Author Archives

I’m a native Texan, although I received my undergraduate degree here in Mississippi. After completing my graduate degree in my home state, I was happy to return to Mississippi to work in Historic Preservation. Mostly I’ll keep tabs on preservation news around the state, but I’ll weigh in with other ideas and posts from time to time as well.

• MissPres News Roundup 8-30-2011

  By JRGordon on August 30, 2011 • ( 8 )

  A lot of the news this past week focused on the East Coast and Hurricane Irene – which made me (and probably a lot of you as well) remember that the Katrina anniversary was yesterday; hence no post in memory… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 8-15-2011

  By JRGordon on August 15, 2011 • ( 16 )

  

  This week’s Roundup makes me feel like I’m in a bad sequel to a previous summer blockbuster film like Jaws: The Revenge.  Okay, so maybe comparing it to one of the worst films ever made exaggerates this week’s news a… Read More ›

• NHL Photo Contest

  By JRGordon on August 12, 2011 • ( 0 )

  The National Park Service is giving everyone one more chance to enter photos in their 2011 NHL Photo Contest on Flickr.  They say: Due to confusion over the process for entering the 2011 NHL Photo Contest, we will be reopening… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 8-8-2011

  By JRGordon on August 8, 2011 • ( 5 )

  

  Summer has really heated up in the Magnolia State, and we have a few really hot stories in the news this week.  A quick reminder before we dive into the news, don’t forget that the Vicksburg Poll closes on Friday…. Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 8-1-2011

  By JRGordon on August 1, 2011 • ( 4 )

  

  Just a handful of preservation related stories from around the state to share this week – so this roundup will be shorter than most.  After you all read up on these stories, perhaps you want to spend some time contemplating… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 7-25-2011

  By JRGordon on July 25, 2011 • ( 2 )

  While we’ve been reading about Mound Bayou and playing our 8th Round of Name This Place, here’s what’s been going on in Preservation News around the state: First, news from the Dispatch in Columbus where the local commission is looking… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.0 – And the winner is . . .

  By JRGordon on July 23, 2011 • ( 1 )

  The last image yesterday was of the 1917 Walthall County Courthouse in Tylertown designed by X.A. Kramer.  Martin Seigrist picked up all four points, but they only brought him up to second place. The new Name This Place Contest winner… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.5.2

  By JRGordon on July 22, 2011 • ( 7 )

  

  Martin Seigrist and Susan Allen split the 4 points on this morning’s place – which was J.R. Gordon’s 1903 Wilkinson County Courthouse in Woodville. One more detail shot to work out and later I’ll crown our winner!

• Name This Place 8.5.1

  By JRGordon on July 22, 2011 • ( 6 )

  

  Yesterday afternoon’s photo was of the Tippah County Courthouse in Ripley (correctly IDed by MartinSeigrist) which was designed by N.W. Overstreet (thanks SusanAllen) and built in 1928 (CRPIII). Here’s how the standings look going into this final day of competition… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.4.2

  By JRGordon on July 21, 2011 • ( 6 )

  

  Susan Allen snagged another 4 points for knowing that this morning’s photo was the Simpson County Courthouse in Mendenhall (Andrew Bryan, 1907). This afternoon, I bring you another detail shot:

• Name This Place 8.4.1

  By JRGordon on July 21, 2011 • ( 10 )

  

  I let yesterday afternoon’s go long enough with no one getting the site from the interior shot.  This stained glass skylight is in the Copiah County Courthouse in Hazlehurst – a 1902 building by my namesake architect James Riely Gordon.  … Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.3.2

  By JRGordon on July 20, 2011 • ( 9 )

  

  The Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner by William Sharkey Hull threw SusanAllen a little because of some date confusion (1902? 1909? 1910?).  Since she cited sources on these and included the date I had in my mind for the “right”… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.3.1

  By JRGordon on July 20, 2011 • ( 6 )

  

  Yesterday’s second post – a detail shot – didn’t fool CRPIII.  He correctly IDed it as the Alcorn County Courthouse in Corinth and knew it was a 1918 N.W. Overstreet building. Standings: CRPIII – 6 Theodore – 5 Suzassippi –… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.2.2

