A comment on last week’s post about the fast-food chain Burger Chef, along with the company’s news in August 2019 that they would be closing five hundred of their dine-in restaurants got me thinking about Pizza Hut. The brand’s iconic… Read More ›
Hattiesburg
Who remembers Burger Chef?
Who remembers the fast food chain Burger Chef? A few years ago, I passed through Laurel and saw a relatively intact Drive-In that was being used as a coin laundry it had a distinct look, one that I couldn’t place… Read More ›
Mid-Century Mississippi: Subsistence Homesteads
After the post a couple of weeks ago about the National Park Service’s proposal to demolish half of the Tupelo Homesteads Historic District, I thought we needed more context about the homesteads, which were a 1930s program that attempted to… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 6-25-2019
It has been some time since there has been a News Roundup on Preservation in Mississippi (links to select news stories are on the site’s Twitter feed). But, like trees falling in a forest, preservation news happens even if we… Read More ›
Mississippi Streets: 1930s Hattiesburg
The angle of this postcard perplexed me, but I found that in the 1935 City Directory, Kirkwood Furniture was at 614 Main, and the 3-story building to the far left is still recognizably there, unlike the rest of its block…. Read More ›
MDAH announces CLG grants for 2019
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has awarded grants totaling more than $78,000 to nine preservation projects in Certified Local Government (CLG) communities across the state.
Vacation Postcards: USM Stadium, Hattiesburg
MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. More Vacation Postcards. . .
National Register Listings, 2018
Last year saw seven new Mississippi places listed on the National Register, ranging from an African American public library to a post-World War II Jewish temple, two architecturally significant houses, and a church in Neshoba County that may or may not be nationally significant.
Auld Lang Syne: Friends we lost in 2018
I’m a couple of weeks late in my “end-of-year posts” but as Thomas Rosell mentioned in his last post, sometimes life takes over, and in my case, December just got away from me, so here we are, better late than… Read More ›
Pat Harrison Waterway Building before Forrest County destroyed it
Back in 2013, I encountered the Pat Harrison Waterway Building while it was still the Pat Harrison Waterway Building, and since it was a beautiful blue-sky day that showed its tile mosaic and modernist details, such as its metal screen… Read More ›
Working Under Cover of Weekend, Forrest County Demos Pat Harrison Building
Just a rule of thumb for life, whenever government starts working on Friday afternoon, somethin fishy is probably going on (see Moss Point Water Works). In a burst of energy last Friday afternoon, Forrest County decided to demolish the former… Read More ›
Head out on the Highway: U.S. 11
Today’s post is the eighth 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.) Note: In the booklet, the paragraphs about Jones… Read More ›
Head Out on the Highway: U.S. 49
Today’s post is the fifth 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.) U.S. Highway 49 At the progressive town of Clarksdale… 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 ›
A Call for Mississippi’s Best Preservation Projects
The Southeastern Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) has issued a call for nominations for their “Best of the South” award, with nominations due July 1, 2018. As you may recall, Mississippi has snagged four of these awards in the past:… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 3-6-2018
It’s time for another news roundup. Remember you can catch the preservation news as it breaks in our Twitter sidebar to the right. =====>> A story from January that slipped by us was the demolition, by Entergy, of their Delta Steam… Read More ›
New National Register Listings in Mississippi
From the MDAH website (with added Google streetviews for each building so you can explore): Four Buildings Added to National Register – posted February 05, 2018 A historic African American library, a Jewish synagogue, and two Jackson elementary schools have been listed… Read More ›
Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2017
Every year when I sit down to compile this post, I get a little discouraged to see what landmarks, large and small, have disappeared from the Mississippi landscape. But I also build up some renewed determination to fight just as… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2017 In Review
This is a roundup of our 2017 MissPres News Roundups. Unless a huge story breaks this will be our last roundup for the year. One of the top news stories this year was damage to historic places caused by tornadoes… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 12-5-2017
Good news for Hattiesburg’s Eaton School? Bad news for Meridian’s Mid Century Sears? And conundrums in Jackson all in this weeks MissPres News Roundup.
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Mississippi’s Outstanding Post-War Schools
It’s totally normal (I’m sure you would agree) to collect books like American School and University, and as I was flipping through the 1950-51 (22nd annual) edition, I came across a chapter called “America’s Outstanding School Buildings (built since 1945).”… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 10-24-2017
Let’s jump right into this week’s roundup. A roundup that contains lots of stories from Jackson. Starting in Jackson‘s Belhaven Neighborhood, over the years, First Presbyterian Church on N. State Street has been buying homes adjacent to the church property. … Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 10-18-2017
Due to a scheduling error our regular Tuesday roundup is running Wednesday. Mississippi appears to have come out of Hurricane Nate relatively unscathed, but there is bad news to report this week, with a little bit of good news to… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 10-3-2017
Another week’s worth of mixed good and bad news. Let’s jump right into this week’s roundup. This is getting a little too meta for me. A news story in the Jackson Free Press quoted last week’s news MissPres round-up regarding… Read More ›
Aladdin Ledger Houses: A Plaza in Sledge
Aladdin likely shipped kit houses into Mississippi for nearly the entirety of their eighty-one year existence, but the Aladdin plant in Hattiesburg operated for less than three years between 1919 and 1921. One of the ledger orders was for a Plaza model requested by a “Sledge & Gillis” to be shipped to Sledge, Quitman County, Mississippi.
MissPres News Roundup 9-19-2017
Another somewhat quiet week in the Mississippi preservation world this week. Everyone must be too focused on that great Mississippi State football victory to do much of anything else. Here are a few stories have popped up. Fitting in with… Read More ›
Aladdin Ledger Houses: A Winthrop in Newton
This post is the first in a series to identify Aladdin Company kit houses that were manufactured locally and shipped to sites within Mississippi. Thanks to Cindy Catanzaro and the Clarke Historical Library in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan we’ve had an opportunity to see the… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 