In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the incorporation of Vicksburg, we have been highlighting the histories of buildings that the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation has saved over its 66 years.This is the fourth in the series and highlights 1717 Cherry St. In 1985, the foundation learned that this house was in danger of being demolished. The foundation bought the building and then sold it to Dr. Jennifer Hicks, who rehabilitated it and used it for her office.  Forty years later, the three-bay galleried townhouse is in need of a new owner and rehabilitation.

This house was built about 1878, most likely by Alfred Guider. By 1895, he was joined in the house by Benjamin Guider and Benjamin’s children, Ben, Elizabeth, George, Helen, and Lizzie. Benjamin Guider was a well-known jeweler. On May 6, 1916, at the age of 80, Benjamin fell from the porch of this home and broke two ribs. According to the report in The Vicksburg Post, “paralysis followed the accident, and the end came today. But Mr. Guider has been in failing health for a couple of years, and had been gradually getting worse, and despite this accident yesterday, his death could not have been far removed. He was born October 9th, 1836, in Wurtemburg, Germany. He came to the United States when a lad of ten, accompanying an older brother. His youth was spent in Vicksburg and St. Louis, where he obtained his education. As a young man he had worked in Vicksburg for Downing and Moody and later with Max Kuner. But in 1866, he embarked in the jewelry business for himself, with business acumen, integrity and perseverance he succeeded from the start.”  

Guider had been married twice. First to Louisa Rectanus in 1860 and then to Mary Shuler in 1868. Louisa died a month after giving birth to their first child, Lizzie in 1861. Mary and Benjamin then had 12 children, four of whom died before they were six years old. Mary died in 1907 and the funeral was from the house. 

On October 22, 1907, Ben Jr. was shot in the abdomen by Jim Lum on the corner of Jackson and Washington streets. It was hoped that because he was a young man, 37 years old, and in good health that he would pull through, but he died two days later after attempts by the doctors to save him. The autopsy revealed that the bullet was lodged near his spine. According to Charles Curphey who was walking with Ben when he was shot, they were carrying a large sign that said “Mississippi Welcomes Her President,” which had adorned one of the cotton arches in honor of Mr. Roosevelt’s visit in Vicksburg the past Monday. They were hauling it to one of the saloons, where they were going to mount it on the wall. As they reached Lum and two women sitting on a stoop, the sign toppled over and fell partly on Lum. Even though Guider apologized, further words were exchanged and Lum shot him. According to the sheriff’s office, Lum had a long list of offensses in Madison and Warren counties. Lum was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. In a strange coincidence of fate, Ben Guider’s name was drawn from the box of potential jurors and placed on the list. The Vicksburg Post noted,“thus creating the remarkable condition of the name of a dead man being on a venire from which a jury is to be selected to try a prisoner charged with causing the death of the man himself.”  

The funeral was from the home at 1717. Eight years later, Ben’s sister, Lizzie, died unexpectedly at the house and her funeral was also from the family home.

Following the death of Benjamin in 1916, the house became rental property. In 1937, Eunice Granberry lived there and mended fur coats or would convert a coat into a cape. She also relined coats, altered dresses and remodeled hats. In 1940, Malcolm Stout lived in one of the apartments as did Mr. and Mrs. William Shields. Eunice Granberry still lived in the house in 1943, and in an advertisement in The Vicksburg Post announced that “If you want to get up early in the morning the ‘Human Alarm Clock’ will call you.”  

In 1952, Carrie Quackenboss lived in the house and held meetings of the United Daughters of the Confederacy there. In 1968, her granddaughter, also named Carrie and a resident of New Orleans, was an award winner in the 34th Children’s National Photographic Contest sponsored by the National Association of Department Store Photograph Studios. The contest covered over 200 cities in the United States. Her winning photo was printed in The Post. 

Many others lived in the house before the foundation purchased it and many since Dr. Hicks moved her practice. The house is currently boarded up and needs a new owner.  

– Nancy Bell, Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.