Fall is in the air, and today’s News Roundup Theme Song is “Time to Say Goodbye.” I didn’t find much actual newspaper news this week, so our roundup will be a little more prosey. There was a nice pro-preservation article… Read More ›
Demolition/Abandonment
Remembering the Heidelberg
Mississippi State University Digital Archive CHARM Collection. Rand Clayton Papers. Photographer unknown. Taken 1963- date of subject is likely earlier. The image has been colorized. B/W original The Hotel Heidelberg was a fixture on Capitol Street for fifty five years. The … Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 9-11-2009
Another Friday, another MissPres News Roundup, just like clockwork, even though I’ve had a long and arduous week. This week’s featured song is “Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen.” August something: An article in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that I initially… Read More ›
Newspaper Clippings: A Plea for North State Street’s Preservation
Earlier this year, as you may remember, a book from Arcadia Press authored by Todd Sanders of MDAH, looked at the history and evolution of North State Street from a corridor of antebellum and Victorian mansions to the commercial hodge-podge it… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Tullis-Toledano Manor (1856-2005)
from National Register nomination, August 1976: As one of the most substantial and elaborate of the vacation homes constructed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during the early peak period of the area’s popularity in the 1850s, the Pradat/Toledano/Philbrick/Tullis House is… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Farnsworth Summer House, Pascagoula (1898-2005)
from the National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1991: Originally from Kentucky, [R.A.] Farnsworth acquired the Hunter-Behn Lumber Company and renamed it Farnsworth Lumber Company. . . .901 Beach was built as a summer home or beach house, as the… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Louis Sullivan House (1890-2005)
From The Architectural Record, June 1905, “The Home of an Artist-Architect–The Place of Louis Sullivan“: Down in the sunny South, between New Orleans and Mobile, where the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Mexico makes one of its beautiful indentations,… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina (etc.): East Ward School (1921-2008)
The Mississippi Coast has such a rich 19th-century history that sometimes the 20th century gets short shrift, and maybe the fate of East Ward School, built in 1921 and designed in an eclectic combination of the Prairie and Craftsman styles… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Pass Christian Town Library (c.1853-2005)
From “Project Description, Pass Christian Town Library & School,” by the Pass Christian Historical Society, 2003: ‘Mrs. Roosevelt was so much impressed with your library she made me go around to see it myself. You are doing just the kind… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Elmwood Manor, Bay St. Louis (1812-2005)
From the National Register summary (1986) One of the earliest, extant buildings in Bay St. Louis, Elmwood Manor is a significant example of the French Colonial style of architecture in the community. No other buildings remaining from the early 19th… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-21-2009
The official song for this week’s News Roundup is . . . “Cocacabana.” Begin humming as we whirl around the state of MS: The Summer 2009 issue of “The Wellspring” (scroll to page 5) gives a nice update on the progress… Read More ›
Abandoned Mississippi: Yazoo County Agricultural High School
In 1912 the Yazoo County Agricultural High School was located at Benton, and it is one of the largest and best of its kind in the state. [A] few years later a Consolidated High School was located here, graveled roads… Read More ›
Remembering Hurricane Camille
From the Biloxi Daily Herald, “Landmarks Lost During Camille,” by Emily Germanis, August 16, 1970: “Historically speaking, the Mississippi Gulf Coast received a great blow as a result of Hurricane Camille. At least 15 well known landmarks were wiped out, others… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-14-09
Well, what’s been going on this week around our fair state? Before we begin, let me just put this fact out there: August is my least favorite month, so I’m liable to be especially cranky and hard-to-please, so bear with… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-7-2009
Well, get out your event calendars, Ladies and Gentlemen, because we’ve got a lot of ’em coming up announced in the last week or two: August 25, 2009 will find you sitting impatiently in front of the television, with your antenna… Read More ›
A Little Tidbit About the South Delta Housing Authority
Here’s an interesting little article I saw yesterday in the Clarion-Ledger about a lawsuit against the South Delta Regional Housing Authority: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907240344. As you might recall from Shame of the South Delta Regional Housing Authority”, the SDRHA demolished the National Register-listed… Read More ›
July09 Name This Place #5–Who Will Win?
To recap: Joseph A grabbed an early lead with Monday’s spot-on identification of the Washington County Courthouse in Greenville. But then doakley, obviously a morning person, jumped into the fray and took the lead with a win each of the next… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 7-17-2009
Ok, while our friends in Greenville work on unraveling the mysterious funding structure of the South Delta Regional Housing Authority, let’s look around the state for historic preservation news, hopefully of a better sort than demolitions . . . July 11, 2009: Here’s… Read More ›
Shame on the South Delta Regional Housing Authority
On Tuesday (7-13), the South Delta Regional Housing Authority (SDRHA), a quasi-governmental agency located in Leland and apparently funded solely or mostly through the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), demolished the oldest house in Greenville, a building… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 6-26-09
June 2, 2009: “Do Lake Plans Endanger Indian Mounds?” the Jackson Free Press asks. This is in regards to the so-called Two Lakes plan to develop the Pearl River in Jackson. I feel no need to wade into this controversial… Read More ›
Partial Collapse at Mississippi Industrial College
Although I haven’t seen anything online about it yet, I’ve heard from a reliable source that Catherine Hall (1906) at Mississippi Industrial College in Holly Springs suffered a partial collapse during a bad storm last week. Those of you who have… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 6-19-2009
Starting today, Friday’s post will be a roundup of news items from around the state (and maybe a few tidbits from *gasp* outside the state) for your end-of-week edification, assuming we have enough news coverage each week. If you come… Read More ›
A Virtual Trip To Exotic Locales
Oh, did I not mention that the winner of last week’s Name This Place contest would win a virtual trip? Whoopsie! Well, it shouldn’t really matter, right? After all, I recently was told by a person with some authority in Mississippi’s preservation world (not because… Read More ›
Demolition Permit for old Baptist Church in Natchez
Well, I should know better than to write a positive post because sure enough, there’s always bad news following behind it. That’s why I tell kids, “Be a pessimist–you’ll never be disappointed!” Anyway, after yesterday’s good news about the Mannsdale-Livingston… Read More ›
Sun-n-Sand More Endangered Than Before
<img class=”size-full wp-image-1569 ” title=”SunSandfront” src=”https://misspreservation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sunsandfront.jpg” alt=”Sun-n-Sand Motor Hotel by One of the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s Most Endangered historic properties became even more so this month when the Mississippi Legislature voted to move toward acquisition of the property in Jackson, just west… Read More ›
Book Quotes: How Buildings Learn
I read Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn way back in 1997, and it was when I really began to understand and appreciate vernacular architecture. The thesis of the book is that buildings change over time based on the needs of the users–sometimes… Read More ›
Life After People: Post-Apocalypse Meets Preservation
I don’t know about ya’ll, but I have found the History Channel’s new series Life After People strangely fascinating. It combines two of my great loves–the post-apocalyptic genre and abandoned places–which means I probably should avoid getting sucked into it. But… Read More ›