Back in February 2012, I pleaded with Baptist Hospital to save the old Rexall drug store, also known as the Super D, located just north of the McDonalds on N. State. It was designed around 1950 by a young Robert… Read More ›
Demolition/Abandonment
Apartments on Jackson’s North Street
I developed an interest in several Jackson apartment buildings after reading a 1929 Manufacturers Record magazine with the following entry. Miss., Jackson — Tom B. Scott, Capitol Natl. Bk. Bldg and associates started work on 12 apartment group on North St. between Boyd… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2-21-2017
Lets jump right in, feet first to this week’s roundup. With their second week of good news in a row I am giving the City of Clinton the lead again. This week the news is the listing of Olde Towne Clinton to… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2-13-2017
Lets jump right in, feet first to this week’s roundup. The big news this past week was in the City of Clinton where a property owner faces more than 1,400 code violations to historic buildings. The city is pulling no… Read More ›
MissPres at 8: Repairing the Old Capitol, 1916-1917
The movement for a “restoration” of the old state house was begun in 1903. The proposal was that the building be restored to its original condition and used as an historic landmark, possibly by the Department of Archives and History. The reports of architects who examined the building were adverse, and it was accepted as true that the building was dangerous, and likely to collapse at any time.
MissPres News Roundup 2-6-2017
Lets jump right into this week’s roundup. We designated 38 communities as Certified Local Governments to help w/ historic preservation guidance and grants https://t.co/ubhnMyni8x pic.twitter.com/tn8FBPUKt8 — NationalParkService (@NatlParkService) January 31, 2017 The big news in Booneville this week is the National Park… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-30-2017
Lets jump right in to this week’s roundup. In Hattiesburg, concerning statements were made about some of the oldest buildings on the campus of William Carey University. The Hattiesburg American reported University President Tommy King said “…this morning’s review showed they might… Read More ›
Builders of Mississippi: John Lee Webb (1877-1946)
John Lee Webb was born in Alabama either in Tuskegee, Macon County, on September 11, 1877 or in Talladaga, Talladaga County, on September 17, 1877, depending on your source. He volunteered for service in the Spanish-American War, being discharged as a… Read More ›
Another Important House Needs Our Help – Georgiana Plantation
Preservation in Mississippi has actively followed the progress of Prospect Hill Plantation since 2009, when Malvaney posted “An Important House Needs Our Help.” Since 2011, Prospect Hill has been owned and slowly but steadily restored by The Archaeological Conservancy, spearheaded by… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-23-2017
The leading news story this week is the deadly tornado that struck Hattiesburg & Petal Saturday night. The areas worst hit appear to be in south Hattiesburg around the campus of William Carey University, Edwards Street, and in Petal along… Read More ›
Meridian Demolitions and Why Ordinary Old Houses Almost No One Cares About Should Be Preserved
At the end of the WTOK News story about the demolition of the Old Citizens Bank Building at 2212-2214 Fourth Street in Meridian was a statement by Community Development Director Bunky Partridge, “Well, we’re always looking at our homes around… Read More ›
John Wellborn Root (1850 – 1891)
Last week marked the anniversaries of the life and death of Chicago architect John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891). Root, one-half of the renowned firm Burnham & Root, only has one documented commission in Mississippi, the… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 1-9-2017
Although I do not write very many posts on Preservation in Mississippi anymore, it is almost a tradition for me to begin the New Year with a News Roundup. It is a way to clear out the old news (generally… Read More ›
Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2016
Raise a toast to absent friends and historic places we lost in 2016.
MissPres News Roundup 12-12-2016
Unless something big happens in the next couple of weeks, this will be our last news roundup of 2016. The Daily Journal in Tupelo ran a nice article by M. Scott Morris about the ongoing work on the Chalmers Institute in… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 11-21-2016
Several preservation stories have popped up in the last couple of weeks, enough to squeeze in a Thanksgiving week news roundup to keep all y’all on top of things.
MissPres News Roundup 10-17-2016
It’s been a long time since our last news roundup, and even longer since I undertook one. I’ve been out of town a lot the last couple of months, so I fear this roundup won’t approach comprehensiveness and will be… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 9-7-2016
This mid-week news round-up is less varied than last week’s round-up, but it still features some good information. Starting off with some concerning news regarding several large rehabilitation projects in both Gulfport and Natchez. In Gulfport, Virginia attorney Robert Lubin… Read More ›
Newspaper Clippings: Hattiesburg’s Ultra Modern J.C. Penney
In July of 1945, the Hattiesburg J.C. Penney store at 122-126 W Pine Street suffered a significant fire. This provided an opportunity for the company’s branding efforts to be put to use with a complete rebuilding of the store. Sixteen… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-30-2016
This is my first attempt at a news roundup so please be forgiving. If you have any additional information about any of these stories, or if you have your own preservation news from your neck of the woods, please let… 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 ›
Roadside Mississippi: Photographer John Margolies
Recently, a MissPres reader sent me the link to John Margolies’s obituary. You may not know the name, but if you enjoy mid-century commercial Modernism, you’ve probably seen his images of neon signs, interesting roadside vernacular architecture, and other sites… Read More ›
HABS in Mississippi: Skipwith House, Oxford
Unlike yesterday’s Rice-Stix Factory in Water Valley, you won’t have a chance to visit today’s featured building when you attend next week’s ListenUp! preservation conference. Probably designed and built by architect Gustavus M. Torgerson in 1876, the eclectic, Second Empire-style… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Lost Mississippi: Andrew Jackson Donelson House
The Delta is Mississippi’s quintessential plantation landscape, more so than the areas surrounding Natchez, Aberdeen and Columbus, or Holly Springs. However, those places possess an antebellum architectural heritage, derived from the plantation economy, that is second to none. The Delta… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 