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.

• More Ways to be a Preservationist this Spring

  By ELMalvaney on April 10, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  Tour the world’s largest physical model on April 28 and then head down to Jefferson County to check out Prospect Hill’s fancy new roof and cleaned-up cemetery. Enjoy this Mississippi spring weather while it lasts!

• Millsaps Observatory for History is Lunch

  By ELMalvaney on April 7, 2017 • ( 2 )

  

  From the MDAH website: Observatory Restoration Topic of Talk At noon on Wednesday, April 12, as part of the department’s History Is Lunch series, architect Robert Parker Adams will discuss the recently completed restoration of the James Observatory at Millsaps… Read More ›

• Who are these people and why are they glaring at each other?

  By ELMalvaney on April 5, 2017 • ( 24 )

  

  Hmm, let’s see if we can figure this out. In the left panel, I see some men who look Amish glaring at some women who look Amish–all with arms defensively crossed–two sorrowful Native Americans, and what may be an Army officer standing in the back observing this unhappy scene.

• Madisonians at the Sea Shore

  By ELMalvaney on April 1, 2017 • ( 2 )

  

  It turns out that the Madisonian maritime culture was much more extensive and robust than anyone realized, with its influence stretching from the Ross Barnett Reservoir all the way to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

• Edwards House Toilet Paper?

  By ELMalvaney on March 31, 2017 • ( 4 )

  

  How much would you pay for fine, absorbent Edwards House toilet tissue?

• Robert Snow, Savior of Waverley, Dies at Home

  By ELMalvaney on March 29, 2017 • ( 5 )

  

  Robert Snow, one of Mississippi’s most determined but understated preservationists, died at his beloved Waverley north of Columbus on Sunday, according to a tribute by Slim Smith of the Commercial Dispatch. If ever it was appropriate for someone to die at home,… Read More ›

• Industrial Mississippi: Rex Brown Generating Station, Jackson

  By ELMalvaney on March 23, 2017 • ( 10 )

  

  I pass the Rex Brown power station on Northside Drive in Jackson pretty regularly. It’s located on Lake Hico, which I just found out from this wikipedia article is the headwater for Eubanks Creek that winds through Fondren on its way to… Read More ›

• Newspaper Clippings: Pike County Health Center, 1938

  By ELMalvaney on March 22, 2017 • ( 15 )

  

  I see in the news that some legislators want the state department of health to save lots of money by going “back to the 1900s” and, instead of treating people in county health clinics, they could just hand out educational… Read More ›

• More Events for Your Spring and Summer

  By ELMalvaney on March 17, 2017 • ( 6 )

  

  As usual when Mississippi enters spring, the creative juices of Mississippians begin to flow and everyone is ready to get outside for interesting preservation events. Here are a few announcements that have shown up in my inbox over the past couple of… Read More ›

• Craftsman in Mississippi: Soria City Bungalows

  By ELMalvaney on March 16, 2017 • ( 11 )

  

  Today’s bungalows come to us from the Mississippi Coast, Gulfport’s Soria City neighborhood, which was listed on the National Register in September 2015. A walk through this small, cohesive African American neighborhood brings you past a number of front-gabled bungalows,… Read More ›

• Demolition Before and After: Super D, Jackson

  By ELMalvaney on March 9, 2017 • ( 7 )

  

  Back in February 2012, I pleaded with Baptist Hospital to save the old Rexall drug store, also known as the Super D, located just north of the McDonalds on N. State. It was designed around 1950 by a young Robert… Read More ›

• Going Inside: Capitol Street Piggly Wiggly, 1935

  By ELMalvaney on March 3, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  Today’s interior views come from the October 6, 1935 edition of the Clarion-Ledger, announcing the grand opening of the latest Piggly Wiggly, at 419 E. Capitol Street in downtown Jackson. Interestingly, by the 1937 City Directory, this location was no… Read More ›

• HABS in Mississippi: Old Water Grist Mill, near Macon

  By ELMalvaney on March 2, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  I don’t know anything about the “Old Water Grist Mill, near Macon,” which photographer James Butters from the Historic American Building Survey documented in June 1936, and apparently neither does MDAH, since the only mill in Noxubee County they have… Read More ›

• Mid-Century Mississippi: Homes for Colored Veterans

  By ELMalvaney on March 1, 2017 • ( 7 )

  

  I recently ran across this ad in the June 30, 1946 edition of the Clarion-Ledger. Attention! COLORED VETERANS –Here’s The Home Buy Of The Year! Pictured at left is just one of the twelve new homes that have just been… Read More ›

