To recap: Joseph A grabbed an early lead with Monday’s spot-on identification of the Washington County Courthouse in Greenville. But then doakley, obviously a morning person, jumped into the fray and took the lead with a win each of the next three days. Carunzel and Tom Barnes gave 110% by taking an extra point each in the Bonus Round yesterday. tsj1957, last month’s winner, has been sleeping-in this round but still can play the spoiler (enough sports metaphors for the day?).
And now we’re down to the end! Today’s mind-bender is sure to test the most knowledgeable architecture hounds in our fair state. Who will win the coveted title of Mississippi Preservationist Extraordinaire?? Will it be doakley, riding high with three days under the proverbial belt? Or will it be Carunzel, staying in the race with amazing research until it’s time to burst ahead at the last minute? Today will decide–place your bets*–may the best person and/or non-person win!
*(not literally, no illegal activities here)
To play this exciting week-long game, see The Rules.
Daily Winners:
- Monday: Joseph A
- Tuesday: doakley
- Wednesday: doakley
- Thursday:doakley
Current Standings:
- doakley: 6 points
- Carunzel: 5 points
- tsj1957: 3 points
- Joseph A: 2 points
- Tom Barnes: 2 points
- Theodore: 1 point (just wait’ll next year! as Cubs fans say)
Categories: Contest, Cool Old Places, Demolition/Abandonment, Historic Preservation, Holly Springs, Universities/Colleges
Preservation in Mississippi 
Let me be the first to say…I have no idea. To steal a page from Theodore, it’s some old abandoned building.
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Uh oh, I wondered if this one would be too hard.
Well, if no one has guessed it by 9ish, I’ll start giving hints. It is actually an important place.
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Don’t steal my schtick…
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So, I’m gonna taske a guess. I think this may be the Chalmers Institute in Holly Springs. If it is, it was constructed in 1837 and was the first chartered university in Mississippi. Here’s hoping I’m not way off base. Great game everyone!
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You guessed wisely, doakley! Wow, where did you pull that out of!?
By my math, you are The Winner and Mississippi’s Preservationist Extraordinaire (for the month of July 2009). I’ll work on your certificate to hang on your Wall of Pride later on today. Do you prefer gold-leaf or silver?
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Of course, there’s lots of interesting information out there for anyone who wants to improve their standing and isn’t discouraged and overwhelmed by doakley’s stunningly correct guess.
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From the Mississippi Heritage Trust website:
“The Chalmers Institute in Holly Springs is the oldest university building and the second oldest school building in the state. It was originally built in 1837 with publicly raised funds, becoming part of the University of Holly Springs in 1838. … Its masonry construction is rare for a structure that was built in, what was then, the frontier.”
Chalmers Institute was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and is a Mississippi landmark.
From The South reporter, Oct. 30, 2008:
“City proceeds with plans for Chalmers”
“The historic school building, which sits on about four acres, was originally known as the Holly Springs Literary Institution and chartered by an 1839 act of the Mississippi Legislature as “The University of Holly Springs.” It was the first institution in the state to be so designated as a university.
The University of Holly Springs operated until closing in 1843, leaving the building idle until 1847. In that year, Rev. Samuel McKinney reopened the school under a new name – Chalmers Institute. It was a preparatory school for boys, named for Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), the great hero in the struggle to bring religious freedom to Scotland; subsequently, the building was expanded to the east in 1857.
Chalmers Institute continued until 1879, though interrupted briefly during the Civil War. The deprivations of the war, followed by the Panic of 1873 and the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 created reversals from which it could not recover, both in terms of its student body and finances.
Its last schoolmaster, William Albert Anderson, an early graduate of Chalmers, closed it in favor of the town’s first public school, of which he was principal. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson (Helen Craft) then converted the school into their home, where they resided until after World War I.
In this latter period, the structure provided the genesis point for “The Thursday Club” a ladies’ literary society, which exists to this day as an integral part of Holly Springs’ social and cultural history.”
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Also, a photo of the interior hall is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/26519181@N06/3313544848/
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