Today’s post is about a builder from the Coast’s early boom period when Gulfport was first established, and Biloxi’s hotel trade was really taking off. Christian Thompson was a younger brother of Builder/Architect O.E. Thompson. The elder Thompson is likely… Read More ›
Today’s post sheds light on a construction company that was fairly active on the Coast during the 1920s and early 1930s. The projects the company was bidding on and constructing were and are landmarks in the communities of Gulfport and Biloxi…. Read More ›
Last week’s post on African American designer/architect W.A. Lattimore mentioned that he worked with builder Bilbo McHuley, and that reminded me that I’ve been sitting on this ad for a “McHuley home,” published in the February 22, 1964 edition of… Read More ›
Last Wednesday’s post by Thomas Rosell on Apartments on Jackson’s North Street commented on builder Tom B. Scott, who is credited in the MDAH database with three buildings in Jackson, followed by the intriguing question “Does anyone know more about… Read More ›
You’ve probably never heard of Isaac Calvin Garber, better known on various cornerstones and building plaques around the state as I.C. Garber. But if you’ve been to Jackson or Laurel or dozens of other places around the state; attended Mississippi… Read More ›
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…. Read More ›
Recently, I saw these images of the construction of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson Chancery Building in the Mississippi Digital Library’s Bishop R. O. Gerow Collection. While the building’s contractor is not documented in the MDAH HRI, I believe, based… Read More ›
John Lee Webb was born in Alabama either in Tuskegee, Macon County, on September 11, 1877 or in Talladaga, Talladaga County, on September 17, 1877, depending on your source. He volunteered for service in the Spanish-American War, being discharged as a… Read More ›
As in the rest of the country in the late nineteenth century, Mississippi’s construction trades were evolving from one-man operations and small partnerships to large building firms. Two men at the forefront of this development were Meridian’s Charles M. Rubush,… Read More ›
I recently learned that there is an exhibit about Gulf Coast builder Carroll Ishee going on now in the Ocean Springs Museum of History at the Mary C. O’keefe Cultural Center down in Ocean Springs. Current Exhibit Ocean Springs History… Read More ›
As many of you may recall, the Mississippi Encyclopedia was published during the bicentennial year of 2017 after over a decade of work. It’s a massive book, weighing in at 9 pounds, and in the last year, it has been joined by… Read More ›
In yesterday’s post about Jackson architect Frank Fort, I bemoaned the lack of a portrait of the man with his obituary. Ask and ye shall find because lo and behold here is a photo not only of Frank Fort (center)… Read More ›
Calling all MissPresers to find your local Mount Vernon replica and add it to the map!
Before I get started on the post, I would like to thank Jennifer Baughn, Chief Architectural Historian at the MDAH’s Historic Preservation Division for providing me with the historic sites survey form for the I. Y. Johnson House and for… Read More ›
Readers know I have this love & admiration thing with iron columns, pilasters, and other iron architectural elements. I spotted a few new-to-me designs in Greenwood, and wanted to continue the focus on that town’s historic architecture. There are 16… Read More ›
As we’ve noted in a couple of recent News Roundups, the popular historic preservation tax credit has been put into limbo in recent congressional tax reform proposals. As of this weekend, the House of Representatives bill, passed in early November,… Read More ›
I had not heard of W. A. Lattimore until I ran across an article in a 1963 edition of the Mississippi Free Press, an African American newspaper published from 1961 until about 1964. My initial efforts to look into his body… Read More ›
Like our last two HABS sites, the Col. Moore House in Winona and the old Grist Mill near Macon, this week’s Messinger (or Messenger) House starts out as a bit of a mystery but gets a little clearer as we… Read More ›
Today’s guest post by Dr. Suzannah A. Patterson is a request for your expert assistance in identifying important Mississippi sites in the area of arts and entertainment. If you know of sites she doesn’t mention below, drop a line in… Read More ›
Recently I came across the Hattiesburg Mississippi Industrial Edition for May 1908. It will most certainly be the source of many future blog posts, with lots of photographs, descriptions, and accounts of goings-on in the Hub City. Of all the civic boosting that is done in… Read More ›
Strangely enough for a National Historic Landmark (and one of the 101 Mississippi Places To See Before You Die), we really don’t appear to have great information about the construction of Oakland Chapel at Alcorn State University. Originally built as… Read More ›
In the final episode of this three-part series about HABS in Mississippi, Virginia Price explores the dominance of the old river towns Natchez and Vicksburg in the HABS collection for Mississippi, and the consequent impression that the Greek Revival style constituted Mississippi’s architectural golden age.
A couple of weeks ago, the post “Brick Bungalows and Plan Books” showed how house builders, using plan books and newspaper advertisements, sold the Craftsman style and more generally the bungalow’s “modern” open plan to middle-class buyers. Today and next week… Read More ›
One of the things I love about the Craftsman style is how middle-class and democratic it was. You could build an amazing Greene & Greene house in California, if you had the money, but if you weren’t the owner of… Read More ›
Carrollton’s rustic style community house was constructed of native pine logs in 1935-1936 by the Works Progress Administration. Carroll Van West, who has documented a number of New Deal Administration works in Tennessee, indicates that the two primary architectural styles… Read More ›
The Leake County Courthouse in Carthage is unique in that the entrances are on the narrow ends of the building. The courthouse square is a long narrow lot in the center of the town. I do not recall seeing another… Read More ›
I can’t claim to have come across this little gem on my own. I found a reference to it in John Hebron Moore’s The Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom in the Old Southwest, and just had to track it down. To… Read More ›
