News from Jackson, West Point, Meridian, Philadelphia, Columbus, and did I mention Meridian?
Mississippi Towns
Before: The 1942 Works Progress Administration Clinton Elementary School; After: The 2014 Residence Hall
This beautiful Colonial Revival building was designed by architect J. M. Spain and constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1942. It will be replaced by a MIssissippi College residence hall.
Happy 158th Birthday to Louis Sullivan
Father of Modern Architecture and part time Mississippian Louis Sullivan would have celebrated his 158th birthday this week. To honor his birth here is an excerpt from his autobiography which is entitled Autobiography of an Idea. In this excerpt Sullivan discusses… Read More ›
Friday Videos: Charnley-Norwood House
On this early September Friday, close your office door and take your federally mandated 15-minute break watching these two well-done videos about the Charnley-Norwood House in Ocean Springs. For those of you unfamiliar with the house, I will just say… Read More ›
Listen Up! Student Art Competition-Silent Dream of Square Books by Conor Hultman
Silent Dream of Square Books by Conor Hultman, Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, Columbus Square Books, under a cozy and comfortable façade, hold the history of human trials and triumph through corridors of the written word, past the covers… Read More ›
New Deal in Mississippi: Greenwood Underpass, AKA Main Street Railway Bridge Crossing
Named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, and a Mississippi Landmark in 2010, the Main Street Railway Bridge hails from 1938, and a combined effort of the Mississippi State Highway Department and funding from the Works Progress Administration. … Read More ›
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Bay St. Louis & Waveland
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the month… Read More ›
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Long Beach & Pass Christian
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the month… Read More ›
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Biloxi & Gulfport
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the month… Read More ›
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Sullivan Charnley Historic District
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the month… Read More ›
Looking Back Katrina’s 9th Anniversary: Pascagoula & Ocean Springs
In recognition of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week we feature some images from the Mississippi Heritage Trust Hurricane Katrina page along with images uploaded to the MDAH HRI database. These files relate to the coastal towns in the months… Read More ›
Listen Up! Student Art Competition-Forgotten Academy by Abigail Wippel
Forgotten Academy by Abigail Wippel, Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, Columbus This drawing shows what Elizabeth Female Academy looks like now and what it would have looked like during its use in the 1800s.
Architectural Siblings? Hotels Tupelo and Pinehurst
I recently was perusing the Boston Public Library’s Tichnor Brothers Collection. This collection contains approximately 25,000 office proofs of postcards of the United States published by the Boston firm Tichnor Brothers Inc. These are touristy color postcards dated circa 1930-1945. There are… Read More ›
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: Former Union County Training School
Although the Union County Training School for African Americans got its start in 1912, when the New Albany School Board purchased the site, the school operated from the former Baker home. That building burned in 1943. The old gymnasium, constructed… Read More ›
45th Anniversary of Hurricane Camille
Hurricane Camille high watermark was documented with a plaque by Glenn Swetman on the front steps of his West Biloxi home c.1970. Hurricane Katrina would bring approximately five more feet of water enough to have about two feet of water into the house. In their estate the Swetmans left the structure to the City of Biloxi. Since then the building has housed the George Ohr Pottery Museum and the Hurricane Katrina office of MDAH.
Roadside Mississippi: The Varsity, Belzoni
I notice from this picture that the formal name of Belzoni’s great burger and malt shop is “The Varsity Restaurant,” but like all icons, it’s real name is simply “The Varsity.”
Suzassippi’s Mississippi: The Avon, Von, Bon Theatre in Hernando
The circa 1940 theatre started out as the Avon according to Amy Chatham of Friends of Von Theatre (Henry Bailey, “Hernando chasing funds for skate park, will chill at Front Porch Jubilee,” Commercial Appeal, March 10, 2014). …the ‘A’… Read More ›
More Mid-Century Medical
The previous Mid-Century Medical post was about the little building that Is. It is not a big bold building with a prominent location. It is not a building that will likely ever have a plaque in front that reads “On… Read More ›
Roadside Mississippi: Kevin’s Korner, Pascagoula
Just down the street from Edd’s in Pascagoula is Kevin’s Korner. I love angled windows, and I love Kevin’s shakes, burgers, and fries!
Mid-Century Medical
In Jackson just south of the Veterans Memorial Stadium is a group of buildings dubbed University Plaza that were developed c.1954 when University of Mississippi opened its medical school on the other side of North State Street. While some of… Read More ›
New National Register Properties
Five Mississippi properties have recently been listed to the National Register of Historic Places.
School is Out-For the Count?
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees will consider two requests for demolition of Mississippi Landmarks at their Friday, July 18 meeting: Guntown School in Lee County, and Eupora School Gymnasium in Webster County.
Suzassippi’s Mississippi Road Trip: DeSoto County Courthouse
The circa 1941 (dates range from 1940-1942 depending on source) Neoclassical courthouse sitting in the middle of Hernando town square was designed by Mississippi’s R. W. Naef and built by Fred B. Johnson.
Roadside Mississippi: B&B Kitchen, Yazoo City
I’m not sure if B&Bs Kitchen has ever been a burger and shake kind of place, but it looks like it could have been, and I couldn’t resist its zigzag roof and cheerful red and white stripes.
Burger and Shake Please!
After a brief hiatus, Jackson’s classic soda fountain Brent’s Drugs is back and better than ever. We certainly are lucky to have preservationists like Brad Reeves and his partners Johnathan Shull and Amanda and Nathan Wells to carry the torch…. Read More ›
A Nation in Motion: Robertshaw Co. Plantation at Heathman
The Robertshaw Company Plantation at Heathman, between Leland and Indianola was the site on September 1924 of the fist commercial airplane crop dusting for insect control in the United States.
Vacation Postcards: Court Royale, Clarksdale
MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past.