MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past.
Building Types
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Lowery Memorial Baptist Church
The Eclectic/Composite Lowery Memorial Baptist Church, with some Colonial Revival features, was constructed in 1908 adjacent to Blue Mountain College. Features include: …two-story, seven-by-seven bay brick structure with pyramidal hip roof, gable-roofed projecting central section, and four-story square tower with… Read More ›
Webster County Courthouse Demolition Begins
Knowing it was coming doesn’t make it any easier. The Webster County Courthouse demolition has begun, according to Facebook posts and WCBI. The two-story brick Craftsman/Prairie style building was built in 1915 by the Little-Cleckler Construction Company of Anniston, Alabama, and… Read More ›
Industrial Mississippi: Knox Glass Company
One of the advertisers in the 1946 Mississippi edition of Manufacturer’s Record was Knox Glass Company. This rang a bell for me, and I went searching back through the trusty WPA Guide to Mississippi, which gives directions and a little information… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2-8-2016
As I write this on this Super Bowl Sunday, I’m afraid I can’t promise a news roundup even close to the breadth of W. White’s January posts, but I do want to thank him for taking over the roundup duty… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Rural Gymnasiums
The Hickory Flat (Benton County) gymnasium was constructed c. 1948 according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Historic Resources Inventory. During the 1930s, …rural schools grew into small villages composed of several buildings dedicated to specialized purposes, most… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-25-2016
Yes, it is our last News Roundup of January. Just because The X-Files was on TV last night, do not forget that it is January 2016, not January 1996. Once again, the News Roundup is beginning in the southwest part… Read More ›
Mississippi by Air: 1960s University Medical Center
——————— See also: Mid-Century Mississippi: To VA or Not To VA?
MissPres News Roundup 1-18-2016
Once again, the News Roundup will start in the southwest part of the state, in Natchez. “Tour opens possibilities downtown” states that the Possibilities Tour (which I reported on in the first News Roundup of the year) brought various interested… Read More ›
Mid-Century Mississippi: To VA Hospital or Not?
Back before Jackson’s Veterans Administration Hospital became “Sonny Montgomery Medical Center” and before the building expanded into a labyrinth designed to confuse veterans and their families, the land it sat on was owned by the State of Mississippi. It had… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-11-2016
This week we are beginning the News Roundup in the non-Natchez Southwestern part of this state, specifically in Brookhaven, which has a few articles of interest. The first Brookhaven Daily Leader article is from January 7, “No longer on the… Read More ›
Buildings of Mississippi State University–Patterson Engineering Laboratories
This is the inaugural post in what I hope will be a regular series of posts regarding the buildings of Mississippi State University. I should naturally focus the first post on an important, widely known building of historical prominence such… Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Carthage Elementary School
After the recent news of demolished historic buildings, and possible demolition and demolition-by-neglect stories, and the buildings that were lost in 2015, it is always a pleasure to provide a deserving round of applause and highlight the accomplishments of a… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-4-2016
Happy New Year to the MissPres community on our first News Roundup of 2016. Some of you may remember that I used to do the News Roundups a few years ago. Doing News Roundups in 2016 is more difficult than… Read More ›
Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2015
2015 has been a rough year for Mississippi’s historic buildings. Fire, storms, economic hardship, and public officials with no vision (a class of people who I hope will never receive an iota of sympathy here on MissPres no matter how… Read More ›
Mississippi Landmarks 2015
Let’s follow up our two days of reviewing National Register listings for 2015 with a shorter list of the buildings designated as Mississippi Landmarks by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Often confused with the National Register, which is administered… Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Teacherage in Hickory Flat
In a follow up from last week’s visit to the Hickory Flat cafeteria constructed by the National Youth Administration in 1939, we are still on campus. A short walk from the cafeteria building, one teacherage of the two constructed by… Read More ›
Happy Hanukkah Y’all! 2015
Looking back at Hanukkahs past, before looking forward…. Hanukkah 2014 and Chris Risher’s beautiful temple both celebrated the Temple Beth Israel in Meridian. For Hanukkah in 2012 we looked at not only some of the historic sacred places across the state, but also at buildings… Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Hickory Flat Cafeteria
The cafeteria for the Hickory Flat school (located in Benton County, north Mississippi) was constructed by the National Youth Administration in 1939. If you wonder what the building looked like as constructed, just look below. Other than the center double… Read More ›
Community Heritage Preservation Grants 2015
From the MDAH website: More than $3M in Preservation Grants Awarded – posted December 04, 2015 At a special meeting on December 4 the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History awarded more than $3 million… Read More ›
Rathbone Debuys Bank Identified
Recently the Tulane Southeastern Architectural Archives blog featured a post about the time-saving office of New Orleans architect Rathbone DeBuys. In addition to having a pretty swell name, Rathbone Debuys was a pretty smart fellow, having several degrees from Tulane… Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Former Old Salem High School and Vocational Building
Old Salem High School and Vocational Building were both constructed by the National Youth Administration for African American students, in the Ashland vicinity, Benton County. Construction was complete by 1941. Photographs taken in 1956 by J. H. Phay can be… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 11-30-2015
How about a quick News Roundup to ease ourselves back into work and life after what I hope was a (take your pick) quiet/relaxing/exciting/adventuresome/food-filled/family-packed Thanksgiving break in which you slept/worked in the yard/cooked/read/ate/watched football/avoided people/shopped on Black Friday/watched football (did… Read More ›
Weather Takes Down Two Okolona Buildings
Two historic buildings in downtown Okolona, the old Merchants & Farmers Bank and its next-door neighbor, met their demise in the bad weather on Tuesday night, according to WTVA. A third building, dating to the 1880s, appears to be in a… Read More ›
Not Good News from Hattiesburg
Rainy weather last weekend cast a pallor that hung over Hattiesburg and provided a mood to match the endangered condition of several of that fair city’s landmark structures. Easton School having been victim of years of neglect by the City of Hattiesburg is… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: The Folk Tradition of Gravehouses
The recent post from Thomas Rosell about Biloxi cemetery canopies, and W. White’s follow up comments about gravehouses inspired me to further investigate this new-to-me phenomenon of southern folk culture. There are three earlier cultural traditions that may have influenced… Read More ›
Veterans Day 2015
See more Veterans Day posts: 2014: Doughboy Monument, Meridian 2013: Greenville Army Flying School 2012: Reprint of Art and the Soldier: Keesler Field 2010: Camp Shelby in WWII 2009: War Memorial Building, Jackson
Preservation in Mississippi 