– This Place Matters –
For many years, a battle raged over the fate of the Gulfport Library. Designed by local architect Charles L. Proffer in the New Formalist style, the library was constructed in 1966 and featured a grand spiral staircase, elegant colonnade and a koi pond. Hurricane Katrina savaged the modernist building, leaving it open to the elements
Hallelujah! During the 2020 legislative session, Mississippi’s lawmakers reauthorized the highly successful Mississippi Historic Tax Credit Program by allocating an additional $60 million dollars and extending the program deadline to 2030. The legislation also removed the $1 million-dollar threshold to allow smaller projects to take advantage of the 75% tax rebate.
During the 2020 Legislative Session, legislators allocated funding for the Community Heritage Preservation Grant Program. This important preservation program was first established in 2001 and has provided more than $48 million dollars to help restore over 300 schools, courthouses and other historic properties located in Certified Local Government communities.
Belinda Stewart knows the truth in the age-old saying “There’s no place like home.” In 1990, after graduating from Mississippi State University School of Architecture, Belinda moved back to her beloved small hometown of Eupora. “I became interested in being an architect when I heard a presentation on architecture in high school and realized that it represented so many of my interests rolled into one profession,” she says.
Isla Tullos moved to the sleepy town of Raymond in the early 1990s where, by chance and persuasion, she threw her hat into the ring for mayor in 1997. She won and has continued to lead her town forward since. What was once a town in need of change is now a town that people flock to for a change.
The pounding of hammers has replaced the ringing of school bells in the Old Hattiesburg High School. Once a place of learning and community, the Jacobethan-style school closed its doors in 1959 after the construction of the new public high school. Since that time, the school has suffered damage from hurricanes and the passage of time.
After Hurricane Katrina, the citizens of Gulfport dug in to clean up and assess what was left of their town. So many lovely homes, churches and downtown buildings had been reduced to nothing more than a concrete slab. The future of other places, which were still standing but badly damaged by the storm, was uncertain. One such place is what is now called Centennial Plaza.
The meticulous restoration of Georgianna, a circa 1850 raised planter’s cottage located outside of Cary, Mississippi into a hunting retreat involved a dedicated team of owners, architects, historians, builders and craftspeople. The painstaking process of saving this badly deteriorated landmark took nearly three years.
Thanks to Al and Libby Hollingsworth’s gift and a generous challenge grant of $8,000 from the Community Foundation for Mississippi, the Mississippi Heritage Trust is close to reaching its initial goal of $35,000 for the Endowment Fund.
They offered cheap rooms, a heated pool, a decent coffee shop and an endless, gratis supply of bologna and crackers in the corner of the lobby and for a time, it was one of Mississippi’s most intriguing and influential political and governmental environments.
Leah Ferretti and her husband Blake had long admired historical structures from afar, enamored of their beauty and the stories behind them.
