Tupelo Historic Preservation Commission

07/18/2023

05/12/2023

Don’t forget to come see the Spain House and Spring Hill M.B. Church tomorrow between 11-1! Admission is free but we will gladly accept donations 😊 It’s going to be a beautiful day to be in downtown Tupelo!

05/01/2023

The Tupelo Historic Preservation Commission invites you to tour two of Tupelo’s historic buildings! Admission is FREE and donations are welcome! If you’ve ever been curious to see the progress on the Spain House or wanted to see what the inside of Spring Hill M.B. Church (the oldest African-American church in Tupelo) looks like then please make plans to be there on May 13th! Commission members will be there to greet you and answer any questions. We look forward to seeing you!

06/16/2022

Mill Village Home Spotlight

This home at 649 S. Church St. is owned by Jon and Lori Strope. The Neoclassical Revival style house was built in 1922 for Floyd Adams. At the time, the Daily Journal reported "Mr. Floyd Adams is building a very handsome home with every modern convenience. A. E. Hindsman drew the plan, D**k Bristow, builder, material furnished by Leake and Goodlett".

With 2000 square feet but only two bedrooms, the rooms are of generous size. The original floor plan has been retained including a half bath, an unusual feature in 1922.

Wood floors were refinished throughout. The planks used in the master bedroom are all full length at 16-1/2 feet, across the entire floor.

As a rental, the house was presented as a five bedroom with walled-in porches repurposed as bedrooms. The porches have been restored to the 1922 configuration.

The lath and plaster walls were restored and provide exceptional heat retention.

Until the current update to central heat and air conditioning, heat was provided by two fireplaces and freestanding gas units. Large overhangs and high ceilings aided the attic fan in cooling the house.

03/30/2022

We're starting a monthly spotlight on homes throughout Mill Village and this month we're highlighting the home of Dr. Jeff and Christi Houin. Their home was built in 1911. It was built by Mr. Ledyard. He was married to Ms. Annie Robins. Their children's names, heights, and dates are still on the window frame in the living room. The wood used to build the house was purchased from Leake & Goodlet. They are the fourth owners of the house and Christi said "I fell in love with it immediately and knew it's potential. It felt like home before we even moved in". They took the time to expose the brick and fire boxes on 5 of the 8 fireplaces because they were previously covered up.

Here are some fun facts about the home!
- Charles Lindbergh landed a plane in the field behind the home
- Two people from the Ledyard family passed away in the house
- Mrs. Annie is rumored to be a ghost in the house and will show displeasure if someone she doesn't like is there. The Houin's said thankfully she likes them!
- They used an old door they found in the attic to make a headboard
- They made a hall tree from a door they found in the garage
- They made a small table for their breakfast nook using shutters from the garage
- They closed in the attic and have a basement so the home is technically four stories

12/29/2021

Did you know the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program contributed more than $13.8 billion in goods and services to the U.S. economy and added $7 billion to the gross domestic product in 2020? This program provides a 20% federal tax credit to property owners who substantially rehabilitate a historic building, while maintaining its historic character.

The historic tax credit program supports community revitalization, job creation, affordable housing, and small businesses across the country. Rehabilitation of Boise’s Forty-Four & Sixty-Six Service Station, once a beacon of mid-century auto-oriented design, was completed in 2020 and qualifies for a federal historic tax credit. Learn more about this success story and the economic impact of this program at: https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/htc-economic-report-2020.htm.

Image of the Forty-Four & Sixty-Six Service Station, courtesy of the Idaho State Historical Society.

11/09/2021

From the building where the first bottle of Barq’s root beer was created to a historic Black school, do you recognize or remember these historic sites across the Coast?

09/08/2021

The September meeting of THPC is tomorrow! We meet the second Thursday of each month at City Hall for about an hour. Do you have any questions about what we do or what we discuss?

08/10/2021

The Spain House is moving forward with the next phase of renovations!

05/03/2021

Thank You Mississippi Legislature!

On April 17, Governor Tate Reeves signed House Bill 1296 into law. This bill makes major positive changes to the Mississippi’s 25% Historic Tax Credit Program, chief among them reinstating residential eligibility to help keep Mississippi’s treasured historic homes in great shape.

In addition to bringing back eligibility for owner-occupied houses, which had been removed from the program in 2016, the legislation will help make the Mississippi Historic Tax Credit Program even more effective by instituting two annual caps of $12 million dollars each, one for projects with Qualifying Rehabilitation Expenses (QREs) under $1.75 million dollars and another for projects with QREs over $1.75 million dollars. Other changes include allowing projects of any size to take advantage of the 75% rebate and clarifying that if the annual cap is met in any one calendar year, projects that were not funded in that year will be eligible for funding the following year.

Thank you to bill author Representative Trey Lamar, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who hails from Senatobia, and co-sponsors Representatives Kevin Felsher from Biloxi and Missy McGee from Hattiesburg.

Working on a rehabilitation project that you think might qualify for state and federal historic tax credits?
Give the Mississippi Department of Archives and History a call at
(601) 576-6940.