Author Archives

In addition to ruling over the MissPres universe with an iron fist, Malvaney enjoys reading, wandering around old buildings, stopping to smell the magnolias, fiddling with databases, and sitting on the porch with a good book and a big ol' dog. Non-interests include but are not limited to tweeting, texting, Instagramming, planking, Candy Crush, Donald Trump, and unecessarily destructive home renovation shows.

• HABS in Mississippi: Oakland Chapel, ASU

  By ELMalvaney on August 24, 2016 • ( 17 )

  

  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 ›

• To Facebook or Not to Facebook?

  By ELMalvaney on August 23, 2016 • ( 13 )

  

  It’s been over three years since we did a poll here on MissPres. That one asked how readers accessed MissPres–by laptop/desktop, smart phone, or tablet. Back then, desktops ruled the day with 89% of the vote. Around that time, we also debated… Read More ›

• Scaffolding Coming Down from U.S. Capitol

  By ELMalvaney on August 22, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  Last week, a friend who lives in Washington DC posted a picture of the U.S. Capitol and was excited to see the scaffolding that has obscured the beautiful dome for two years coming down. For those who have been to… Read More ›

• Industrial Mississippi: Taylor Machine Works, Louisville

  By ELMalvaney on August 18, 2016 • ( 1 )

  

  Is the Art Moderne original building of Taylor Machine Works still standing? I don’t know, but there are some groovy canopies to greet visitors.

• MissPres News Roundup 8-15-2016

  By ELMalvaney on August 15, 2016 • ( 0 )

  

  I admit, I’m watching the Olympics while writing this week’s news roundup, so . . . just fair warning, may be a little abbreviated. At Hinds Community College in Raymond, word came on August 1 of a fire at Williams… Read More ›

• Mississippi by Air: Edgewater Shopping Plaza and Hotel

  By ELMalvaney on August 12, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  Remember last week’s postcard showing the Edgewater Hotel’s scenic, wooded beachfront, complete with bridle paths for long horse rides? What happened? Progress, that’s what. This undated postcard, showing the short-lived coexistence of the Edgewater Hotel and the Edgewater Shopping Plaza,… Read More ›

• Mississippi by Air: Edgewater Gulf Hotel, the Glory Years

  By ELMalvaney on August 5, 2016 • ( 4 )

  

  Take a good, long look at this week’s aerial postcard, read Thomas Barnes’ post “The Edgewater Gulf Hotel, Queen of the Coast,” and be sure to check back in next Friday to see this same aerial view from a different… Read More ›

• Roadside Mississippi: Glenburnie Motor Hotel, Woodville

  By ELMalvaney on August 4, 2016 • ( 4 )

  

  Other than MissPres posts, a house renovation, and walking the dogs, my night-time project for the last year or so has involved going back through my digital photo library and geo-tagging each of the photos, including my scanned postcards. It’s tedious,… Read More ›

• Your Southern Grandparents Loved Their Ranch Homes!

  By ELMalvaney on August 3, 2016 • ( 35 )

  

  “The antebellum Southern plantation house, with its wide verandah and impressive pillars, is no longer the “dream home” of the South. The average Southern home buyer today is looking for a ranch-style house, built of brick, containing at least one pine-panelled room, and in the medium-price range.” Commercial Dispatch, 1953.

• MissPres News Roundup 8-1-2016

  By ELMalvaney on August 1, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  Along with the rain we’ve been getting, I’ve been receiving showers of news roundup articles in my inbox. Thanks to all who have shared the stories from their neck of the woods. In Natchez, the City’s Historic Preservation Commission has… Read More ›

• Industrial Mississippi: Tupelo’s Day-Brite Plant

  By ELMalvaney on July 28, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  It appears that the Day-Brite plant in Tupelo, pictured in the 1951 Mississippi edition of Manufacturer’s Record, not only still survives but–wonder of wonders!–is still a light bulb plant, now Philips Day-Brite (at least as of this Nov. 2013 streetview). Yes, its clerestory… Read More ›

• HABS in Mississippi: Frank Warren House, Pascagoula

  By ELMalvaney on July 27, 2016 • ( 0 )

  

  National Register Nomination (Edgar W. Hull House): “The house is of a French, hall-less plan with three rooms set abreast. It has a two-story, seven-bay front gallery, and a loggia and two cabinets at the back. The bricks of the… Read More ›

• Mississippi Streets: Hattiesburg, c.1914

  By ELMalvaney on July 22, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  Today’s Mississippi Streets image of Newman Street, in Hattiesburg’s railroad district, comes courtesy of MissPres reader Thomas Gentry, whose grandfather’s business, Burkett Sheet Metal Works was located on the right (one-story building with the sign painted on the front). Thanks… Read More ›

