MSM 613 Joseph S. Maury, Jr. - Memories of Macon - a podcast by USM Center for Oral History

Macon, Mississippi, county seat of Noxubee County, has a long and storied past. It served as the state capital during the second half of the Civil War and was the place where the Treaty of Dancing River was signed. When longtime resident, Joseph Maury, Jr. and his wife, Selma, sat down to share their memories in September of 1999, it was obvious they both had a great love for the town and the life they had shared together.

Joe Maury’s father became the Night Marshall in Macon during the 1910s when the city had a thriving saloon district. He describes how his father dealt with the rowdy, “over-the-river” crowd when they had too much to drink.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, a scarcity of jobs forced people to find creative ways to earn a living.  Maury remembers how the citizens of Macon got through those tough economic times and why the 8th of the month was so important to the town’s merchants.

While attending high school in Macon, Maury worked part time at a local grocery store. He recalls how a discarded cigarette and a basket full of fireworks caused a panic one Christmas Eve. In the late 1930s, he and two other young men were hired to help install river gauges in the Noxubee river. He explains how their enthusiastic use of dynamite to blow a cofferdam resulted in a hail of debris at the nearby Chevrolet dealership.

PHOTO: recent shot by Morgan Adams of the building where W.P. Chancellor's store was located.           

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