Although the building was originally constructed in 1911, the high school, apparently, operated from 1922 to 1929. It is not clear what the 1911 part of the building was first used for. The 1921 addition designed by Lee drastically altered the building and gave it its Jacobethan appearance. After the high school closed, the building became office space for the local school district and the Board of Education. It then became an antiques mall until 2001 when the Historic Hattiesburg Downtown Association acquired it with plans to restore the old building. This process took a long time. The building suffered from damage on a few occasions including from Hurricane Katrina and arson. In 2018, a new developer bought the building and completed the work of converting it into a home for senior citizens in 2020. The home has around 75 to 85 apartments. The old high school was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Old Hattiesburg High School as it appeared in 2004. It was originally built in 1911 and then expanded in 1922..

The building is being converted into a home for senior citizens.

Website

The former Hattiesburg High School is historically significant for its Jacobethan architecture and is the considered the finest example of this style in the city. Local architect Robert Emmet Lee designed it, along with several other buildings in Hattiesburg and in Brooklyn, Mississippi. It was originally built in 1911 expanded in 1921. Prominent features of the four-story building (the original 1911 part is 2.5 stories tall) include a red brick facade with cast stone facings, belt courses and cornices, and towers. The building is now an apartment building for senior citizens called Preservation Crossing. 


Old Hattiesburg High School

Starting with landmark historic structures like the Saenger Theater and Hattiesburg Federal Building, this short walk through the downtown area includes a stop at the Hattiesburg Area Historical Society Museum concludes with several locations that are central to the African American history of the southern Mississippi. 

The theater was built at the height of the movie-palace era, when film showings and stage performances occurred in one venue. Abe and Julian Saenger hired architect Emil Weil, who was based in New Orleans, to design it (he was well known for designing theaters in New Orleans and elsewhere in the South). The Saenger features elaborate decorative brickwork, colored glazed terra-cotta tiles, brick pilasters topped by cast-stone urns, decorative cast-stone friezework and trim, and a large theater sign. Inside, the theater has 997 seats. Notable features include two balconies, Art Deco chandeliers, and a glazed-tile fountain. Although the theater has been renovated, many original features remain. The Saenger opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1929. Tickets for children only cost six cents and the Robert Morton organ was played before and between films and shows. In a typical week, three feature films were shown at the theater, usually with two days for each film. Film showings also included coming attractions, advertisements, organ recitals, cartoons, and sing-alongs. The theater also even had what was called Bank Night, where a patron would win a cash prize. Troops stationed at the nearby Camp Shelby during World War II often spent their Saturdays at the theater. The theater operated until the late 1960s and the property was later acquired by the city. In the coming years, it was used for a variety of purposes including being rented out by the Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera and local charity organizations. The theater was restored in the early 1980s and again in 2000. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Built in 1929, Saenger Theater is the sole remaining Art Deco movie palace Hattiesburg and one of the city's most iconic downtown buildings. The theater is one of the few from the golden age of movie palaces that remain in operation in Mississippi and is one of only four Art Deco-designed buildings still standing in the area. The theater was part of the Saenger Brother's seven movie palace chain in the Southeast. In its early years, the theater hosted vaudeville acts, operas, lectures, recitals, and carnival balls. Thanks to the efforts of preservationists in the 1980s, the theater was restored following its 1979 inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The Saenger was renovated once more in the early 2000s to help restore its grand appearance. Highlights of the theater include the 778-pipe Robert Morton Pipe Organ, which has been well-preserved and is still operable. Thanks to city leaders and preservationists, the theater continues to host performances and is one of the leading event venues in southern Mississippi.  

Saenger Theater, Hattiesburg 

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, this former U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was completed in 1910 under supervising architect James Knox Taylor. The first federal building in Forrest County, Mississippi, the Neoclassical building was originally designed as a post office. After postal services were relocated in 1933, the building accommodated the area offices of various federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U. S. Treasury Department's alcohol control division. After the creation of the Southern District in 1936, the offices of the Clerk of the U. S. District Court were also housed in the building and the structure was re-purposed as a courthouse in 1939. The changes in use required several interior design changes plus an addition, all under supervising architect Louis A. Simon. The building was used by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi until 1974. The property was transferred to Forrest County through the Historic Surplus Property Program in 1976 and has since housed its county and youth courts.

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, this former U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was completed in 1910 under supervising architect James Knox Taylor. The property was transferred to Forrest County through the Historic Surplus Property Program in 1976 and has since housed its county and youth courts. 

