It’s been a couple weeks since our last news roundup, so I thought I’d stick one in on Monday instead of Friday/Saturday. I hope this temporary change in schedule doesn’t blow everybody’s minds. Some crazy stuff has been happening around… Read More ›
Mississippi Towns
Preservation Month in the MissPres Universe
As y’all are no doubt aware, May is Preservation Month, which is good because if it was June, July or August, we would all have to agree it was just too hot to put on a program. But since it’s… Read More ›
Lost Mississippi: Concord, Natchez (1789-1901)
Last week’s WPA Guide to the Magnolia State mentioned the Natchez mansion “Concord” very prominently in its discussion of the evolution of architecture in Mississippi. Concord must have been an amazing place because although it burned in 1901, it has… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-30-2010
Our crack reporter, W. White, has finished exams at MSU (or maybe just got kicked out?) and headed back Alabama way for the summer, where he no doubt will waste his substance in riotous living before coming back to Starkville… Read More ›
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State: But the Depression is Great!
Today we come to the conclusion of the WPA Guide to the Magnolia State and its section on Architecture. While Beverly Martin, the young architect we have conjectured is the author, has shown his bias for the antebellum era and… Read More ›
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State: No Such Thing as “Southern Colonial”
Today’s post is the second in this week’s serial reproduction of the section on architecture in the Guide to the Magnolia State, published in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writer’s Project. As we saw yesterday, this… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-25-2010
Welcome back from France, Malvaney. Most of the news that I have found for the past two weeks has concerned various Pilgrimages. It almost seems that every small town in Mississippi has people parading around in hoop skirts and Confederate… Read More ›
Paved, Not Saved…Biloxi’s Buena Vista Hotel
The Buena Vista threw open its doors on July 4th, 1924 to an admiring crowd of eager spectators. Built on a larger scale than the Tivoli, yet not matching the sweeping grandeur of the Edgewater Gulf, the Buena Vista would… Read More ›
Vacation Postcards: Sea Gull Tourist Court
“March 3, 1956, Sat. eve., Got in here today, rained all nite, a welcome rain. the azaleas and camellias are just beautiful here, I marked where we are on other side. Lots of people here, are next door to a… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-10-2010
I have not had the time to sift through newspapers, thanks to end of the semester work, merely search online. Since there is a lot of important preservation news in the major communities, I have been able to pull together… Read More ›
Vacation Postcards: Downtowner Motor Inn, Vicksburg
“March 17, 1969: Tried to call you Sat. noon at 12:00 (1:00 PM your time) but no answer. So far I wish you were with us–only 18 with bus driver–so we all have a seat by ourselves and even extras…. Read More ›
Gulfport’s Markham Hotel, Threatened Pillar of Main Street
The recent discussion in the Sun Herald about the Markham Hotel warrants a rejoinder. That a Main Street program which receives federal and state funds for preservation would even be considering demolition for an important downtown landmark is unthinkable. Alas,… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-1-2010
And here is the news. Calhoun City’s urban renewal efforts continue. According to the March 25 edition of The Calhoun County Journal, the structure I mentioned in the last News Roundup on the corner of Main St. and Taylor Ave…. Read More ›
Linking Around
I’m told that the original blogs tried to bring order to the World Wide Web primarily by pointing their readers to interesting articles or websites. I’m not exactly on the cutting edge of technology, so I probably wasn’t even aware… Read More ›
Progress of a sort in Hattiesburg
I drove through Hattiesburg again last weekend and decided to check on Eaton School, poor roofless creature that it was last I saw it. The good news is that the building now has a roof structure; the not-so-good-news is that… Read More ›
In Memoriam: William R. Henry (1925-2010)
I saw this letter to the editor from Nicholas Davis, Emeritus Professor of Architecture at Auburn, in the Clarion-Ledger a week or so ago, about the recent death of Mississippi architect William R. Henry: I was most saddened recently to… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 3-27-2010
Saturday Morning, I promised another News Roundup and there is enough news to create another News Roundup. And here is the news. I reported in the 3-12-2010 News Roundup that a group of citizens in Calhoun City has spearheaded a move… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 3-26-2010
Good Morning MissPres community, I am back in Mississippi. I will start off the post with some scheduling information. This will be the last News Roundup posted by me on a Friday. Due to my schedule (and when the MSU… Read More ›
Young Bungalow for Sale in Canton
A friend of mine sent me this link to a blog “The Young Bungalow” about the renovation/restoration efforts of a sweet Craftsman Bungalow in Canton. The house–listed on the National Register in 2008–is now for sale, for $123,000. Even if… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 3-19-2010
My apologies for not producing my usual in-depth News Roundup for this week; the normal News Roundup will return next week. Of course, I am on vacation and used some of my vacation time to create last week’s News Roundup,… Read More ›
Hull’s Governor’s Mansion Report: What They Did in 1909
After William S. Hull made his case for preserving and renovating the building in the first few pages of his 1909 report on the Governor’s Mansion, he went into detail about how to carry out his vision, including the landscaping,… Read More ›
Hull’s Governor’s Mansion Report: An Argument for Preservation
This week we’re following William S. Hull’s Report on the Governor’s Mansion, prepared in 1909 to help the Legislature decide whether to repair/renovate the existing antebellum mansion or replace it with a new building. Hull argued for the renovation option… Read More ›
W.S. Hull’s Governor’s Mansion Report: Original Downtown Booster
Today we continue with our friend W.S. Hull’s 1909 report on the Governor’s Mansion. Yesterday, we learned a little bit about William S. Hull, one of Mississippi’s early native architects and brother of contractor Francis Blair Hull. In 1909, the… Read More ›
From the Archives: W.S. Hull’s Report on the Governor’s Mansion
I stumbled on this report about the Governor’s Mansion recently and thought that it would be an interesting series for the MissPres readership. Prepared in 1909 by Jackson architect W.S. Hull, it apparently provided the basis for a decision by… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 