It’s that time of year again; time to take stock, note the wins and losses, get the larger picture that we can lose sight of in the busy-ness of the year. As is traditional, we note the passing of historic landmarks first. This year, as usual, natural causes took out several of our buildings, but man-made demolition brought about the demise of many others. Mendenhall School stings the most because it represents an abject failure of the state’s historical agency, but all are losses for the state and their local communities.
I have no doubt I’ve forgotten a few important buildings. If so, please let me know in the comments.
Brumfields, Pascagoula. This classic 1950s downtown department store was demolished in Jaunary 2013.
Mobile Street commercial buildings, Hattiesburg. Destroyed by Feburary tornado, 2013. Photo courtesy MDAH, Historic Preservation Division.
Hattiesburg Lodge on Mobile Street (1950, formerly two stories). Destroyed by February tornado, 2013. Photo courtesy MDAH, Historic Preservation Division.
Nelson Tenement Pascagoula, Jackson County. Built c.1895, roofless and deteriorating since Katrina. Finally demolished in August 2013.
Coals of fire on the heads of Mendenhall Mayor Womack and the Simpson County School District and Board. Lumps of coal in the stockings of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which failed to protect this Mississippi Landmark building from feckless and bullying local officials. Demolished October 2013.
School for the Blind campus, north side of Eastover Drive on I-55, Jackson. Demolished Nov 2013 for a new retail/office development.
L.O. Crosby Memorial Hospital, Picayune (1951-54). This Modernist hospital on Goodyear Boulevard was designed by the firm of N.W. Overstreet & Associates, but was vacated by the Highland Community Hospital and demolished in 2013. Construction photo courtesy of Pearl River County Historical Society, Collection of Gwendell and Glenna Farmer Pearson. See more about this hospital on the PRCHS Facebook page.
See previous lists of Landmarks Lost:
Categories: Demolition/Abandonment, Historic Preservation
Preservation in Mississippi 
You didn’t mention the loss of Catherine Hall, the finest structure in Holly Springs? Thank God we’re getting money to save Carnegie Auditorium!
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Thanks for that note, but we did include Cathrine Hall in the 2012 list last year: https://misspreservation.com/2012/12/29/shoud-auld-aquaintance-be-forgot-mississippi-places-lost-in-2012/.
This reminds me to go back and put links to previous lists in the post above.
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I was sad to see Brumfield’s go and also Mendenhall School. These are hard to understand–no never will understand.
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Jumping back a couple of years, I was not aware of the end of the Power Memorial Presbyterian Church. I attended church in that building with my family in the 1940’s. The children’s Sunday School was in a white wooden building in the rear of the main chiurch. I also attended school at the Robert E. Lee Elementary School next door (now the administration office). Both my parents worked at the N & W Overall Factory (building still standing) on the other side of the structure.
Somehow I seem to remember this church as the Southside Baptist Church with Rev. Valentine as the pastor ?? I know the congregation and the Rev. Valentine later moved further out into south Jackson. Would appreciate any help from anyone that goes back that far.
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Thomas Rosell profiled the Nelson Tenement building’s demolition in Pascagoula in August. I am catching up on lots of back reading on MissPres, so although it happened in August, I just read about it the other day. https://misspreservation.com/2013/08/28/katrina-losses-still-continue/
Also, what about the demolitions for Fort Rosalie in Natchez that started in December (according to the Natchez Democrat: http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2013/12/04/demolition-to-begin-for-fort-rosalie-site/). I know that some of the structures on the property were not historic, but what about the house just down from the Stietenroth House at 512 S. Canal Street? Has 512 been demolished or is it being relocated? After all, it is in the MDAH Historic Resources Inventory and, judging by the Bing Bird’s Eye View (Google Street View, which I was so fond of using back when I inflamed and angered everyone here on MissPres, is so passé now), is a very nice, if dilapidated, Victorian house. I would love to fix it up and live in it (but I say that about every historic house). I would also much rather see 512 preserved than the log cabin/gift shop/shack/mostly featureless box at 500 S. Canal.
It seems like this year’s Auld Lang Syne is a Mid-Century Modern edition. Either that means that Mississippi has stopped demolishing older historic structures, realizing their intrinsic historic value, or Mississippi has run out of older historic structures to demolish. Unfortunately, I doubt its the former but with structures like Mount Holly and Arlington hanging on the precipice, it is probably closer to the latter.
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Thanks for the reminder about Nelson Tenement. Poor thing has been roofless since Katrina, so I guess I had forgotten it was only just this year torn down. I’ll add it above.
Ever since JRGordon lit out for Texas in September, I’ve been looking for a news rounduper, and I’ve obviously failed to keep up with the news out of Natchez. I don’t know the particulars about what has been demolished and what is planned to be moved, if anything.
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Though Meridian isn’t mentioned in this post, lumps of coal should be reserved for their HP commission as a general rule.
And coals of fire to Judge Val Young.
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Unfortunately, the Administration Building at USM’s Gulf Coast Campus was demolished during the winter break. Below are a few links that provide information about their reasoning for the final decision, as well as, a set of documents that seem to be at conflicting odds with said decision.
http://www.mississippi.edu/gulfcoast/gc_photos.asp
Click to access STEEL_05-31-12_2529%20FEMA__THE_UNIVERSITY_OF_SOUTHERN_MISSISSIPPI_508.pdf
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