High atop a cotton seed oil mill in the Mississippi Delta, a star. Merry Christmas from Preservation in Mississippi!
Mississippi Towns
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 ›
Charnley-Norwood House/Restored Landscape Open Sunday
I haven’t seen much buzz about this Sunday’s open house at the Charnley-Norwood House on East Beach Blvd. in Ocean Springs, but this isn’t just an open house but an open yard as well. My understanding is that the landscape… Read More ›
Newspaper Clippings: Provine Chapel, Sept.1860
As more and more old newspapers get scanned and put online, it’s amazing the little gems of articles you can find with a few clicks. Here’s one from September 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, just a little… Read More ›
2016 Community Heritage Preservation Grants Announced
From the MDAH website comes much-anticipated news about this year’s round of Community Heritage Preservation Grants (CHPG), the state’s primary historic preservation grant program. I’ve taken the liberty of adding links to the MDAH Historic Resources Database for each building so you… Read More ›
Things for architecture-lovers to do this season
‘Tis the season for architecture lovers to get out and tour historic (and even a few newish) places around Mississippi. Christmas in Natchez, of course, has been going on for a few weeks now, and to see their full and… Read More ›
MHT featured on Mississippi Roads
Check out the feature that Walt Grayson did on the Mississippi Heritage Trust and preservation around the state on his recent episode “Helping One Another” on MPB’s Mississippi Roads.
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.
Help Clean up the Mississippi River Basin Model
Get up off your duff, grab your gloves, gulp some water, and come help clean up the amazing Mississippi River Basin Model!
Mound Bayou Craftsman
Did I.T. Montgomery build his imposing Craftsman-style house in 1910 or 1920? Read on.
Before and After: Taborian Hospital
If you are up in Bolivar County this weekend for MHT’s Delta Drive-In, try to leave time to head up the road to Mound Bayou where you can see the Taborian Hospital, now called Taborian Urgent Care Center, reopened after… Read More ›
Veterans Day 2016
Today we honor all Mississippians who have served, here or abroad, in wars hot or cold.
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 ›
Mississippi Capitol Earns National Landmark Status
I didn’t plan on taking a vacation from the blog this week, but how could I have known the Cubs would take me through such a nerve-wracking World Series and making me stay up so late on Wednesday to get them through those… 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 ›
Second Empire = Haunted House?
On Halloween, the thoughts of most Americans turn to haunted houses, and odds are, those who do think about haunted houses are picturing what architectural historians would call Second Empire style buildings, complete with a tower (or two), mansard roof… 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 ›
Farish Street: A street that defines America?
A helpful MissPres reader sent me a link to a longform series in Curbed called “10 streets that define America,” with a teaser line, “What do America’s streets—and the people who inhabit them—say about the state of our country in… Read More ›
Modernism in Natchez: Natchez High School
Can there be any Modernism in Natchez, home of the Natchez Pilgrimage? The answer, my friend, is yes.
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 ›
Going Inside: Cathedral of the Nativity, Biloxi
I came across this postcard showing the inside of what is now known as the Cathedral of the Nativity in downtown Biloxi and realized I had taken a picture of almost the same view a couple of years ago to… Read More ›
Craftsman in Mississippi: Natchez Cemetery Shelter House
We’ve taken a break from the Craftsman series, but there are just too many nice Craftsman-style buildings in Mississippi to ignore, so here’s a new one on me, the Natchez City Cemetery Shelter House, which I “discovered” back in the… Read More ›
Architects of Mississippi: Raymond Birchett (1902-1974)
A long while ago, I did a post about the abandoned Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg, which continues to be a popular post here on MissPres. I used a newspaper clipping from the special edition of the Vicksburg Post that ran the… 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 ›
HABS in Mississippi: Dr. C.M. Vaiden House, Vaiden
The MDAH Historic Resources Database says about the Dr. C.M. Vaiden House, which it also calls Prairie Mount: “Like nearby Malmaison and Indian Mound, this was a large, elegant two-story porticoed mansion in the “Bracketed Greek Revival” style. Having been… 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 ›
Preservation in Mississippi 