Photo Friday: Death of a city

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This is old highway 80 or US80 through downtown Delhi, La. The building on the left is the old dairy delite drive in. The blue building on the right used to be Cutler Chevrolet, and the tan building was a service station. Downtown Delhi used to be a thriving place during to travel boom of the 50’s and 60’s.

Then the death knell. Interstate 20 was put in and bypassed Delhi to the south. Sure new shiny plastic fast food joints replaced the old drive ins like the Dairy delite and the Sip and Nip. The convenience stores replaced the old downtown stores and the service stations. Fast, quick and convenient replaced quality, friendly family owned service. No one socialized around the drive ins on Saturday night. Our hang out in Winnsboro was Jeanettes then the name was changed to Shipley’s drive in. We spent many hours in the parking lot or cruising downtown. The same was done in Delhi on the weekends.

I have become more of a two lane back road person than an interstate speed demon. I guess I like to stop and smell the memory of cooking oil and ice cream.

I chose this dark dreary day for my photo as it symbolizes the fate of many small towns downtown area when the big interstate rolls through.