A friend sent me two articles from the Neshoba Democrat’s  October 9, 2013 edition. First, the log cabin built as a public library in the 1930s and badly damaged in the tornado of 2011, was recently reopened to much fanfare, according to “Big crowd reopens historic log cabin” by Debbie Burt Myers:

The former Philadelphia Library log cabin after a tornado ripped through Northside Park in 2011. Photo May 4, 2011, by Jennifer Baughn, courtesy MDAH Historic Resources Database.

The $140,000 rebuilding project was funded thrugh the Mississippi Landmark Grant Program and a 20 percent match from the city. Over 50 people attended a short programa and ribbon cutting at the cabin which was relocated to the [Northside] park in the 1970s and served as a community meeting place and venue for birthday parties and family reunions until it was hit by the tornado.

. . .

Park officials were only able to salvage the cabin’s original fireplace, chimney, floor and several logs in the wake of the tornado. In addition, two of the cabin’s three original wagon wheel lights were salvagaeable.

According to the MDAH Historic Resources Database, the building was built “about 1935 with partial funding by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and community labor by the Twentieth Century Club.”

Also in Philadelphia, the old Coca-Cola Bottling Company building off the square may be renovated, the Neshoba Democrat reports. The building, which was built in 1926 and is now owned by the county, may be transfered to the Industrial Development Authority for possible use in the proposed Marty Stuart Center. Community developers plan to develop the museum to Neshoba County native Stuart on a similar model to Indianola’s B.B. King Museum, which has been successful in drawing music tourists.

In Meridian, WTOK reports that the Threefoot Preservation Society was back at cleanup in downtown Meridian’s Art Deco skyscraper this weekend. You may recall that the Society began cleanup last month, and this time they moved inside and cleaned out the first floor. Future days to move up to higher floors will be announced on the Society’s Facebook page.

Finally, on a less bright note, the preliminary demolition of the former MIssissippi School for the Blind in Jackson has begun. The site is slated to become a high-end retail and office development. The very first Abandoned Mississippi post here on MissPres back in July 2009 introduced us to when this complex was new and modern.

School for the Blind, c.1955: the swimming pool inside the red brick section on the south side

The natatorium when it was new and shiny

School for the Blind, c.1955–working farm taught vocational skills

As always, please pass along articles or happenings of note in your neck of the woods. As the newspaper sites become pay-per-view, we will get less and less coverage of preservation events unless MissPres readers share those with the rest of us. Thanks!

Categories: Demolition/Abandonment, Historic Preservation, Jackson, Meridian, Philadelphia