Between winding railroad tracks and bustling industry, a brick building — once a warehouse for steam engine supplies — sits vacant and deteriorated. It’s a reminder of a time when commerce depended heavily on the tracks that run like arteries through the nation.

The building, now owned by Kansas City Southern, has only remnants of its rich history — an out-of-service elevator, old tires and rusted metal parts — inside its dilapidated exterior. And its future remains unknown.

But, because of its historical significance, the building tops a list of properties in the River City that need saving, said Nancy Bell, director of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.

“It’s a really great little building,” she said. “The fact that it’s owned by KCS makes it difficult” to do anything with it.

The former warehouse has a marble sign that fronts the property, with the names of three different railroads carved into its surface along with 1890, the year the building was built. The railroads combined in the early 1900s to make Illinois Central, which was sold to Mid-South Railroad in 1986 before selling to KCS in 1993.

Billy Ainsworth, who worked for the railroad here for 30 years and 10 years before that in McComb, said the building was the division headquarters for railroad offices and used for storing equipment. He worked as the superintendent of locomotives and ordered supplies that would be stored in the old building, which closed when he left in 1998. He believes saving the property, which, he said, no longer has a viable purpose under KCS ownership, wouldn’t be feasible.

“It’s deteriorated real bad and is gradually falling in,” Ainsworth said. “The mortar and brick are falling off. Eventually it’s going to fall down.”

A spokesman with KCS did not return calls about the property.

The growing list of properties, most of which are either Mississippi Landmarks or are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, have become a priority for the foundation, a group that hopes to encourage property owners to rehabilitate the buildings themselves or sell them.

“This is a tool to, hopefully, get the word out and to draw attention,” Bell said. “We choose them because they are either architecturally or historically important buildings to Vicksburg.”

Protecting Vicksburg’s landscape has always been the mission of VFHP.

“To identify, preserve, protect and interpret,” Bell said, quoting the foundation’s mantra.

Just last year, foundation officials took their efforts a step further by listing on their Web site, www.preservevicksburg.org, what they decided were the Top 10 properties needing saving. There, they also defined them as endangered properties.

Only one property has been flagged as “saved” since the portion of the site launched early in 2007. That building, the historic Carr School, was purchased by Webber Brewer in May and has begun its transformation into residential space. The large brick Cherry Street cornerstone, used as a school for various grades from 1924 through 1979, sat vacant for years under its former ownership. When Brewer bought the building and announced his plans, former students — mostly from its years as Carr Central High School — rallied around him, ecstatic for the former “eyesore” to have new life. Further work on the building, which is listed on the National Register and identified as a Mississippi Landmark, awaits approval from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Some of the properties, such as the W.W. Lassiter Warehouse, more commonly known as the Surplus City building at 1300 Levee St., could not be saved. Although many measures were taken for its owner to convert it into a music venue and, earlier, for the city to purchase it, the building’s fate was sealed in October, when the Board of Architectural Review approved its demolition, followed by the city’s official vote.

Built in 1907, the building is one of the last remaining warehouses in Vicksburg’s former warehouse district. In its heyday, it was one of 50 warehouses and commercial buildings on the commercial waterfront, touted as the largest and most important wholesaling district in Mississippi at the time.

Another property that appears to be beyond saving is a house at 1501 Clay St., one of the few remaining residential buildings on the busy street, now mostly home to businesses.

“At one point, every lot had a house,” Bell said.

Vicksburg Building and Inspection Department Director Victor Gray-Lewis said the city has been trying to save the building for three years now. And, at one point, he thought the issue had been solved.

“The current owner said they would fix it up,” he said. “But they abandoned the whole project.”

The property now is on the city’s demolition list and will be taken down “as soon as public works can get to it,” Gray-Lewis said.

The home, built in the 1880s and once the home of Edward P. Jones, editor and manager of the Advocate Journal and pastor of Mount Heroden Baptist Church, is steeped in black history. But, it’s one of the many historically significant properties that fade from the Vicksburg landscape because of lack of care.

