Other Memorial Day posts . . .
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In military lingo, MRBM = NHCEL
Congratulations to the intrepid Friends of the Mississippi River Basin Model in Jackson, who received the designation of National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark from the American Society of Civil Engineers at a ceremony earlier this week!
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 ›
From Bauhaus to Our House: Tom Wolfe 1930-2018
You might have heard the news that author Tom Wolfe passed away on May 14. Among the many tributes, Wolfe’s assessment of Modern architecture in From Bauhaus to Our House receives at least a brief mention. Personally, this book gave me… Read More ›
MHT Historic Preservation Conference set for June 6-8
From our friends at Mississippi Heritage Trust. More information about this year’s statewide historic preservation conference can be found on their website. https://www.mississippiheritage.com/listen-up/ On June 6-8, the Mississippi Heritage Trust will host the Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference at the… 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 ›
New Deal in Magee: School Buildings
One of the New Deal projects that gets less recognition is the Civil Works Administration, a job creation program established under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, active in providing temporary employment for manual laborers between 1933-1934. Using standard Mississippi Department… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 5-8-2018
It has been a busy two weeks for the preservation world since our last roundup, so let’s jump right into today’s roundup. From Meridian comes an interesting story about the future of the city’s 1932 U.S. Post Office and Courthouse…. Read More ›
MHT’s Preservation Workshops in Greenville & Cleveland
We’ve got some more information from our friends at the Mississippi Heritage Trust about two upcoming preservation workshops in the Delta. The information contained in the fliers below are for events to be held in Cleveland, and Greenville, with the… Read More ›
Greenwood’s Midway Hotel, or How Buildings Fall Down
As we learned last week in the News Round-up, the Greenwood’s Midway Hotel (first built in 1905 as the Kitchell Hotel, enlarged with a north addition in 1916, and later renamed the Weiner) will be demolished. Inspection by a structural… Read More ›
Mid 20th-Century Eclectic Historicism in Laurel
We’ve had several posts on what later mid-century modern buildings (defined here on MissPres by W. White as c.1965-c.1978) were considered in their time as the best Mississippi had to offer. Let’s not forget that there were plenty of buildings… Read More ›
Edwards Schools for African Americans in the 1950s
Earlier posts about Edwards schools featured the 1941 National Youth Administration’s gymnasium and school improvements and swimming pool funded by the Civil Works Administration in 1934. Today’s post will feature the schools for African Americans in Edwards and Hinds County… Read More ›
Which Mississippi Civil Rights Sites Should Become National Parks?
The National Park Service is undertaking a study of civil rights sites in Mississippi to report to Congress on which sites might become part of the park system. A new NPS website explains the project and announces six public meetings… Read More ›
MHT’s Preservation Toolkit
From our friends at the Mississippi Heritage Trust comes an announcement of upcoming workshops from one end of the state to the other: Bay St. Louis, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Columbus, Corinth, Greenville, Greenwood, Gulfport, Oxford, Pascagoula, aaaaand–whew!–Tupelo.
Magee Community House: WPA or not?
Mississippi can document a number of community houses constructed under the auspices of the New Deal Administration, including FERA (Pontotoc and Macon) and WPA (Winona, Biloxi, Carrollton, Enterprise, Grenada, and Eupora). Additionally, at least 6 other facilities are conjectured to… Read More ›
Builders of Mississippi: Jordan Construction Co.
Recently, I saw these images of the construction of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson Chancery Building in the Mississippi Digital Library’s Bishop R. O. Gerow Collection. While the building’s contractor is not documented in the MDAH HRI, I believe, based… Read More ›
MDAH Announces 2018 CLG Grants
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has awarded grants totaling more than $63,000 to ten preservation projects in Certified Local Government (CLG) communities across the state. Amounts range from $1,250 for the development of an interactive website that interprets Boonville’s historic district to $12,500 to continue the rehabilitation of the Weinberg House in Greenville.
MissPres News Roundup 4-23-2018
Last week’s Name This Place contest was a big success, thanks to all who participated. A big round of digital applause is due for our latest “Mississippi Preservationist Extraordinaire” ed polk douglas and W. White’s stalwart efforts pulling together entries… Read More ›
Name This Place XII Results: A New Mississippi Preservationist Extraordinaire!
Friday was the last day of Name This Place XII, with ed polk douglas leading the way with 13 points while Carunzel and Thomas Rosell were each close behind with 11 points. This close competition would, like all good competitions, come down… Read More ›
Name This Place 12.5.4
This is the final post of the competition. You have until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to be eligible for receiving points for answers about today’s four posts. At that time, the results will be posted and the Mississippi Preservationist Extraordinaire… Read More ›
Name This Place 12.5.1
Thursday’s first post was the day’s difficult one but after an hour the Iuka/Mineral Springs Hotel was identified by Carunzel, with Suzassippi, ed polk douglas, Belinda2015, and Thomas Rosell receiving one point each for their contributions. The second building to be… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 