Starkville will soon be the first city in the state to undertake a survey to identify all of its historic properties.
The survey, which is happening thanks to an $8,500 Mississippi Department of Archives and History Certified Local Government grant, will allow the city to take stock of what historic properties remain after several have already been demolished for redevelopment. According to a grant application, the funds will help pay for a $15,000 survey project, the rest of which will be funded with local matching funds.
The application, which was submitted to MDAH, notes that Starkville, in the midst of unprecedented growth, has lost a number of historic buildings. Those include four old homes in recent years — three near downtown, where the Midtown development has since been built and one at the intersection of Louisville and Gillespie streets, where new residential buildings will be built.
The antebellum Gillespie-Jackson House, at the corner of Louisville Street and Highway 12, sits on a site that’s being considered for a mixed commercial-residential development, putting its future in jeopardy.
“In order to limit future losses, the city needs a plan for the assessment of all its historic properties,” the proposal states.
According to the grant request, the survey, once initiated, would aim to identify all eligible but unlisted individual properties and all eligible but unlisted districts. Once identified, those properties or districts could be eligible for a National Historic Register listing or local protection.
Michelle Jones, an architectural historian with MDAH and Starkville resident, said the survey can highlight areas beyond Starkville’s existing districts.
For example, she said Pleasant Acres and the neighborhood west of Armstrong Middle School are examples of mid-century modern architecture that was popular after World War II. Those areas, along with areas like those along North Jackson Street, haven’t been surveyed and may be worth consideration.
Jones said the survey should begin within the next few months.
Local and national districts
National Register historic districts and local historic districts are different, Jones said.
“The National Register is primarily honorary and doesn’t hold any restrictions to the property owner,” Jones said. “The local historic district is where there’s a degree of control over demolition and design changes. But this survey is just to say these are areas that we think need more attention. It’s a bit of a windshield survey.”
Starkville has five National Register districts — Downtown, Greensboro Street, Nash Street, Oktibbeha Garden, and Overstreet School. The city only has two locally protected districts. The Greensboro Local Historic District is a smaller section within the Greensboro National Register District along Greensboro Street itself. The Nash Street Local Historic District includes most of the national register’s territory, save the southwest and southeast corners.
Assistant City Planner Emily Corban said the city’s local districts offer protection for properties from demolition. However, they also come with restrictions, such as what modifications can be made to a building’s exterior.
That can generate resistance from property owners, which has limited local districts’ proliferation in Starkville.
“I think there was pushback from some property owners who did not want those restrictions on their property,” she said. “It’s a sacrifice, in that sense, to have those restrictions, but you do protect those properties.”
For example, an effort to create a local district in the Overstreet area failed a few years ago because of a lack of support from residents in the proposed district. When three historic homes were demolished to make way for Midtown, former city Community Development Director Buddy Sanders cited that failed effort, which had it succeeded, might have protected the homes.
Spruill: ‘The private side has to step up’
Mayor Lynn Spruill said it can be difficult for cities to contend with pressing needs for future development — keeping streets paved, water and sewer infrastructure, police and fire protection and so on — and with keeping an eye on maintaining an eye for past.
While Spruill said the survey may signal a shift to a more proactive approach than the city has tended to take thus far, Starkville has, generally, been more reactive than proactive with preserving old buildings.
“We’ve got a lot of houses that have come down for infill type things, and we’ve got a lot of people who bemoan it, but I don’t see anybody stepping up to buy them and preserve them,” she said. “The city certainly can’t afford to do that.
“When they became that much more difficult to maintain and the private sector isn’t interested in doing it, I don’t know, to the extent that it would be all those houses, that it would be in the interest of the public to do so,” she added. “Maybe one here or there, but certainly not an entire section. The private side has to step up.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 49 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.