• Pick Your Spring Pilgrimage

  By ELMalvaney on February 27, 2017 • ( 3 )

  

  Spring has sprung especially early this year in Mississippi, and when our thoughts turn to Spring, they automatically turn to the annual rite of Spring Pilgrimage, when historic homes in communities around the state are open for us to tour…. Read More ›

• HABS in Mississippi: Gilreath’s Tavern (Ellicott’s Hill), Natchez

  By ELMalvaney on February 23, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  Since one of Samuel Wilson’s first projects was the house variously known as Gilreath’s Tavern, Connelly’s Tavern, and the House on Ellicott’s Hill, I thought we would follow up on yesterday’s post with the HABS documentation of the building from… Read More ›

• Book Quotes: Samuel Wilson in Mississippi

  By ELMalvaney on February 22, 2017 • ( 6 )

  

  A few months ago, I was in New Orleans and was touring the Pitot House on Bayou St. John, always a pleasant tour and a building with more to say than the last time I was there. Afterward, I lingered… Read More ›

• Happy President’s Day 2017!

  By ELMalvaney on February 20, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  To celebrate President’s Day, we feature the eye-catching Washington County Courthouse, a rare-for-Mississippi stone Romanesque Revival building, built in 1891. According to the MDAH Historic Resources Database, it was designated as a Mississippi Landmark in January 1989 and listed on the… Read More ›

• Happy 25th, MHT!

  By ELMalvaney on February 17, 2017 • ( 3 )

  

  Preservation in Mississippi celebrated its 8th birthday last week, but the Mississippi Heritage Trust is celebrating its 25th this week, and according to this press release, they’re throwing a party in Columbus to celebrate. Congratulations, MHT! The Mississippi Heritage Trust… Read More ›

• Why Bailey Jr. High Needs Fixing

  By ELMalvaney on February 16, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  Back in December 2016, when the latest round of Community Heritage Preservation Grants was announced, you may have noticed, as I did, the largest grant on the list: Bailey School, Jackson, Hinds County—$370,000 For stabilization of the structure and restoration… Read More ›

• MissPres at 8: Oh Bilbo, where are our columns?

  By ELMalvaney on February 10, 2017 • ( 14 )

  

  Today is the last in our four-part 8th blog birthday series about the renovation of our Old Capitol in 1916-17, as recalled in 1949 by the assistant secretary to the Capitol Commission, A.S. Coody. This project saved this important and… Read More ›

• MissPres at 8: Spiral staircases and magnificent timbers

  By ELMalvaney on February 9, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  As you read today’s post, the third in a four-part series celebrating Preservation in Mississippi’s 8th birthday, remember that this article, “Repair of and Changes in the Old Capitol,” was written by A.S. Coody in 1949. This section of the… Read More ›

• MissPres at 8: It seems to have been generally accepted that the old capitol could not be restored.

  By ELMalvaney on February 8, 2017 • ( 1 )

  

  Yesterday’s post began our special birthweek series, a partial reprint of A.S. Coody’s 1949 article “Repair of and Changes in the Old Capitol.” We cut him off in the middle of a long section called “The Movement for Restoration,” just after… Read More ›

• MissPres at 8: Repairing the Old Capitol, 1916-1917

  By ELMalvaney on February 7, 2017 • ( 3 )

  

  The movement for a “restoration” of the old state house was begun in 1903. The proposal was that the building be restored to its original condition and used as an historic landmark, possibly by the Department of Archives and History. The reports of architects who examined the building were adverse, and it was accepted as true that the building was dangerous, and likely to collapse at any time.

• Mississippi Streets: Holly Springs, 1857

  By ELMalvaney on February 3, 2017 • ( 13 )

  

  Today’s Mississippi Streets image of downtown Holly Springs in 1854 1857 may contain the oldest photographic image ever on Preservation in Mississippi. It was passed on to me by Chelius Carter, who got permission to send it from the owner Henry… Read More ›

• Industrial Mississippi: Marquette Cement Manufacturing, Brandon

  By ELMalvaney on February 2, 2017 • ( 5 )

  

  A couple of weeks ago I was able to attend the first History Is Lunch program here in Jackson, entitled “Rankin County Re-Photographed” by Paul Davis. Over the years, Davis has found old photos of places and people in Rankin… Read More ›

• Two Mississippi Projects Receive NPS Civil Rights Grants

  By ELMalvaney on January 13, 2017 • ( 1 )

  

  Two Mississippi projects, one in the Delta and one in Natchez, received awards totaling $550,00 from the African American Civil Rights Grant Program, the National Park Service announced yesterday. This was from a grant pool of $7.75 million, and a… Read More ›