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 ›
Building Types
Roadside Mississippi: Glenburnie Motor Hotel, Woodville
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 ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-1-2016
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
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 ›
Belzoni Cemetery and its Concrete Grave Markers
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 ›
MissPres News Roundup 7-18-2016
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
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 ›
Vacation Postcards: Econo-Travel Motor Hotel, Tupelo
MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past.
Washed in the Water
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 ›
HABS in Mississippi: Kingston Methodist Church
From the MDAH Historic Resources Database: A hip-roofed stuccoed building with a projecting distyle portico, the Kingston Methodist Church is a highly significant example of the Greek Revival style. This significance is based on the high degree of architectural finish,… Read More ›
Industrial Mississippi: Jackson Lamp and Glass Works
Today’s page from the 1951 Mississippi edition of Manufacturer’s Record highlights a building that still survives on Highway 80, across from Battlefield Park in Jackson, the former General Electric Lamp and Glass Works. According to the MDAH Historic Resources Database, the… Read More ›
A Piece of Pascagoula History on the Market
I recently saw a Pascagoula real estate listing that caught my eye. The former Pascagoula National Bank at 535 Delmas Avenue is on the market. Originally built in 1938, the bank is the only building I am aware of that R…. Read More ›
Mississippi Architects: Rathbone DeBuys (1874-1960)
New Orleans architect Rathbone DeBuys has been mentioned many times over the years here on MissPres, but recently I was surprised to see we have never had a feature post dedicated to his work in Mississippi. This was something I had not discovered until I found… Read More ›
Industrial Mississippi: Rice-Stix Factory, Water Valley
In anticipation of next week’s ListenUp! preservation conference in Water Valley . . . The Rice-Stix factory in Water Valley, pictured here in the 1951 Mississippi issue of Manufacturer’s Record, opened on February 28, 1946, according to the webpage “Water Valley… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 5-23-2016
From Ingomar Mound to Prospect Hill Plantation, from parapets falling to gravestones standing up and “Wade” handwritten on a sill, the MissPres news roundup has got it covered.
Industrial Mississippi: Blue Bell, Natchez and Belmont
I had heard of the Blue Bell plant in Natchez, but until seeing this advertisement in the 1946 edition of Manufacturer’s Record, I assumed it was an ice cream company. The World Wide Web also informs me that Blue Bell (of… Read More ›
Going Inside: Sun-n-Sand Hotel, Biloxi
The Sun-n-Sand had a beach side and a land side, as seen in this 1960s postcard. Maybe Tom Barnes can tell us more about this long-gone motel and what happened to the marble mosaic imported from Italy.
Mad Mod Delta Tour Report
Today’s post is brought to you by our inveterate architectural tourist, Neel Reid, who also reported on last year’s Mad Mod Eastover tour. ————————————————— It’s easy to overlook Modernist commercial architecture. Coming into a world where cars dictate the layout… Read More ›
Bruce High School: Another Malvaney School
Imagine this being your high school in 1942, after the International style building designed by E. L. Malvaney had been completed. Look at those beautiful glass enclosures and columns on the corner entrances! And, then look what happened with the… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-25-2016
From Tupelo to Vicksburg, from Philadelphia to Jackson and down to Natchez, and even over in Arkansas (!) here’s (almost) all the Mississippi preservation news that’s fit to print.
Four Years, Six Demolitions – Columbus’s Disappearing Historic Buildings Through Google Street View
I used Google Street View quite a bit to look around Columbus while writing this week’s series of posts on the inaugural 1940 Columbus Pilgrimage. Frankly, the armchair traveler has never had it better, as one can drive the streets… Read More ›
Industrial Mississippi 1946: N&W Overall Company
Here’s another episode from the January 1946 edition of the Manufacturer’s Record, which focused on Mississippi’s industrial potential. To read more about the N&W Overall Company (later Dickies) building, which still stands on the south side of downtown Jackson, see the National… Read More ›
Meridian: Traveling with the Green Book in Mississippi
Our next stop in using Victor Green’s The Green Book, assurance of accommodation for the African American traveler from 1936-1967, is Meridian. The year 1939 was the first year Mississippi was listed in the Green Book, with only 6 hotels. … Read More ›
Friday Puzzler: Webster County Court House
This Friday do something the Webster County supervisors couldn’t do. Rather than chose to fight the insurance company and preservationists to get a metal new building, you can put the Webster County Courthouse back together. Unlike the supervisors, I bet you won’t take two… Read More ›
Seven Years: The Hostess House, and the Female Architect (…and Mississippi)
MissPres will be celebrating its seventh anniversary during 2016. To acknowledge this achievement we will be looking back at some of our earlier posts while sharing thoughts and any developments that have occurred since the post originally debuted. Today’s post is on a… Read More ›
Adaptive Reuse
Last September in Malvaney’s post on Mid-Century Fondren’s First National Bank R P Adams commented that as drive up traffic became heavier than lobby traffic banks started having smaller or in some cases no interior banking floor, turning full efforts to multiple… Read More ›
Traveling with The Green Book in Mississippi: First stop, Queen City Hotel in Columbus
Victor H. Green, Editor and Publisher, introduced the Green Book in 1936 as a local publication for the New York City area. “Motoring” for leisure was catching on, but Green, as an African American businessman from New York City, was… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 