The National Park Service has announced a new round of its popular African American Civil Rights Grants, with an application deadline of October 8, 2018. Qualified projects will fall into one of two subcategories: Preservation (bricks and mortar)–projects from $75,000… Read More ›
Historic Preservation
Before and After: Poplar Hill School, Jefferson County
The folks who have recently brought back from the brink the one-room Poplar Hill School northwest of Fayette in Jefferson County will be holding an open house and rededication of the building after its recent preservation project on OCTOBER 6th, 2018,… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Greenwood City Hall, 1930
Bonds in the amount of $20,500 were passed in Greenwood for the purchase of land to build a new and larger city hall in May 1929. By July 6, moving of the “old Ed Bryan home” was underway from the… Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Itta Bena Grammar School
Itta Bena citizens met in May 1939 to discuss the proposed new elementary school building. The old Itta Bena school building is being wrecked, preparatory to the building of a new school building to serve that community. (Greenwood Commonwealth, 12 Sep… Read More ›
Public Comments Open for Bringing Evers House into NPS
You may have seen in the Clarion-Ledger that the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, was in Jackson recently to announce the addition of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers House to the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Network. This… Read More ›
Beat The Heat: Patio Roofs
In my searches for the history of beating the heat, I came across something I had not put much thought into the history of; covered patios and carports. Today’s examples come from 1960s ads of the Hattiesburg company Davis &… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Greenwood iron columns and pilasters
Readers know I have this love & admiration thing with iron columns, pilasters, and other iron architectural elements. I spotted a few new-to-me designs in Greenwood, and wanted to continue the focus on that town’s historic architecture. There are 16… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Where are all the early Greenwood Banks?
We’ve previously featured the 1890 Bank of Greenwood and the 1913 Wilson Banking Company on Preservation in Mississippi. Finding details about those bank buildings resulted in somewhat of a scavenger hunt through the newspaper archives and virtual driving around Greenwood. In… Read More ›
A. Hays Town Architectural Exhibit
A friend sent me this article in the new-to-me Acadiana Advocate newspaper announcing an architectural exhibit focusing on the work of A. Hays Town, specifically his later “Louisiana Style” period after he moved back home from practicing in Jackson, Mississippi… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Former Bank of Greenwood
Continuing with the bank buildings focus, Greenwood’s former Bank of Greenwood sits at the corner of Howard and Ramcat Alley. MDAH calls the c. 1890 building Romanesque and Lloyd Ostby (1980) referred to it as Victorian Romanesque, constructed of brick… Read More ›
I said it was photogenic . . .
In Tuesday’s post about the grant to put a new roof on the New Hope Baptist Church in Estill, I remarked that the towered Gothic Revival building overlooking Deer Creek is one of Mississippi’s photogenic landmarks, and Suzassippi agreed. Then… Read More ›
Two Mississippi Hill-Burton Clinics in Architectural Record
Two Mississippi health clinics funded under the Hill-Burton program were published in the October 1951 issue of Architectural Record, a high honor for our state, which is still often overlooked in the architectural world. The two-page spread focused attention on… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Wilson Banking Company of Greenwood
The Delta Daily News reported in March 2018 about the planned reopening of the former Wilson Banking Company building–as a bank! On my recent first visit to downtown Greenwood, I stumbled across this beautiful 1913 Beaux Arts building designed by architect Frank… Read More ›
Head Out on the Highway: Old Spanish Trail, 1941
Today’s post is the second in our reprint of the 1941 publication Mississippi Tourist Guide, which focused on the many attractions along Mississippi’s newly paved highways. (Check out the Intro if you missed it.) THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL (U.S. 90)… Read More ›
Ralph Lembo’s Music Store: Early Blues in Itta Bena
Ralph Lembo was an Italian immigrant who settled in Itta Bena. He turned 21 in 1918 and was one of 32 to register for military service, as required, on August 24, 1918, but he apparently was not called up to… Read More ›
Some preservation changes at MDAH
As you may have seen in a few news articles around the state (such as Rufus Ward’s tribute in the Commercial Dispatch) and here on MissPres, Mississippi preservationist Ken P’Pool is retiring from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History after… Read More ›
Happy 130th Birthday, N.W. Overstreet!
Happy Birthday, N.W. Overstreet! Just like Yankee Doodle Dandy, he was born on the 4th of July. Today would be N.W. Overstreet’s 130th birthday, as he was born on July 4th, 1888. Overstreet has left an indelible imprint all across… Read More ›
I.T. Montgomery House added to National Trust Endangered List
The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced its annual “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” for 2018 yesterday, and for only the sixth time in 31 years, a Mississippi site has made the list. The Isaiah T. Montgomery House in… Read More ›
What Lowndes County Has Done to Columbus’s Lipscomb House
If you’ve been reading MissPres for the last 6 months or so, you’ll be familiar with the sad saga of the Lipscomb House, a sweet 1880s Queen Anne cottage listed on the National Register as part of the Columbus Central… Read More ›
Tournalayer House in Vicksburg
A friend sent me this clipping from the Emporia Kansas Gazette, which shows a house made by the Tournalayer machine that was manufactured by LeTourneau. GIANT MACHINE POURS HOUSES LIKE THIS — Strolling up the walk for an inspection visit, a GI… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 5-29-2018
Let’s jump right into today’s roundup.
Mississippi’s Best Buildings of 1975
This post is a follow up to a series begun a few weeks back that stimulated quite a bit of conversation about the appreciation of buildings from the late 1960s and early 1970s that are now reaching the golden fifty-year mark… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 5-22-2018
Even thought it doesn’t look inviting, let’s jump right into today’s roundup. It is to hot already for this much bad news. To hopefully put everyone in a better mood, I’ve decided to share the bad news first and end with the good news stories.
Beat The Heat: Pan and Cover Metal Awnings
While these awnings might have reached their popularity in the 1950s, the originally filed patent date is 1935, indicating that the awnings were commercially available during the 1930s. Seeing this date has changed my perspective as to when these awnings might have… Read More ›
Jackson’s Zoo When It Was New
It’s weird how often my travels through old newspapers will lead me unexpectedly to an article that sheds light on a topic currently in the news. That very coincidence happened recently when the news broke that the organization that runs… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 5-14-2018
Let’s jump right into today’s roundup. Starting in Tupelo, there is news of new Historic District zoning. The district would include a small portion of the Downtown Tupelo National Register Historic District, and link the downtown district to the Highland… Read More ›
Beat The Heat: Attic Fans
To commemorate turning on my attic fan for the first time this season, I thought it would be fitting to share some pre-war ads for attic fans. From the June 11, 1941 edition of the Hattiesburg American. The Hattiesburg Material… Read More ›