  By JRGordon on July 19, 2011 • ( 4 )

  

  Once again, I failed to stump everyone.  The 9 am entry today was the Jefferson Davis County Courthouse in Prentiss (W.S. Hull, 1907). Some interesting things happened on the scoring of that one though – Theodore IDed it as a… Read More ›

• Name this Place 8.2.1

  By JRGordon on July 19, 2011 • ( 12 )

  

  Yesterday, we started with the Humphreys County Courthouse in Belzoni (Kramer and Lindsley, 1921-22) for the 9 am post and the 1 pm post was the Attala County Courthouse in Kosciousko (correctly IDed by Belinda) built in 1897 (Thomas Rosell)… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.1.2

  By JRGordon on July 18, 2011 • ( 6 )

  

  Theodore nailed this morning’s place – snagging all 4 points for knowing that it was the Humphreys County Courthouse in Belzoni by architects Kramer and Lindsley and built in 1921-22. It being Monday, I thought this morning’s was a “softball”… Read More ›

• Name This Place 8.1.1

  By JRGordon on July 18, 2011 • ( 2 )

  

• Name This Place 8.0

  By JRGordon on July 17, 2011 • ( 0 )

  While our fearless leader is away, the rest of the MissPres World will play. That’s right, it’s time for the latest edition of Name This Place.  In the last edition, W. White and I tied for the honors of *Mississippi… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 7-11-2011

  By JRGordon on July 11, 2011 • ( 3 )

  

  I know our fearless leader is going on vacation, so there will be some guest posts this week and everyone should get ready for the next Name This Place Contest to start next week. With that, here’s the news: First,… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 6-20-2011

  By JRGordon on June 20, 2011 • ( 0 )

  

  If you missed it on Friday, Malvaney posted the Mid-way results of the East/Central Mississippi Poll – which you can vote on here if you haven’t already done so.  You also still have time to support Tishamingo County in the… Read More ›

• French Merci Train Car Moves On Down the Line

  By JRGordon on June 14, 2011 • ( 1 )

  

  Go by the Old Capitol or the War Memorial, and you will notice a change around the parking area.  I personally cannot remember a visit to the area (either to the Old Capitol or the the Archives) when the train… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 6-13-2011

  By JRGordon on June 13, 2011 • ( 4 )

  Wow – it’s been about a month since our last Round-up.  Before we delve into catching up on the news, don’t forget to vote in the latest 101 Places poll and in the National Trust’s “This Place Matters Community Challenge”… Read More ›

• National Trust “This Place Matters Community Challenge”

  By JRGordon on June 6, 2011 • ( 1 )

  We’ll give everyone one more “light post” day to ease back from the MissPres vacation last week. On June 1, The National Trust for Historic Preservation opened voting in their 2011 This Place Matters Community Challenge.  This year, they are… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 5-15-2011

  By JRGordon on May 16, 2011 • ( 0 )

  It’s a shame that with such nice temperatures we have a lot of bad news floating around.  Luckily, Malvaney took two of the stories from me the other day with the post about the demolitions in Jackson and Columbus, so… Read More ›

• Mississippi River Flooding Update

  By JRGordon on May 9, 2011 • ( 3 )

  

  Preservation related news around Mississippi was light since our last round-up, which would normally mean Malvaney would catch us all up on the blogosphere.  Instead, however, one of our friends at MDAH, Vicki Myers, is giving us at MissPres some… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 5-3-2011

  By JRGordon on May 3, 2011 • ( 4 )

  The news was not fun to read this week.  Reports from the damage of the tornadoes in Mississippi (and Alabama of course) are still coming in, with new information added each day.  We’ll keep on it and report what we… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 4-19-2011

  By JRGordon on April 19, 2011 • ( 8 )

  So far, I have not seen any stories about major storm damage to historic buildings from this latest round of tornadoes – and I hope that continues to be the case as the reports keep coming in.  Unfortunately, we still… Read More ›