• Belzoni Cemetery and its Concrete Grave Markers

  By ELMalvaney on July 21, 2016 • ( 0 )

  

  Up on the north side of Belzoni, near the Varsity Drive-In, is the Green Grove M.B. Church, where the funeral of civil rights leader George Lee was held in 1955. As I was taking the above pictures, I looked across… Read More ›

• HABS in Mississippi: Col. Powers House, Jackson

  By ELMalvaney on July 20, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  According to Julie L. Kimbrough’s Images of America: Jackson (p.107), the Powers House was located at 411 Amite Street, right in the heart of downtown. Looking at the 1948 Sanborn map, I was shocked to discover that it was still… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 7-18-2016

  By ELMalvaney on July 18, 2016 • ( 2 )

  

  Time for a mid-summer checkup, in photographs, on what’s going on in the preservation world of Mississippi.      

• Bleak House Cemetery and its Concrete Grave Markers

  By ELMalvaney on July 14, 2016 • ( 4 )

  

  A couple of weeks ago in the post about outdoor concrete baptistries, “Washed in the Water,” I mentioned that another interesting concrete phenomenon I’ve noticed primarily in African American cemeteries are concrete grave markers. Some are very clearly shaped by… Read More ›

• HABS in Mississippi: Lawyer’s Row, Natchez

  By ELMalvaney on July 13, 2016 • ( 5 )

  

  View of this intersection today: HABS Survey number: HABS MS-10 See also: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/ms0002/ Mississippi Historic Resources Database: “This was a long, low, hip-roofed, stuccoed brick building containing a row of offices, each opening to the street.”

• Newspaper Clippings: “Jackson’s Past Could Be Lost”

  By ELMalvaney on July 12, 2016 • ( 1 )

  

  This article, published in 1973, reminds us that only 40 years ago, the preservation movement was still so embryonic that no one could figure out how to save Mississippi’s grandest residential street, North State Street (aka U.S. Highway 51), which… Read More ›

• MDAH’s Community Heritage Preservation Grant Round Opened

  By ELMalvaney on July 8, 2016 • ( 0 )

  

  According to the MDAH website: Legislature Funds Preservation Grant Program – posted July 01, 2016 MDAH is accepting applications for preservation projects across the state. The 2016 Mississippi legislature has provided funding for another round of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant… Read More ›

• Mississippi Loses Preservationist Libby Hollingsworth (1933-2016)

  By ELMalvaney on July 6, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  Libby Hollingsworth, one of Mississippi’s most passionate and gracious preservationists, died on Saturday, July 2, 2016, at her home in Port Gibson. If you’ve been around the Mississippi Heritage Trust for even just a little bit, you’ve no doubt met Libby… Read More ›

• Vacation Postcards: Econo-Travel Motor Hotel, Tupelo

  By ELMalvaney on July 5, 2016 • ( 1 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past.

• Vacation Postcards: Vicksburg National Cemetery

  By ELMalvaney on July 4, 2016 • ( 1 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past.

• Washed in the Water

  By ELMalvaney on June 30, 2016 • ( 6 )

  

  Now that summer is upon us, my thoughts turn to two seasons that go along with the warm weather: hurricane season and baptism season. Until well into the 20th century in this Baptist-heavy state, immersion baptisms typically took place in… Read More ›

• Mississippi Streets: 1930s Biloxi

  By ELMalvaney on June 24, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  Same view April 2013, courtesy Google Streetview. See other Mississippi Streets: 1920s Yazoo City 1910s Vicksburg 1950s New Albany 1960s Meridian 1930s Camp Shelby 1950s Pascagoula 1960s Neshoba County Fair Drew 1937 Tupelo 1936 Vicksburg 1936 1940s Gulfport 1940s Columbus… Read More ›

• Roadside Mississippi: Photographer John Margolies

  By ELMalvaney on June 22, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  Recently, a MissPres reader sent me the link to John Margolies’s obituary. You may not know the name, but if you enjoy mid-century commercial Modernism, you’ve probably seen his images of neon signs, interesting roadside vernacular architecture, and other sites… Read More ›

• Prospect Hill Has a New Roof!

  By ELMalvaney on June 21, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  Compare that picture with these: How long has MissPres been watching Prospect Hill? Since the beginning . . . An Important House Needs Our Help An Important House Needs Our Help, Part II A Fall Day at Prospect Hill New Hope… Read More ›