2009
Alcazar Hotel
Clarksdale
The Alcazar Hotel was once one of the premier hotels in the South. The four-story brick structure was built in 1915 and once hosted guests such as playwright Tennessee Williams. The hotel is perhaps best known for being the location where WROX radio station broadcasted for nearly 40 years. Legends like Ike Turner, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Muddy Waters and many others performed live and were interviewed at the station by Early Wright, one of the South’s first African American disc jockeys. In the 1990s, WROX moved out and the Alcazar lost its most famous tenant. Community activists remain committed to seeing the Alcazar restored but as of today, the hotel remains vacant.
Arlington
Natchez
Constructed c. 1818 by John Hampton White, this Classical Revival house was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974. On September 17, 2002, a fire caused major damage to the house, destroying the roof and most of the second floor. Since that time, the owner has done nothing to secure the house, which remains open to the elements.
Church Street
Port Gibson
Located near the confluence of Bayou Pierre and Little Bayou Pierre, Port Gibson was spared by General U.S. Grant, who said the town was “too beautiful to burn.” Running through the center of town, Church Street hosts numerous historic churches, a synagogue and many graceful live oak trees. As part of U.S. Highway 61, heavy commercial traffic has impacted Church Street. Plans to widen the street to four lanes, which would have destroyed its historic character, have been temporarily halted by the Mississippi Department of Transportation but community activists remain on the alert.
Ebenezer A.M.E. Church
Raymond
Constructed in 1939, Ebenezer A.M.E. Church replaced an earlier Methodist church that was originally used by all denominations for worship. The new church reused much of the lumber from the older church for its construction. The congregation of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church has dwindled in recent years, causing uncertainty about the future of this historic building.
Front Street Historic District
Pascagoula
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, Pascagoula’s first historic district originally contained five houses that represented different periods of vernacular design distinctive to the area. By 2014, only the c.1840 John B. Delmas House and the Charles B. Delmas House remained. The Pascagoula Historic Preservation Commission diligently tried to work with property owners to save two of the city’s oldest homes from demolition but were unsuccessful and the houses were demolished in December 2014.
Hinds County Armory
Jackson
Completed in 1927 for the Mississippi National Guard, the Hinds County Armory is believed to be the oldest surviving 20th century armory in the state. The National Guard used the building as a training facility for nearly 50 years until the building was damaged in the 1979 Easter Flood. The exterior of the building was under restoration when work was set back by a fire in 2013. The exterior restoration, which included a new roof and window repair, has since been completed but no plans for the future use of the building have been announced.
Teoc Community
Carrollton
In 1850, William Alexander McCain purchased Waverly Plantation in Carroll County. When the Civil War ended, many of the freed slaves living on the property remained closely entwined with the McCain family and stayed in the area of the plantation, which later became known as the Teoc Community. There are several extant buildings from the early 1900s in rural Teoc, including the commissary, an iron bridge crossing the Little Teoc Creek, and the John T. Long House accompanied by a log smokehouse. Other surviving structures include a cotton crib in deteriorating shape and a single chimney remaining from a 1930s log community house.
The Oakes African American Cultural Center
Yazoo City
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, the Oakes House was home to the Mary and John Oakes family, one of the most prominent African American families in Yazoo County. The Oakes African American Cultural Center, commonly known as the “Oakes House,” began as a one-room structure that was on the lot when John Oakes purchased the property in 1866. The Oakes House has been transformed into a museum that not only tells the history of the Oakes family, but it also tells of the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in Yazoo County and the State of Mississippi. Over the years, the house deteriorated due to lack of funds for maintenance and museum operations. Funding from the Community Heritage Preservation Grant Program helped to address foundation work in 2015, but additional funding is needed to complete the restoration.
Threefoot Building
Meridian
The Threefoot Realty Company described this Art Deco skyscraper as “a magnificent monument to the growth and progress of the City of Meridian,” before its opening in 1930. Named after its first owners, the Threefoot brothers, who were part of a successful Jewish-German family in Meridian, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and designated as a Mississippi Landmark by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 2008. After years of neglect, the Threefoot Building has been restored and is slated to open as a full-service hotel in the fall of 2021.
Wood College
Mathiston
Wood College opened in 1886 as Woodland Seminary under the auspices of the Women’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1897 it was renamed Bennett Academy, and in 1915 moved to its present location and was renamed Wood College in 1936. After the college closed in 2003, the buildings on the campus were left vacant. Wood College is currently for sale.