“I hate to take it down. I would love for somebody to come in and take it over at the 11th hour,” Gray-Lewis said. “What’s not seen is all the effort we go through to work with the property owner — the months and months spent trying to save these houses. But, it finally comes down to it — we have to move on with demolition.”

Once properties make it to the city’s demolition list, the inspections department has to have a letter from the current owner stating that he or she is in negotiations with a buyer or has plans to make repairs. The city usually will grant a 30-day extension. Gray-Lewis said many properties have been saved this way. Other times, the method is used as a “stall tactic.”

“In most cases, it’s a happy ending,” he said. “But, sometimes, people do it because they don’t want the structure taken away. People become emotionally involved with these properties. Maybe it’s the house they grew up in. But, they don’t have the money to fix it up. It’s a catch 22 in most cases.”

Lack of maintenance to the buildings, which primarily requires it to be “water tight” — having a repaired roof, fresh paint and windows glazed — is the main reason these historic properties are placed on the list, Bell said.

The properties could be “saved” if the owners perform complete rehabilitation or, in some cases, make only minor repairs.

“Once you hit a certain point in non-maintenance, the property goes downhill exponentially,” Bell said. “Once the exterior coat of a building is not taken care of, then eventually that building is going to fall apart.”

An example of that is the Beck House at 1101 South St., a property that Bell said is one of the best Italianate buildings in the city. The home, owned since 1989 by Robert Rosenthal, former owner of the Carr Building, was completely restored in 1983. The carriage house that sits behind the main building was, at that time, turned into apartments. Since Rosenthal purchased the house, it has had a steady decline, Bell said.

“The porches are rotting, and the cornace on the west side has fallen off,” she said.

Last month, the owner appeared before the Board of Mayor and Alderman and Gray-Lewis, telling them he would take on needed repairs himself. He was granted a 30-day period in which he could begin work by filing for permits, which Gray-Lewis said he has already done.

While making necessary repairs to the buildings is what inspectors require after building codes are violated, Bell said selling the properties is often a more viable, but less often realized, option. Selling could relieve current owners of financial burdens, which often translate into high property taxes and expensive repair costs. Under the city’s zoning ordinances, properties within city limits must be maintained. If they aren’t, the inspections department will deem them “demolition by neglect,” a term that defines the destruction of a building through abandonment or lack of maintenance. Under a state law authorizing municipalities to take action in preventing neglect to historic homes and landmarks, repairs can be undertaken by the city and the costs can be enrolled as a tax lien against the property. Eventually, the process leads to actual demolition.

Bell said if the property is in the zoned historic district, the Board of Architecture Review can continually place a “stay,” or request for non-action, on the property until someone repairs or sells the property. The board, however, does not have the power to force a property owner into repairing.

“Outside the district, it’s up to us to draw attention,” Bell said.

The foundation has established what Bell believes is a good relationship with the city’s inspection department. She said Gray-Lewis understands what the group is trying to do.

He “understands that you need to use extreme measures sometimes to save a building. In the past, we’ve had people who think a building is in the way,” Bell said.

She said at least six of the 10 properties are defined as “demolition by neglect.” The city has sought action on at least three, which, according to records with the Warren County Courthouse, have taxes unpaid or a tax lien for work that was done by the city.

Bell said, while the properties on the list continue to dilapidate, potential buyers are constantly inquiring about many of the properties.

“Occasionally, I’ll have people call to see if anything is slated for demolition,” she said.

Several people have shown interest in purchasing 913 Washington St., called the Christian-Brough building or Old Monte Carlo Lounge, she said. The city demolished a portion of the building after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 furthered its deterioration. The building is owned by Joseph Farris, who lives in California and is unable to make trips to Vicksburg to maintain his property, once home to a Studebaker and Packard dealership. Because of its crumbling exterior, the city took over repairs and placed a lien on the property that made Farris’ tax payment last year shoot up to $16,855.84, courthouse records show. Bell said the city has been trying to “do something” with the landmark for nearly 20 years, throughout which the building has been mostly vacant. The garage, which had a deteriorating roof that peered over the sidewalk, was what the city had demolished, citing its continual hazardous decay.

“The city just felt — if they didn’t do something and something happened,” they could be liable, Bell said.