Hattiesburg Federal Building

The building features a number of interesting elements including a main entrance consisting of three large doorway openings. Each features decorative metal grillwork above, carved stone panels, and a three-sided overhang. Beside the a wide flight of steps leading up to the the doorways are two large pylons with decorative carvings of eagles. Inside, the building features a large lobby area with a polychrome marble floor, cast metal panels set into walls, a stenciled ceiling design, and other decorative elements. The post office was one of 32 such buildings erected in Mississippi with funds from the Works Progress Administration. Its Art Deco design gives it a "sculptural" appearance.

Built with federal support during the Great Depression, Hattiesburg's historic post office remains an impressive example of Art Deco architecture. Constructed in 1934, the building serves as a reminder of the federal government's support in the region as it was constructed using funds from the Public Works Administration, which helped construct numerous public buildings around the country during the Great Depression. The post office, which was designed by Juan G. Landry and Rathbone Depuys, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. 

U.S. Post Office

In addition to its galleries, the museum offers a website that includes a brief overview of the history of Hattiesburg. The area was inhabited by Native tribes for many centuries while the townsite was established by Captain William Harris Hardy, who was born on February 12, 1837 in Collirene, Alabama. Hardy received training in law, education, and surveying. During the Civil War, he served as Captain of Company H in the 16th Mississippi Regiment. In 1868, Hardy worked to promote a plan to build a railway from Meridian to the town of New Orleans, including efforts to conduct and release a preliminary survey in 1872. Hardy spent the next few years organizing plans with investors and builders.Hardy's first wife passed away, leaving him with six children. In April of 1873, he met and began courting Hattie Lott. The couple married on December 1, 1873 and established a home in Meridian, Mississippi where they had three children.Hattie died in 1895, and her husband preserved her memory by naming the city of Hattiesburg in her honor. Hardy later helped establish two more Mississippi communities, Laurel and Gulfport. He was also elected to the Mississippi State Legislature in 1985 and served as a circuit court judge. He also practiced law and held law offices mainly in Gulfport, Mississippi. After remarrying and having three more children, he died of a heart attack on February 17, 1917, in his Gulfport home.

The Hattiesburg Area Historical Society became the first in the region when it formed in 1970 with the goal of preserving and sharing local history. The museum offers a variety of exhibits drawn from their growing collection of artifacts, and their galleries emphasize subjects like economic development and the growth of the community with topics related to transportation and infrastructure as well as the early timber industry and growth of downtown merchants. The museum is supported by many local volunteers that help them offer programming throughout the year. 

