Rolling Fork to establish economic entity
City has purchased building to house economic
organization and new blues museum

BY LISA UZZLE GATES
DBJ Contributing Writer

The city of Rolling Fork is putting its hopes for the future in its past.

City lawmakers recently purchased a two-story building adjacent to Highway 61, with plans to open a Blues museum and eventually establish an economic development organization to promote the town and its place in Delta Blues history.

Mayor Eldridge Walker, elected last year, and city officials believe that is the key to bringing the once-thriving town back to life.

“At one time Rolling Fork was a thriving, busy town. It was agriculture-based, but the creation of high-tech equipment changed the labor force. The Mississippi Delta is one of the poorest areas in the state, and I’ve seen the highs and lows of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, and right now, we are in a low,” Walker said.

The birthplace of McKinley Morganfield Waters, better known as Blues legend Muddy Waters, hopes to bring tourists in as they travel the Delta along Highway 61, in search of the Blues.

“We believe the road to economic recovery in this area will depend on recreation and tourism. We need to make that happen, and we can make it happen through the popularity of Highway 61. We have to come up with a way and a means to market ourselves and give people a reason to want to stop here, stay here and spend their money here. Not only will it help Rolling Fork, it will help our entire county,” Walker said.

The county seat of Sharkey County, Rolling Fork has a population of 2,486 people, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. The median household income in the city is $23,081 and per capita income is $11,481. An estimated 37.1 percent of the population and 30.6 percent of families live below the poverty line. The bulk of the employment for Rolling Fork residents is in the field of education, health or social services, with retail trade coming next followed by manufacturing.

It is also the native city of Muddy Waters. Waters, who died in 1983, was born in Rolling Fork in 1915 and lived there until the age of three, when his mother died and he moved to Clarksdale to be raised by his maternal grandmother. Waters moved to Chicago in 1943 where he enjoyed a successful career and established himself as one of the Blues greats. “When he died quietly in his sleep on April 30, 1983, in his home in suburban Westmont Illinois, America lost one of the greatest, most influential and enduringly important musicians of the century, one who had reshaped the course of the blues, set it on a new path and, through the influence he exerted on so many others who followed in his trailblazing wake, completely altered the sound, substance and very character of all modern popular music,” Pete Welding said in “Gone to Mainstreet,” Bluesland, E.P. Dutton, 1992.

Walker and other city officials hope to capitalize on their native son’s place in music history. They currently sell Muddy Waters t-shirts and have a monument dedicated to the Blues legend in the downtown area. “He still has family members here and we are working closely with them to secure artifacts for the museum,” Walker said. They are also working with other Blues museums in the area to arrange for an exchange and sharing of memorabilia related to Waters’ career.

But there are plans beyond the one building that the city recently purchased for $50,000. Walker said they want to revitalize the entire downtown area. They have joined Main Street America program and are hoping to secure grants and funding to breath life back into the downtown.

“We’ve had a number of positive responses about the museum. And we have other plans for the downtown area. It all works hand in hand,” Walker said. DBJ