurants located not far off the interstate.

Jackson is conveniently located at the crossroads of Interstate 55 & Interstate 20 and the population in July of 2004 was 179,298.

HISTORY OF JACKSON

Jackson Mississippi was founded in 1821 at the site of a trading post that was situated on a "high handsome bluff" on the west bank of the Pearl River. Legend tells that the trading post was operated by a French-Canadian trader named Louis LeFleur, and the town originally was called LeFleur's Bluff.

A legislative act dated November 28, 1821 authorized the location to be the permanent seat of government for the state and that it would be named Jackson, in honor of Major General Andrew Jackson who would later become the seventh president of the United States.

Jackson's growth in the 1800s was slow and sometimes painful. During the Civil War, the town was ravaged and burned three times by Union troops under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Surprisingly, the City Hall was spared the torch.

Although less than 8,000 people lived in the Jackson area at the turn of the century, its population began accelerating rapidly after 1900, and it is now one of the dynamic growth areas of the Sunbelt. In 1990, the population of the Metropolitan area rose to 395,396.