At a special meeting on December 2 the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History awarded nearly $2 million on behalf of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program to seventeen preservation and restoration projects from across the state. The Community Heritage Preservation Grant program, authorized and funded through the Mississippi Legislature, helps preserve and restore historic courthouses and schools and, in Certified Local Government communities, other historic properties. Over the life of the program the department has awarded more than $37 million to 300 projects.
"The Legislature has saved hundreds of significant Mississippi properties through this program," said MDAH director Katie Blount. "The Department of Archives and History is grateful for the Legislature's support and pleased to be able to help preserve these local treasures." The grant awards are as follows: Temple B'nai Israel, Natchez, Adams County—$105,795 For roofing and electrical repairs and interior rehabilitation. Shaw High School, Shaw, Bolivar County—$120,000 For interior restoration, structural stabilization, and a conducted facilities study. Okolona Elementary School, Okolona, Chickasaw County—$117,600 For building renovation and restoration of barrel roof. West Point Colored High School, West Point, Clay County—$67,210 For roof repair. Meadville Armory, Meadville, Franklin County—$39,600 For stabilization of the structure, foundation repair, and plasterwork. Bailey School, Jackson, Hinds County—$370,000 For stabilization of the structure and restoration of the classrooms and auditorium. LaPointe-Krebs House, Pascagoula, Jackson County—$210,480 For Phase IV of building rehabilitation and preservation of its mid-eighteenth century characteristics. Poplar Hill Museum of African American Culture, Fayette, Jefferson County—$29,904 For exterior and interior restoration and ADA compliance. Jones County Courthouse, Ellisville, Jones County—$156,894 For roofing repair and drainage improvement. Wechsler School, Meridian, Lauderdale County—$85,824 For roofing renovation of the 1951 section of the building. Columbia Waterworks, Columbia, Marion County—$69,483 For electrical repair and interior renovation. Aberdeen M&O Depot, Aberdeen, Monroe County—$160,000 For interior and exterior restoration. Newton City Hall, Newton, Newton County—$51,840 For roofing repairs and treating interior water damage due to roofing leaks. Union County Courthouse, New Albany, Union County—$148,800 For restoring metal roof cornice and masonry. Walthall County Courthouse, Tylertown, Walthall County—$59,648 For repairing the roofing, improving the drainage, and restoring interior windows. Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation Convent, Vicksburg, Warren County —$75,447 For rehabilitation of the exterior and porch. Yazoo City Hall, Yazoo City, Yazoo County—$128,916 For repairs to the gutters, roof, and bell tower. Grant awards are paid on a reimbursable basis upon the successful completion of the entire project or at the time of the completion of pre-established phases of the project. Prior to application all buildings must have been designated Mississippi Landmarks. Only county or municipal governments, school districts, and nonprofit organizations granted Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service may submit applications. In reviewing and evaluating the grants, the Board of Trustees of MDAH attempted to balance the geographical distribution of grant awards. To become a Certified Local Government, a community must adopt a preservation ordinance establishing a preservation commission in accordance with federal and state guidelines. Once the commission has been established, application for CLG status may be made to the National Park Service through the Department of Archives and History. MDAH works closely with local government officials and citizens to help them create and manage a workable local historic preservation program. To learn more about the CLG program, contact Barry White in the Historic Preservation Division of MDAH, 601-576-6940.
