Preservation in Mississippi
ELMalvaney
Mississippi Landmarks 2011
To end our week of lists, here’s a photographic summary of the historic places designated as Mississippi Landmarks this year. As we’ve noted before, “Mississippi Landmark” and “National Register” are sometimes confused, but they are two completely different programs to recognize historic properties. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, while the … Continue reading
National Register 2011–Historic Districts
As you know, National Register listings can be either individual places, as shown in yesterday’s post, or larger groupings of buildings known as historic districts. Historic districts can be as small as a handful of houses in a rural community or as large as a dense urban neighborhood (as dense and as urban as Mississippi … Continue reading
National Register 2011–Individual Listings
As in previous years, we’re breaking our National Register of Historic Places listings for 2011 into two separate posts to avoid piling on and to allow you time to read through the summaries and ponder. Some of these listings have been covered in various News Roundups throughout the year, but I always like to have … Continue reading
Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2011
As is traditional in this quiet week after Christmas and before New Years, we look back at the year and recount our wins and losses. We usually start with the “sad list” of buildings who lost their battle against time in 2011. This year’s losses seem pretty significant to me, with a number of recognized … Continue reading
Jackson Poll Results
As we all recover from Christmas cheer, take a look at the Jackson poll results. As you recall, this was the last poll in our ongoing effort to build a list of 101 Mississippi Places to See Before You Die. Once our statistician gets back in town, we’ll work a little magic with the numbers … Continue reading
A Few of Malvaney’s Favorite Things
Since this is the week before Christmas, we authors of MissPres thought we’d look back at some of our favorite posts and re-gift them, adding value with a few thoughts about why we liked them so much. It’s the closest we could come to raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, and hopefully these won’t … Continue reading
Belhaven University’s Fitzhugh Hall Endangered
Word has come from Belhaven University in Jackson this week about disturbing recent structural shifts in the East Wing of their iconic Fitzhugh Hall. Built in 1911, the building was significantly rebuilt and altered after a 1927 fire. Now the south masonry wall appears to be crumbling for some reason, shifting over 6 inches in … Continue reading
The Cornerstones of Port Gibson
Y’all know how I love to find a cornerstone on a building–even new buildings. They are gifts that hand down essential knowledge to passersby about when a building came to be and who had a hand in bringing it from dream to reality. So if one cornerstone can make me so happy, imagine what two, … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Yazoo City
The Yazoo City Light, Water and Sewage Plant built and operated the second oldest municipal street railway in the United States. Continue reading
Port Gibson Holiday Home Tour
Last Saturday I got out of Jackson, avoiding the maddening Christmas shopping traffic, and headed down southwest to Port Gibson. I usually take Highway 18 through Raymond, Utica, and Carpenter and through the steel truss bridge that spans Bayou Pierre. But Saturday I took a different route, possibly for the first time, heading west on … Continue reading
“The view from the roof of the building is magnificent in every direction”
Vicksburgers were especially proud of their 8-story skyscraper–the tallest building in the state when it was finished in 1907–and these images prove that they wanted to share their urbanity and modernity with the outside world. Continue reading
Restoring America’s Oldest African American Church
Catch this NPR story about the completion of a 6-year restoration project of Boston’s African Meeting House, the country’s oldest African-American church, celebrating its 205-year anniversary.
Halfway Through the Jackson Poll
With a midway total of 602 votes and one more week left in the Jackson poll, the two capitols are duking it out at the top, followed by a peloton of skyscrapers, the War Memorial Building, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fountainhead” in Woodland Hills. The Governor’s Mansion, Bailey Junior High, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, and the old … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Vicksburg
My mother was from a large Vicksburg family, and for that reason, relatives’ tales of the trolleys were standard and frequent. As a child, my mother rode the streetcar to school and back each day, and my uncle soaped the tracks on the hill passing the Bijou Theater many a summer night! Continue reading
MDAH Announces 2011 CHPG Grantees
According to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s website, the department will be giving about $2 million in grants for the rehabilitation and repair of nineteen historic buildings around the state. As in the past, I’ve taken the liberty of adding photographs, obtained courtesy of MDAH’s Historic Preservation Division, which oversees the grants. Here’s the … Continue reading
MissPres 101 Places: Jackson Poll (The END Is Near!)
It was November 19, 2010, when I posted what I thought would be a fun somewhat off-beat Friday post, entitled “Miles to Go Before I Sleep.” Examining a new book I had bought called 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, I counted up the number of places in the world I had been to (a … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Summit-McComb
Mississippi’s streetcar lines included a small operation in the McComb area. A letter from Mr. C.H. Douglas, mayor of McComb, November 25, 1960, states that streetcars operated between McComb and Godbold’s Wells, located east of Summit. Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, April 1964: Howard Memorial Hospital
Sometimes I sit down to write a post thinking I know what I’m talking about and then as I write and check the facts I thought I knew, I realize that I was completely on the wrong track. For instance, when I started putting together today’s article, reprinted from the Mississippi Architect April 1964 issue, I … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, April 1964: Say No To Historicism!
