| Located on land that was leased from the State of Mississippi, this building was originally built as the freight depot for the New Orleans Great Northern Railroad in 1927, at the same time that the nearby passenger depot was constructed. Designed by the office of the chief engineer of the NOGN, the freight depot was built by W.J. Magee & Son, a Jackson-based contractor. Not long after this building was built, the NOGN was acquired by the Gulf, Mobile and Northern (GM&N) Railroad, which already had a freight depot at a different location, so this building was leased to the H.T. Cotton Company, wholesale grocers. By 1932 that firm had become the Merchants Company, and the former freight depot became the Merchants Company warehouse. It was originally a one-story building, but in the 1930s it was enlarged to two stories by an unusual method -- the existing roof was jacked-up vertically and additional brick courses were inserted beneath it until a second story was created. The building was used by the Merchants Company until 1974. In 1987 it became the location of Hal & Mal’s restaurant. The land on which the building is located is still owed by the state. The building was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 6 April 1999. |