Tunica, Mississippi
The Visitors Center is the home of a new 3,800 SF Gateway to the Blues Museum. The new Visitor Center is the perfect attraction for tourists and music lovers entering the Mississippi Delta along the world-famous Blues Highway 61.
While it has been used as a grain storage facility for the past few years and the train tracks it served were pulled up some 40 years ago, it remains the last original train depot in Tunica County. According to the Hood family, W.C. Handy, the bandleader known as the Father of the Blues, often played at the depot.
Allen & Hoshall provided design services for the relocation, restoration, and re-use of an original 1895 train depot. The depot has been restored as part of the visitor center project in a way that keeps its rustic charm. The weathered wood exterior keeps its aged patina. The green shingle roof remains. Inside, the original wood plank floor has been sealed but not refinished. Virtually all the structural components of the center are original to the building.
