We’ll have our regular News Roundup on Monday, but this was a story that we wanted to single out to share with the MissPres world.  Thanks to our friends at MDAH for allowing us to share this release – and kudos to all the communities that are investing some funds into work in their historic places!

At its regular quarterly meeting on April 19, the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History awarded grants totaling more than $80,000 to seventeen preservation projects in Certified Local Government communities across the state, designated a new Mississippi Landmark, and approved three new State Historical Markers.

Amounts for the CLG grants range from $1,489 to replace doors on the Coliseum Civic Center in Corinth to $12,000 to rehabilitate the historic I.T. Montgomery House in Mound Bayou. The CLG program helps participants establish and administer historic preservation programs in their communities.

The 2013 grants are as follows:

• Aberdeen, $5,565.97, to complete section of the GM&O Depot for relocation of the Visitor’s Bureau. This phase will also place the mechanical, electrical and plumbing roughs in the portion of the building planned for the convention center space.

• Baldwyn, $5,000, to compile historical and architectural text for plaques to be purchased and placed on twelve buildings listed in the Baldwyn Historic District Walking Tour brochure.

• Biloxi, $4,890, to purchase and install twenty-one individual property markers and an information kiosk on the Town Green, where the Historic Downtown Biloxi Walking Tour begins and ends.

• Carthage, $2,700, to complete phase II of the renovation plan of the Historic Carthage Elementary School, including all classrooms on the west side of the building.

• Corinth, $1,489, to replace the Coliseum Civic Center’s basement doors with custom-made metal doors.

• Durant, $2,000, to repair and paint twelve windows in waiting room of the Durant Depot, North Building.

• Greenwood, $2,272, to design and develop a smart phone app and supplemental brochure to showcase, guide, and educate visitors and residents on the historical resources located in downtown Greenwood.

• Grenada, $5,565.97, to install a sewer system as part of a multiphase initiative to renovate the Masonic Temple for use as a community art center.

• Kosciusko, $10,000, to remove, repair, and restore seven Tiffany-inspired stained glass windows in the main meeting room of the Mary Ricks Thornton Cultural Center.

• McComb, $3,500, to produce a National Register nomination for the States Area neighborhood in the City of McComb’s historic district.
  

• Meridian, $5,000, to resurvey the existing Poplar Springs National Register District listed in 1987 and to include approximately 230 new resources in the area to the north of the existing district.

• Moss Point, $2,000, to install signage throughout the Moss Point Historic District.

• Mound Bayou, $12,500, to rehabilitate the historic I.T. Montgomery House for use as a bed-and-breakfast facility with historic educational components.

• Oxford,$2,000, to install historic district signage at two key entry points into the district and to begin the Oxford Historic Preservation Commission’s Historic Preservation Awards program for exemplary preservation work in the community.
  

• Tupelo, $5,732, to complete a survey and a National Register Historic District nomination of a twenty-four-block area of downtown Tupelo with approximately 189 structures.

• Vicksburg, $5,350, to survey the west side of Halls Ferry Road from Lane Street to Confederate Avenue, west to Mission 66, combining approximately 340 resources and to update photographs for the 653 buildings within the City of Vicksburg Historic District to be used by the Board of Architectural Review.

• Winona, $6,500, to complete a survey and a National Register Historic District nomination of the Winona Historic District.

Mississippi Landmark designation was approved for the Cockrum School in DeSoto County. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition given to properties by the State of Mississippi and offers the fullest protection against changes that might alter a property’s historic character.

State historical markers were approved from Beulah Cemetery, Warren County; Randolph School, Pontotoc County; and Winkler’s Bluff, Claiborne County. The state historical marker program, administered by MDAH, recognizes significant people, events, and movements across Mississippi.

Members of the board of trustees are Kane Ditto, president; E. Jackson Garner, vice presdient; Reuben V. Anderson, Jackson; Nancy Carpenter, Columbus; Valencia Hall, Natchez; Betsey Hamilton, New Albany; Web Heidelberg, Hattiesburg; Hilda Cope Povall, Cleveland; and Roland Weeks, Biloxi.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is the second-oldest state department of archives and history in the United States. The department collects, preserves, and provides access to the archival resources of the state, administers museums and historic sites, and oversees statewide programs for historic preservation, state and local government records management, and publications. The department is headquartered in the state-of-the-art William F. Winter Archives and History Building, located on the corner of North and Amite Streets in downtown Jackson. For more information call 601-576-6850 or see the MDAH Web site, www.mdah.state.ms.us.

Categories: Aberdeen, Baldwin, Biloxi, Carthage, Corinth, Grants, Greenwood, Grenada, Historic Preservation, Kosciusko, McComb, Meridian, Moss Point, Mound Bayou, MS Dept. of Archives and History, News Roundups, Oxford, Renovation Projects, Tylertown, Vicksburg, Winona