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.

• How Jackson Ready-Mix Made Jax-Lite Blocks

  By ELMalvaney on March 19, 2015 • ( 4 )

  

  In addition to the double-page advertisement shown below and the description of the benefits of Jax-Lite concrete blocks reprinted in yesterday’s post, the Jackson Daily News devoted space in its June 13, 1954 issue to a description of the Jackson Ready-Mix… Read More ›

• Jax-Lite: Jackson’s Native Concrete Block

  By ELMalvaney on March 18, 2015 • ( 2 )

  

  The recent Mad Mod Eastover tour and the review published here last week introduced me to the Lovelace House and its construction material, a lightweight concrete block known as “Jax-Lite.” I knew I had seen that name somewhere, and when I… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 3-16-2015

  By ELMalvaney on March 16, 2015 • ( 0 )

  

  I know you’re probably exhausted, as I am, from a weekend of revelry in celebration of Pi Day, but alas, it’s time to get down to business. First, a nice story on WLOX about the 1913 Webb School in Bay St. Louis,… Read More ›

• Mississippi by Air: Jackson 1941

  By ELMalvaney on March 13, 2015 • ( 3 )

  

  Today’s aerial views of Jackson in 1941 come from the C.W. Witbeck Collection at MDAH, conveniently scanned for us and available online on Flickr. Those of you familiar with Jackson will see immediately that Mr. Witbeck took these from high atop the… Read More ›

• Mad Mod Eastover Tour Review

  By ELMalvaney on March 12, 2015 • ( 1 )

  

  Today’s review of the recent Mad Mod Eastover tour is brought to you by longtime MissPres reader and commenter Neel Reid. ———————————— It’s hard to classify modernism in architecture. Advances in technology and new materials shaped much of the movement,… Read More ›

• Greenville Craftsman: Leavenworth-Wasson-Carroll House

  By ELMalvaney on March 11, 2015 • ( 2 )

  

  Who knew that a little piece of Gustav Stickley was standing right on S. Washington Street in Greenville?

• Wilkinson County’s Forest Home Plantation Burns

  By ELMalvaney on March 9, 2015 • ( 20 )

  

  Friday, March 6, one of Wilkinson County’s plantation homes, Forest Hill, also known as Shamrock, burned to the ground. It was reported on several Facebook groups dedicated to the Natchez region, including the Natchez, MS, History group and Rodney Remembering,… Read More ›

• Going Inside: Dennery’s Seafood Restaurant

  By ELMalvaney on March 6, 2015 • ( 24 )

  

  When I bought this postcard, I assumed it depicted the interior of what I knew as Dennery’s Restaurant, over on the east side of the state fairgrounds, but then I saw the address on Silas Brown Street. Was Dennery’s really… Read More ›

• Natchez Pilgrimage 1934

  By ELMalvaney on March 5, 2015 • ( 3 )

  

  To celebrate the beginning of the Natchez Pilgrimage, the grandmother of them all, this weekend, I’m posting this beautiful full-color map I came across in Mary Carmack Cunningham’s master’s thesis, The development and appreciation of historic architecture at Natchez, Mississippi, completed… Read More ›

• Which Spring Pilgrimage for you?

  By ELMalvaney on March 4, 2015 • ( 1 )

  

  Whether the weather agrees or not, Spring officially arrives in Mississippi on the day the Natchez Pilgrimage opens, which is this Saturday. Even if you’ve been to one or more of these pilgrimages before, there’s always something new to see,… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 3-2-2015

  By ELMalvaney on March 2, 2015 • ( 1 )

  

  Hear the latest from Starkville’s Cotton Mill project, MHT’s Mad Mod Affair, Jackson’s McRae’s building renovation, Pascagoula’s gala for LaPointe Krebs House, and learn about an amazing preservationist from Pass Christian.

