In my car I keep a copy of A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester. It comes in handy when I have some time to spend while waiting for an appointment or if I am out… Read More ›
Civil Rights
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Hotel Alcazar, Clarksdale
This is the New Hotel Alcazar, built 1914-15, in the Colonial Revival/Classical Revival style, another loser in the 101 Places contest. The original Alcazar was built in 1895 on an adjoining lot. The New Alcazar was intended to expand the… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-23-2012
Disclaimer: I just roundup the news stories, so don’t shoot the messenger . . . Might as well start with the worst of it . . . the crazy weather lately has causes major damage to the Corinth Machinery Building. … Read More ›
Martin Luther King, Jr. in Philadelphia, Miss.
From the Downtown Philadelphia Historic District nomination, recounting the civil rights march led by Martin Luther King, Jr., in Philadelphia. Held on June 21, 1966, the march from Independence Quarters, a large black neighborhood west of the railroad, to the… Read More ›
The Possibilities Abound…The Robert E. Lee Hotel in Jackson
With all of the hype and hoopla over the summertime smash hit the Help, the many references to the old Robert E. Lee Hotel might set people to wondering about the place. Visitors to downtown Jackson might be forgiven for the… Read More ›
A Laurel Church by Clair M. Jones
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 ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-8-2011
Summer has really heated up in the Magnolia State, and we have a few really hot stories in the news this week. A quick reminder before we dive into the news, don’t forget that the Vicksburg Poll closes on Friday…. Read More ›
MDAH Announces Grants Awarded to Civil Rights Sites
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History announced the recipients of the Mississippi Civil Rights Historical Sites grant on their website this week. These applications were due back in the Spring (I thought for sure I had announced them here… Read More ›
Fins to the left, Fins to the right . . .
Our across-the-River friend Blake Wintory from Lakeport Plantation sent me this screenshot of Jackson’s Petroleum Building as seen in the recent PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders.” This was in response to the last paragraph in my post on the… Read More ›
Demolishing History Before It Becomes Historic
Those of you who watched last night’s excellent and evocative PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders” saw clips of the riders walking into Jackson’s Tri-State Trailways station and then walking almost right back out into the police wagon to be… Read More ›
Local People, this is what we think of your sacrifice
Yesterday, I passed by the Mississippi State Fairgrounds in downtown Jackson and saw that demolition of the Agriculture Building, one of the pair of barrel-vaulted buildings at the west side of the fairgrounds, was well underway. As you might recall… Read More ›
A Mystery: Which building(s) were “The Fairgrounds Motel”?
After yesterday’s post about the Agriculture and Industry buildings on the Mississippi State Fairgrounds, a new MissPreser Catherine sent me a couple of links she found on the internet that bring the confusion over which buildings were the ones used… Read More ›
Balancing Industry with Agriculture
I was wandering around the Mississippi State Fairgrounds on a beautiful Sunday afternoon recently and saw that one of the twin buildings standing at the Jefferson Street front of the fairgrounds is named “Agriculture” and the other one is named… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-4-2011
There’s just one week left to get your votes in for the Central Poll. If you’ve already used up your votes at home and work, then it’s time to spread the word to others to do the same. And I… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2-21-2011
I think Spring has sprung in the Magnolia State in the past week or so – which makes me very happy. If you’re like me, you’ve been enjoying the weather – but you may have missed some preservation news. Never… Read More ›
New Grant Program for Civil Rights Sites
In case you haven’t seen this post on the MDAH website, they are announcing a bricks-and-mortar grant program for civil rights sites. As you may recall, a few weeks ago W. White ran a very helpful summary list of the… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2-8-2011
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hoping the groundhog was right about an “early spring” – I’m not a fan of the ice and cold. Plus, as it warms up, we’ll all have more chances to… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-18-2011
Although this roundup isn’t on our typical day, there’s been enough news this week to go ahead and post one this week. We’ll start with a story that most of you probably already know about – especially if you watched… Read More ›
Civil Rights Sites from Charles E. Cobb Jr.’s “On the Road to Freedom”
I mentioned in the comments section for “Another Vanishing Civil Rights Landmark” that there was a book (that I could not think of at the time) that has a list of various Mississippi Civil Rights Movement sites. That book is… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 12-6-2010
Brrrr . . . it’s cold outside. Grab a cup of your favorite warm beverage and read the latest preservation news from around the state – OH, and don’t forget to weigh in on what buildings should be on the… Read More ›
Abandoned Mississippi: Southern Christian Institute
Exit off I-20 at Edwards, wind around through town and out Highway 80 to the west, and soon enough you’ll come to the campus of the old Southern Christian Institute, more lately known as Bonner Campbell Institute. The college is… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 11-29-2010
I was traveling most of this last week, but thanks to the internet was able to keep tabs on preservation news. Believe it or not, December is approaching and so are holiday events in and around historic districts and buildings… Read More ›
Round the Blogosphere 11-15-2010
I gave jrgordon the day off on the weekly news roundup because I realized it’s been two months since our last blogosphere roundup. I’ve been starring posts like mad in my Google Reader, and if I don’t post them for… Read More ›
Another Vanishing Civil Rights Landmark
On my recent trip to the Delta, I decided to take the county road north of Greenwood, instead of Highway 49. I wanted to check on the old Bryant Grocery Store in the Money community to see if it was… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 11-1-2010
After getting a little experience with the News Roundup a few weeks ago, JRGordon has decided to take it on as a regular contributor. JR has been around the MissPres universe for at least a year now, by my reckoning,… Read More ›
Newspaper Clippings: Taborian Hospital
As you may recall from Monday’s post, I mentioned that the same African American architectural firm that designed the Carnegie building at Mississippi Industrial College, McKissack & McKissack, also designed the Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, opened in 1942. The… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 