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 ›
Historic Preservation
Preservation Presentations This Week
Here is a reminder about two free preservation related lectures that are taking place this week.
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 ›
Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2017 – Civil Rights Posts on Preservation in Mississippi
To celebrate this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day (or Great Americans Day according to some at the City of Biloxi), Preservation in Mississippi is highlighting some of the site’s many posts about the Civil Rights Movement and African American history. Martin… Read More ›
Mississippi Landmarks 2016
I had expected to get this post up when we were still in the year 2016, and I certainly didn’t think it would end up coming out in the second week of 2017, but this year’s list of new Mississippi Landmarks… 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 ›
Top 11 MissPres posts written in 2016
Before we get too far into 2017, let’s take a look back at the most popular posts written during 2016. If you missed any of these posts now would be a good chance to catch up. If you remember them,… Read More ›
2016 Annual Report
It’s time for our annual look back at how this little blog performed in the last year. I’m not going to lie, as a blogger, 2016 was a long slog. In June 2015, we had hit 1,000,000 page views and our numbers… Read More ›
With Gratitude
2016 has been quite the year: the struggles, the places we’ve lost. I am hopeful we learned from these losses to maybe prevent similar losses in the future. Looking beyond, I would like to share this list of the things I am grateful… Read More ›
Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2016
Raise a toast to absent friends and historic places we lost in 2016.
National Register 2016: Individual Listings
National Register listings for 2016 vary from a rural African American store to an Illinois Central Depot in Durant to “The Hermitage” on the banks of Hobolochitto Creek in Picayune.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History: Part II
Last week we took a look at the beginnings of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, established in March 1902. Legislation was drafted by Franklin L. Riley, professor of history and rhetoric at University of Mississippi, and subsequently passed… Read More ›
Mississippi Department of Archives & History: Part I
Malvaney’s post last week about historic newspapers and their interesting content made me think about searching the newspaper archives for the history of MDAH, since I so often rely on the department’s resources for details on historic sites in Mississippi…. Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Madison-Ridgeland High School addition
It has been a while since we have been on the New Deal Tour for Mississippi, so I decided it was high time to get back on the road. The Public Works Administration-funded annex to the Madison-Ridgeland High School was… Read More ›
McAfee Repair Shop and the Farish Street Garage
The block of storefronts along 744-752 N. Farish Street was built c. 1928 (Cramer, 1979). According to the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places, the one-story, stepped parapet roofline with patterned brickwork in the frieze and cornice… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 11-7-2016
Let’s get caught up on preservation events around the Magnolia State. . . Over in Meridian, WTOK’s headline is “Interior demolition to begin soon on Threefoot Building.” As you recall, Meridian’s Art Deco office skyscraper, buit in 1929, has been… Read More ›
How about a little history with lunch? The evolution of Home Dining Room on Farish Street
Like most of Farish Street, the story of the Home Dining Room is deeply embedded in the early cultural experiences of the street known as the “Black Mecca of Mississippi.” Home Dining Room was not originally located at the building… Read More ›
Friday Film(s): Two Natchez Architects
Last week’s post about the Natchez Cemetery Shelter House by architect Samuel Marx brought a comment from Kathleen Bond that gave us a link to a recent Natchez History Minute video about the celebrated furniture designer and architect, who spent… Read More ›
Main Street Greenwood Starts a Preservation Revolving Fund
Last week, Main Street Greenwood announced the availability of the Antoon’s Department Store, built in 1908, and a longtime mainstay in downtown Greenwood. What’s exciting about this is that it marks the beginning of a larger effort that has paid huge… Read More ›
Paris on Farish: Visiting Mississippi’s “Black Mecca”
Congratulations galore belong to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse [sic] Williams, head of the Paris Cleaners in Jackson. They moved recently into their brand new $50,000 home. Success has been and is yours! (Anselm J. Finch’s Mississippi Snaps, The Pittsburgh Courier, May… Read More ›
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 ›
“When did the focus change from the Farish Street Historic District?”
Rosalind McCoy Sibley asked that question, and it needs an answer (Farish Street-A Slightly Different Perspective, Jackson Advocate, 2015). I do not have it, and apparently, neither does any one else who has followed the “miscalculated missteps” of the project,… Read More ›
Mississippi’s Early Concrete Skyscrapers
Recently I came across the Hattiesburg Mississippi Industrial Edition for May 1908. It will most certainly be the source of many future blog posts, with lots of photographs, descriptions, and accounts of goings-on in the Hub City. Of all the civic boosting that is done in… Read More ›
An Aladdin Craftsman in Tunica?
Back when I was looking for historic playing fields to feature in the Mississippi’s Historic Playing Fields post, I was scoping out the athletic fields in Tunica across School Street from the former High School. The athletic fields, including this baseball diamond, are estimated… Read More ›