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Last month, 150 members of the Southern Jewish Historical Society gathered for their 41st annual conference. Even for a group familiar with the Deep South, most had to head farther into the heart of Dixie than usual, as they gathered in one of the most Southern cities of them all: Natchez, Mississippi. The conference theme, “Jews in the Southern Hinterland,” was enhanced by the setting and activities in Natchez, where participants got firsthand experience of Jewish life in the small towns and rural areas of the South. Natchez has a long and rich Jewish history, and it provides the perfect venue to examine how Jews adapted and thrived in the small-town South. Natchez’s Temple B’nai Israel, our home congregation for the conference, is a testament to the resilience and commitment of small Jewish communities to survive amidst demographic changes. Read more about confence highlights here- www.myjewishlearning.com/southern-and-jewish/celebrating-jewish-history-in-one-of-the-deepest-deep-south-towns/ Many thanks for everyone in Natchez who went above and beyond to provide Southern hospitality to our guests, and we are grateful as well to our generous and enthusiastic conference participants. It was a pleasure to meet and learn from everyone in our group. The SJHS gathering also provided a wonderful launching point for Temple B’nai Israel’s restoration and preservation campaign. Our long-term goal is for the building to regularly serve as a public space. We will ensure the temple is secure and accessible for extensive public use by the local community and visitors, which will increase awareness and appreciation of 200 years of Jewish presence in the state.. The building will be function as a cultural and meeting facility, accessible to all, with an elevator, 350-seat sanctuary, museum exhibits, and special programming to preserve and interpret the important legacy of the Natchez Jewish community. To learn more visit Temple B’nai Israel’s website – and maybe come on down and visit Natchez yourself! Original post with photos on Samuel Gruber's Jewish Art & Monuments
samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2016/11/natchez-ms.html html A Jewish Gem of the South: Temple B'nai Israel in Natchez by Samuel D. Gruber Last weekend I had the great pleasure of spending many hours over three days in the sanctuary of the temple B'nai Israel in Natchez, Mississippi, one of the loveliest and most comfortable Jewish spaces in the South. built more than a century ago, the room still works well for Shabbat services and as a meeting hall for a modest-sized conference such as the just-concluded Annual Meeting of the Southern Jewish Historical Society (SJHS). I was last at the Temple in 1992 - and it seemed then that the place was about the close, the small congregation disappears. But remarkable the stalwarts held on, and the now even smaller congregation remains devoted to the building, its history and the traditions and memories it embodies. But still it is scheduled to close - sometime soon - and transition has has been planned now for decades into a musuem and cultural center administered by the Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL). Unfortunately, the decade of diminished capabilities have taken their tool and the building needs work. ISJL will need to raise considerable funds to ensure this Jewish gem will last another century. Inside rows of very comfortable curved pews following the new 20th-century preference for wider seating (for wider bottoms?) and sloping backs, sweep across the broad interior. All seating is good, with excellent sight lines to the bimah and Ark and a sense of closeness no matter how far. This same modern version of the old "broad-house' synagogue design was being pursued elsewhere about the same time - notably at the much larger Isaiah Temple designed by Dankmar Adler and built 1998-1900 in Chicago. You can get a great 360 degree view of the sanctuary at http://www.synagogues360.org/synagogues.php?ident=united_states_035 B'nai Israel is one of a group of related classical style synagogues erected across Mississippi shortly after the turn of the 20th century. I've written before about the rise of Classicism as the "brand" style of the Reform Movement at the turn of the 20th-century, but as I've been researching the this and similar building for the up-coming on-line exhibit Synagogues of the South for the College of Charleston, I've adopted a slightly more nuanced view. After all, the leap in design from the previous Temple, which burned down in 1903 is not so great as in the case where classical style Temple radically replaced earlier Moorish style ones (as in Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL). H. A. Overbeck, who had already designed a synagogue in Dallas prepared plans for the new structure. The cornerstone for the present building was laid in July, 1904, and the building was dedicated March 25, 1905, with Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati and over 600 others in attendance. Natchez, MS. Temple B'nai Israel. H. A. Overbeck, architect, 1905. South side, former terracotta or stucco medallion now missing. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2016 The synagogue is designed as a tight block on a high foundation. A protruding porch, which serves as a small entryway-vestibule is reached by a slight of steps from the street, flanked by two pairs of tall smooth ionic columns set on pedestals, close to the facade. The entrance atop the steps and between the columns is a big arched doorway. The columns support and entablature and a pediment, and these dominate the building’s outward appearance. Inside, a small dome on a high drum sits over the sanctuary which is subtly lit through its high-quality stained windows that punctuate the building’s sides. The sanctuary has a seating capacity of 450. The centerpiece of the building is a magnificent ark of Italian marble, located right under the new organ (listed on the National Register of Historic Organs) now, which congregants played at most services. With an additional balcony over the entrance (presumably for extra seating), the temple was built to house an ever growing congregation. The building is a testament to the wealth and prominence of Natchez’s Jewish community at the time. And yet, by 1907, B’nai Israel had reached its peak size with 145 members. |
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