In Mississippi's cotton-rich Delta, the abandoned Hollandale Cotton Oil Mill on West Mill Street endures as a relic of early 20th-century industry. Built in 1900 by R.W. Bolt, it processed cottonseed from local plantations into oil and meal, powering the town's economy until closing in the early 2010s under names like PYCO Industries.

Nearby on North Morgan Avenue, the L.C. Hays Office was the hub for cotton baron L.C. Hays, whose vast plantation supplied raw seeds to mills like this one. Though not directly linked, Hays's operations intertwined with the mill in the Delta's agricultural web; he also co-owned a local store lost to the 1904 fire.

Today, explorers find the mill stark and evocative: a massive rusting boiler looms at one end, remnants of steam-powered extraction. At the far side, two large round pits open to bare earth—likely old seed silos or hulling bays. An adjacent outbuilding houses a skeletal tower, perhaps a cooker for boiling down oil from softened seeds. The Hays Office offers quieter decay, its empty rooms once bustling with plantation ledgers.

These sites whisper of Hollandale's boom and bust, a fading chapter in cotton's storied history.