Most of the properties identified on the foundation’s list have not been marked as “problem properties.” Bell said noting the buildings’ steep declines in maintenance before owners are sent letters requesting action is what she hopes will keep them forever off demolition lists.

“We’re getting to them at a point before the city tells them there’s nothing more they can do. We’re being more pro-active and saying, “Here is a building that’s not at a point where the city is sending letters,” she said.

Other properties that have made the list are:

– The former YMCA, 821 Clay St.

The building was built in 1923 as the Junius Ward Johnson Memorial YMCA and served as the city’s main Y until a new facility was built off East Clay Street in 2002. The old building was, then, sold to Nashville architect T. Michael Hayes and his wife, Judy, who announced plans to convert the building into 27 one- and two-bedroom condominiums for retirees. For the most part, the building has remained vacant, with the exception of a stint when it was occupied by Keystone Ministries, a group that assists male offenders in the transition from crime and drugs to a positive life. The ministry began leasing the building in 2004 with plans that included converting it into a shelter. When that plan was abandoned in 2005 due to an extensive list of improvements required by the city’s inspection department, the ministry moved to a Washington Street location.

The property, although not yet termed demolition by neglect, is for sale and retains its amenities — a swimming pool, basketball court and meeting rooms. Bell said the space could easily be used as an apartment complex or hotel.

“It’s a significant landmark,” she said. “What a hole that would be.”

– 1717 Cherry St.

The three-bay galleried home, built in 1870, has remained vacant for several years and is one, Bell said, a new owner could occupy while doing needed work. Jeanette Felton of Port Gibson is listed on tax records as the home’s owner, but she did not return phone calls to confirm that. Bell said she has had people offer to buy the property, but nothing has surfaced.

– Old Mississippi Hardware, 2402 Washington St.

This property, built around 1954, sports one of the city’s better views of the Mississippi River and Yazoo Diversion Canal. Bell said the building, owned by Mark Werner of California, is beginning to crumble.

Gray-Lewis said the city has sought action on this building before and its owner complied. But, now, it seems to be seeing a second phase of deterioration. The city has not taken further action, but it remains a property on which the foundation has kept a close eye.

“This is not one we want to see demolished,” she said.

The owner was served a letter from city officials August 2005 citing about eight zoning violations against the building and surrounding property, which included his 1947 Chevrolet truck and 1958 MG Coupe being permanently parked in the building’s open-air garage. The city in March 2006 had the vehicles removed, but Werner paid to have them returned to his property four months later.

– 1613 Martha St.

The home was purchased by Tina Hayward, director of Mountain of Faith Women’s Restoration Shelter on Signal Hill, in 2001 when the native returned to Vicksburg on a whim. Hayward and her husband bought the dilapidated house, a five-bay galleried cottage built in 1870, and immediately staged a benefit walk to raise funds to repair the property. In 2002, the city gave Hayward a year to renovate the 10-room house that she believed to be the perfect house for a long term women’s shelter. She was, then, granted the house on Signal Hill, which she began preparing as a shelter that currently serves enough people to keep its rooms filled. While Hayward said earlier this week that she was unaware that the Martha Street home was on the foundation’s endangered properties list, she and her board have already begun preparations to renovate the structure as a second shelter for women and children.

“This is the right type of property — it’s in the heart of the city,” she said. “We’re ready to turn it back into livable conditions.”

Hayward said she is researching the property to determine what it used to look like. In the meantime, she plans to restore the roof and exterior and repair the plumbing. She is hoping to acquire grants to do most of the work. By the end of the year, she said, she plans to have the property, which will be called Martha Street House, operating as a full-time shelter.

If Hayward’s dream is realized and the home is repaired, it will be what Gray-Lewis refers to as “a happy ending.” And, it’s why the foundation steps in to identify the properties — before it’s too late.

She said VFHP will continue to use the endangered list as a tool to raise awareness. She hopes to create another section for properties saved from demolition. The foundation will also add to the list as other properties are identified as needing to be saved.

“It’s the reason we have tourism — people come see the old buildings,” Bell said. “They are part of our heritage. We need to use whatever means possible” to save them.