When Meridianites voted on a streetcar referendum on July 23, 1925, only 316 citizens voted to retain trolley transportation. Less than six weeks after that vote, busses were already following much the same routes previously covered by the trolleys with the exception of a new business district loop.
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 ›
Every now and then, MissPres will come across a news story that needs its own post instead of getting folded into the regular roundup. While working on yesterday’s, I came across such an announcement on the MDAH Website. Below is… Read More ›
In the last Old Capitol Follies, the American Architect and Building News gave us a serious look at Jackson in 1890, including the sad shape of the Old Capitol. By 1896, the building had declined even further as legislators debated… Read More ›
Today’s post is Chapter 6 in our series re-printing Frank Brooks’ “Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Stories about Streetcars.” View other posts in the series at the “Streetcars” tab. ——————————– Lakeview, in DeSoto County, was the terminus of the Memphis… Read More ›
Jackson’s South Hills Branch Library was the Mississippi subject of the March 1964 issue of Mississippi Architect. Now known as Richard Wright Library, the building is still in use as a library, although the original front entrance is now sadly… Read More ›
It’s been a while since our last post re-printing the Mississippi Architect, a monthly magazine published by the Mississippi chapter of the American Institute of Architects. So let’s jump back in with the March 1964 issue. As you may recall,… Read More ›
I recently bought a couple of postcards showing the interior of St. Michael’s Church in Biloxi, and it reminded me that I had taken a few pictures inside myself a while back when I was down on the Coast. If… Read More ›
Today’s post is Chapter 5 in our series re-printing Frank Brooks’ “Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Stories about Streetcars.” View other posts in the series at the “Streetcars” tab. ———————————————– Mississippi was not one of the states which boasted an… Read More ›
Today’s post is Chapter 5 in our series re-printing Frank Brooks’ “Travelling by Trolley in Mississippi: Stories about Streetcars.” View other posts in the series at the “Streetcars” tab. ———————————— It has been a good many years since I have… Read More ›
A few weeks ago, as you may recall, guest author Mark Davis introduced us to Memphis architect Clair Maurice Jones. Jones not only designed a number of large and regionally famous Modernist works in both Atlanta and Memphis, but also… Read More ›
Over MissPres’ lifetime, we’ve spent quite a bit of time examining how our New Capitol got built. But come to think about it, we’ve spent not much time at all on why our New Capitol got built. There’s a whole… Read More ›
PBS has two interesting shows playing on architectural themes, one about Gothic cathedrals–which showed earlier this week but is available for online viewing anytime–and another tonight about architect Robert A.M. Stern.
Now that the weather had turned fine, you might feel the urge to curl up with a book, and two new biographies of architects whose work touched Mississippi have just come out to add to your list. In case you… Read More ›
You may recall Mark Davis’ guest posts last month about Meridian architect P.J. Krouse, re-printed from the original publication in the Pearl River County Historical Society newsletter, The Historical Reporter. This month, Mark has outdone himself, introducing us to Clair Maurice Jones, who was… Read More ›
Well it’s been over a year since my last rant about Dryvit and why I think it should be banned as an exterior building material. But seriously folks, why do we even need to have this discussion? It would be like having… Read More ›
A while back, reader Gary E. Magee commented on an old post about Jackson architect Tom Biggs that one of Bigg’s designs, the chapel at St. Dominic hospital, is slated for demolition in a planned expansion of the adjacent emergency area…. Read More ›
Our friend Blake Wintory, he of the popular Tale of Two Domes series a few weeks ago, sent me an intriguing advertisement he came across while looking through The Chicot Press, the Lake Village, Arkansas newspaper. In the January 17, 1861 issue,… Read More ›
Perhaps the only good thing that might come out of the Feds recent abandonment of the amazing and sophisticated Eastland Federal Building (1933) in downtown Jackson for their clumsy and overbearing new courthouse is that in the future the public… Read More ›
I hope y’all all enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day weekend with the welcome deluge of rain from Tropical Storm Lee after a long hot summer. While MissPres universe was on vacation, I was thinking about the series of posts by… Read More ›
Today, guest author Blake Wintory concludes his fascinating examination of the two similar domes atop the Mississippi and Arkansas capitol buildings. If you are just joining us, jump back to the beginning and read from the beginning because it’s a… Read More ›
Today marks the third in this week’s four-part examination by guest author Blake Wintory of the strange and twisted tale of how the Mississippi and Arkansas Capitol domes came to look so similar. If you missed the last two days,… Read More ›
We’re on the 2nd day of a 4-part adventure into the ins-and-outs of the Arkansas Capitol project, courtesy of guest author Blake Wintory, in order to gauge the veracity of the claim that the dome on Arkansas’ Capitol is in… Read More ›
A few months ago, Blake Wintory, director of Lakeport Plantation Museum–which because it’s just across the river from Greenville makes him an honorary Mississippian–e-mailed me with a question that kind of blew my mind. He asked if I knew that… Read More ›
In yesterday’s post, we learned about Vicksburg’s first concrete block building, the Bonelli Building on Washington Street. Mr. Bonelli’s idea apparently caught on quickly because within a few months, a Vicksburg contractor, J.W. Mann, had set up a plant to… Read More ›
Recently during my microfilm tour of the 1905/1906 issues of the Vicksburg Post in search of something completely different, I stumbled on two articles that detailed the establishment of Vicksburg’s concrete block industry, and remembering our own Thomas Rosell’s posts… Read More ›
Back in the day when school didn’t start at the beginning of August, late July and August meant camp meeting time. The Vicksburg Post took note of this over a hundred years ago. CAMP MEETINGS IN FULL BLAST The camp… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 