• Mississippi Springtime: Glenfield

  By ELMalvaney on February 27, 2015 • ( 0 )

  

  Hang on, Mississippians, there may be snow on the ground in the Delta, but Spring is almost here! And when it’s Spring in Mississippi, it’s time for Pilgrimage. Which town will you visit this year? Glenfield, originally called Glencannon, was… Read More ›

• Craftsman Style in Mississippi

  By ELMalvaney on February 26, 2015 • ( 9 )

  

  At long last I have finally gotten around to starting a series on the Craftsman style in Mississippi, something I promised to do two years ago. Hopefully, having it percolate around in my head for that long will make the… Read More ›

• In Memoriam: E. Louis Malvaney (1924-2014)

  By ELMalvaney on February 25, 2015 • ( 13 )

  

  A few years ago, after I had been blogging using the pen-name of ELMalvaney for a year or two, I received an email that began, “I’m E.L. Malvaney. Who are you?” *gulp* Thus began my almost completely virtual relationship with… Read More ›

• Ice on the Magnolias

  By ELMalvaney on February 24, 2015 • ( 3 )

  

  Here at MissPres, we may not be all about Moonlight and Magnolias, but when there’s ice on the magnolias (and the camellias), we pay attention. Remember, Mississippians, you do not know how to drive when the temperature gets below 33… Read More ›

• New Book on North Mississippi architect Andrew Johnson

  By ELMalvaney on February 23, 2015 • ( 6 )

  

  A friend from up in Panola County recently told me about a new book about north Mississippi’s master builder/architect Andrew Johnson. Johnson emigrated from Sweden to Evanston, Illinois in 1865, and came down to Sardis, MS in 1870. Many of… Read More ›

• Newspaper Clippings: Jackson Illustrated, 1887 (Part II)

  By ELMalvaney on February 19, 2015 • ( 0 )

  

  Today’s post is the second of two articles describing Jackson in 1887, written by Mr. Moses Folsom of Des Moines, Iowa (thus his interest in native Iowans) and published by the Jackson State Ledger. Here’s Part 1. Once again, I… Read More ›

• Newspaper Clippings: Jackson Illustrated,1887

  By ELMalvaney on February 18, 2015 • ( 2 )

  

  Recently, an archivist friend (and to reiterate something I’ve said before, an archivist friend is a jewel of great value, so go get you one!) sent me two articles he came across while scrolling through the newspaper microfilm looking for… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 2-16-2015

  By ELMalvaney on February 16, 2015 • ( 5 )

  

  Our President’s Day special edition roundup covers the state from Natchez to Oxford, from Greenwood to Waveland, cheap standardized homes to expensive standardized homes.

• Mississippi by Air: Mississippi Chemical Corporation, Yazoo City

  By ELMalvaney on February 13, 2015 • ( 4 )

  

• New Book on William Nichols

  By ELMalvaney on February 12, 2015 • ( 1 )

  

  Amazon reminded me yesterday that a new biography of William Nichols, who designed our Old Capitol, Governor’s Mansion, and the Lyceum at Ole Miss, has just been released by University Press of Mississippi. Here’s the blurb from University Press, where… Read More ›

• Digital Preservation: Reality or Mirage?

  By ELMalvaney on February 9, 2015 • ( 11 )

  

  Today is this little blog’s 6th birthday, and in keeping with tradition, we will revisit the Old Capitol, a touchstone of Mississippi’s preservation movement. This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about a statement that came out of the mouth… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 2-2-2015

  By ELMalvaney on February 2, 2015 • ( 2 )

  

  Kiss those Kress neon signs good-bye, Meridianites, in a “preservation” project that defies the definition of preservation.

• Mississippi Unbuilt: A Holabird & Roche Capitol

  By ELMalvaney on January 27, 2015 • ( 6 )

  

  You may recall a 2012 post, “Mississippi Unbuilt: 1897 New Capitol,” about a proposed New Capitol for Mississippi, designed by the Memphis firm Weathers and Weathers, that was never built although it received full-page treatment in January 1897. Perhaps the… Read More ›

• MissPres News Roundup 1-26-2015

  By ELMalvaney on January 26, 2015 • ( 2 )

  

  You know what a two-week gap in news roundups means? Lots of catch-up! ———————————————— The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation recently gave a $2.5 million gift to the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, now under construction… Read More ›

• Go Back to Architecture School (for a day or two)

  By ELMalvaney on January 22, 2015 • ( 1 )

  

  Millsaps College has announced its newest round of Community Enrichment classes, and there’s a full slate of topics of interest to MissPresers. Pick one or more and head back to school for a few days–what else do you have to… Read More ›

• MLK in Jackson, 1963

  By ELMalvaney on January 19, 2015 • ( 3 )

  

  “The first “legal” civil rights march in the history of Mississippi. It was clear we were going to march come Hell, Blood, or Mississippi — and we did: 6,000 of us.” Question for Jacksonians–what street is this?