A few years back it was not uncommon to find streets in American towns which displayed an amazing array of architectural types. One might see a motel reflective of the architecture associated with Pueblo cliff dwellings next to a bank inspired by the Temple of Apollo. Continue reading
101 Places: Piney Woods Poll Results
I hope y’all had an enjoyable and relaxing Thanksgiving and most of all that you avoided the so-called Black Friday scourge and in any context did not get pepper-sprayed. I myself had a few minutes to think this weekend, and all the sudden I realized that I forgot to run the Piney Woods poll results … Continue reading
Mississippi Places We’re Thankful For
As seen in “Katrina Survivors: Randolph Rosenwald School, Pass Christian“
Mississippi Places We’re Thankful For
Happy Thanksgiving Y’all! Now get off the computer/smart phone/iPad and go have some turkey and head down a red dirt road! As seen in “Dealing With Vernacular Places“
Mississippi Places We’re Thankful For
As seen in “Architect Pics: William Nichols (1780-1853)“
Mississippi Places We’re Thankful For
As seen in “Coolest Ole Miss Buildings“
Edible Mount Vernon
Speaking of Mt. Vernon, which you may recall we were doing earlier this week, it’s time for the annual Mt. Vernon gingerbread house, courtesy of former White House Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier. In this YouTube video, Chef Mesnier explains how he goes about creating a scale model of George Washington’s house and outbuildings, using … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Pascagoula
Some contemporary residents of Pascagoula and Moss Point may be surprised to learn that streetcars formerly provided their area with a very fine system of public transportation! Continue reading
Get Up And Go This Season
If you feel the need to get out of your house between now and Christmas without going anywhere near a mall, several Christmas Open Houses around the state are at your service. Hernando, Nov 20: Tour select historic homes throughout the historic county seat of DeSoto County. This year’s tour showcases homes which have been … Continue reading
A Fall Day at Prospect Hill With 250 or so Friends
Saturday’s Open House at Prospect Hill drew over 250 people to the deep forests of Jefferson County. The attendees list included a vast range of people, appropriate for this plantation with so many layers of history bound up in it. Continue reading
Piney Woods Poll at the Halfway Mark
With 267 votes at the halfway point (actually a little over the halfway point since our normal Friday check-in was replaced by a Veteran’s Day post), our Piney Woods poll is a close race. Two very different places are tied for first place: Hattiesburg’s wonderful Art Deco Post Office and the pioneer John Ford house … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Natchez
Today’s post is Chapter 8 in our series re-printing Frank Brooks’ “Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Stories about Streetcars,” originally published in 1983. View other posts in the series at the “Streetcars” tab. ——————————————————————– The quaint old city of Natchez is another Mississippi city which enjoyed electric trolleys clanging up and down its hills and … Continue reading
Going Inside: An Original “Southern Colonial”
While in Charleston with the Southeastern Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) a couple weeks ago, I got in on a special tour of Drayton Hall, just across the Ashley River from Charleston. Owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1974, Drayton Hall is one of the oldest plantation houses in the country and the … Continue reading
From Charleston to Vicksburg, With Love
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Charleston, South Carolina, to attend the annual meeting of the Southern Society of Architectural Historians (which group, as you recall, met here in Jackson in 2009). I admit I skipped out on a few of the sessions, the weather being perfect for wandering and taking pictures. I … Continue reading
MissPres 101 Places: Piney Woods Poll
Ok y’all, we’re down to the second-to-last poll in our quest to attain a list of 101 Mississippi Places to See Before You Die. For the next two weeks, you and your friends will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite places in the Piney Woods. Vote for up to 13 places, and pass … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Meridian
Today’s post is Chapter 7 in our series re-printing Frank Brooks’ “Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Stories about Streetcars,” originally published in 1983. View other posts in the series at the “Streetcars” tab. In place of the 1920 streetcar map in the book, drawn by Gordon Powers, I have inserted two original streetcar maps from … Continue reading
Mississippi Builders: Francis Blair Hull (1846-1922)
At the center of an architectural dynasty that included two architects and one construction company, Francis Blair Hull’s contributions to the architecture of Mississippi and the entire South have been unfortunately almost forgotten in the 90 years since his death. F.B. Hull was the older brother of William S. Hull, possibly the first Mississippian member … Continue reading
Old Capitol Follies: Almost a Panic in the Senate!
In the last Old Capitol Follies, the American Architect and Building News gave us a serious look at Jackson in 1890, including the sad shape of the Old Capitol. By 1896, the building had declined even further as legislators debated whether to spend the money to fix it up or build a completely new building. … Continue reading
Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Memphis and Lakeview Railway
Today’s post is Chapter 6 in our series re-printing Frank Brooks’ “Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Stories about Streetcars.” View other posts in the series at the “Streetcars” tab. ——————————– Lakeview, in DeSoto County, was the terminus of the Memphis and Lakeview Railway, a 10.8 mile interurban operation controlled by the Memphis Street Railway that … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, March 1964: South Hills Branch Library
Jackson’s South Hills Branch Library was the Mississippi subject of the March 1964 issue of Mississippi Architect. Now known as Richard Wright Library, the building is still in use as a library, although the original front entrance is now sadly neglected in favor of a side entrance off of the parking lot. Next time you’re … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, March 1964: Cost and Light
It’s been a while since our last post re-printing the Mississippi Architect, a monthly magazine published by the Mississippi chapter of the American Institute of Architects. So let’s jump back in with the March 1964 issue. As you may recall, the February 1964 issue contained an article documenting the “updating” of an Art Moderne commercial … Continue reading
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