Hattiesburg Area Historical Society Museum 

History of Freedom House by&nbsp;Bobs M. Tusa, Ph.D.University Archivist, University of Southern Mississippi:"In 1964 the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), which included SNCC, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Mississippi chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), launched the state-wide voter registration drive known as Mississippi Freedom Summer. In Hattiesburg the headquarters of COFO, all of whose staff in Hattiesburg were the college-age men and women of SNCC, the headquarters of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the U.S. Senate campaign headquarters of Victoria Jackson Gray were located at 507 Mobile Street. Nearby the Negro Masonic Lodge at 6th and Mobile Streets housed the Hattiesburg Ministers Union.Freedom Summer really began with the South's first Freedom Day, January 22, in which hundreds of Forrest County African American residents, supported by out-of-state volunteers including fifty pastors from the National Council of Churches, stood all day in the rain waiting to enter the Forrest County Courthouse in order to attempt to register to vote. Demonstrations continued in front of the Courthouse throughout the Spring.In July and August 1964, while voter registration activities continued, COFO workers, volunteers, and local residents established Freedom Schools in seven African American churches -- Bentley Chapel United Methodist Church, Morning Star Baptist Church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Priest Creek Missionary Baptist Church, St. John's United Methodist Church, St. Paul United Methodist Church, and Truelight Baptist Church. Mass meetings were held at these churches and at St. James Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Church members opened their homes to the volunteers, housing and feeding them at the risk of violence and economic reprisal.The Freedom Schools offered classes in subjects like civics and Negro history which were not taught in the Black public schools. Palmer's Crossing Freedom School students authored the "Declaration of Independence" that was adopted at the state-wide convention of Mississippi Freedom Schools held in Meridian in August 1964 and included in the platform of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that same year. There were so many students enrolled in local Freedom Schools - an estimated 650-675 - that the state Freedom School director, Dr. Staughton Lynd, professor of history at Yale University, called Hattiesburg "the Mecca of the Freedom School world."In 1964 - beginning with Freedom Day (January 22) and continuing through Freedom Summer - Mrs. Lenon E. Woods, the owner of the Woods Guest House at 507 and 509 Mobile Street, allowed the state civil rights organization the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) to use a vacant portion of this historic two-story hotel as its headquarters for civil rights activities or Freedom House. The building had been built between 1895 and 1900 as a hotel for African Americans in a racially segregated society. It was located in the heart of Mobile Street, the "main street" of Hattiesburg's African American community - a bustling center of small businesses, restaurants, and movie theaters, patronized not only by local African Americans but also by Black service men from nearby Camp Shelby.Several Mobile Street businessmen and women played prominent roles in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. Two of them who are alive today and who have been honored for their historic roles are Mr. J.C. Fairley and Mrs. Peggy Jean Connor. Mr. Fairley was the co-owner of Fairley's Radio and TV Repair at 522 Mobile Street and was the vigorous President of the Forrest County NAACP in the early sixties. He was responsible for the liberation of Clyde Kennard from Parchman Penitentiary, a leader in the Freedom Summer activities, and the leader of the successful 1966-1967 boycott of downtown white-owned businesses for more equitable hiring practices. Mrs. Connor was the owner of Jean's Beauty Shop at 510 Mobile Street. She served as state Executive Secretary of the MFDP and Treasurer of the Freedom Summer project in Hattiesburg.Dr. Howard Zinn, Boston University professor and faculty advisor to the national civil rights organization the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) describes in his book&nbsp;SNCC: The New Abolitionists&nbsp;(Boston: Beacon Press, 1964) the interior of the Freedom House staffed by legendary SNCC Field Secretaries Robert Moses and Fannie Lou Hamer and furnished with the late 19th century marble-topped mahogany furniture of the Woods Guest House.During Freedom Summer 1964, the Hattiesburg Freedom House was the bustling headquarters of the Hattiesburg and Palmer's Crossing project, the largest Freedom Summer site in the state. Under the direction of SNCC Field Secretary Sandy Leigh, over 90 volunteers and approximately 3,000 local people organized Freedom School classes for the largest number (650-675) of students in the state, voter registration instruction and canvassing of local African American neighborhoods, the refurbishing and furnishing of two buildings to serve as community centers, and the work of visiting teams of attorneys, doctors, nurses, folksingers, and the Free Southern Theater repertory troupe.In addition to housing COFO headquarters and a Freedom Library of books donated by Americans from all over the country, the Freedom House at 507 Mobile Street also served during 1964 as the Hattiesburg headquarters of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), an alternative grass-roots political party which registered over 80,000 Black Mississippians and challenged the all-white delegation to the regular Democratic Party's Presidential nominating convention in Atlantic City in August 1964 and later the all-white Mississippi representation to the U.S. Congress. The two challenges were led by Fannie Lou Hamer from the Delta and Victoria Jackson Gray from Hattiesburg.Victoria Jackson Gray also ran on the MFDP ticket for the U.S. Senate seat then held by Senator John Stennis. Gray's campaign headquarters were located in the Woods Guest House at 507 Mobile Street."

Hattiesburg was the largest Freedom Summer site in Mississippi, with over ninety volunteers from out of state, 3,000 local participants, and 650-675 Freedom School students. The Movement started in Hattiesburg with the arrival in March 1962 of two young African Americans from Pike County named Hollis Watkins and Curtis Hayes. They were staff of the national civil rights organization the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who had come to Hattiesburg to organize a voter registration campaign. They were housed by prominent African American businessman Vernon Dahmer, who would lose his life in 1966 when his home was fire-bombed.

Freedom House was the nickname for Woods Guest House, an old hotel that became the headquarters of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a civil rights organization that coordinated the efforts of several individual organizations. During the Freedom Summer, the building also served as the local headquarters of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. 

Freedom House-Local Headquarters of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

The African American Military History Museum was officially opened in 2009 and is located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Museum is housed inside of a historic USO (United Service Organization) Club opened in 1942 for members of the United States segregated army of World War II (African American Military History Museum). The building and its artifacts were restored in 2009 by the City of Hattiesburg, the Neighborhood Association, and the Hattiesburg Convention Commission in order to make it into the world-class museum that it is today (Mississippi Museums Association). The African American Military History Museum includes exhibits commemorating achievements of African American members of the Armed Forces from the Revolutionary War era through Operation Desert Storm and the Iraqi Freedom Operation. These come in the form of historical documents, photographs, and artifacts. In 2013 a tornado swept through the town of Hattiesburg and caused major damage to the infrastructure of the building and water damage to some of the exhibits. After taking time to rebuild, the museum was reopened in 2014 (African American Military History Museum). The goal of this museum is to educate people on the significant role African Americans have played in the military history of the United States. The museum is not operated for profit therefore admission is free but donations are accepted and encouraged in order to keep the museum running. Since its opening, the museum has received over 30,000 tourists from all over the world. Many of the exhibits are interactive, which makes the museum particularly attractive to families with children. Today, the building is the only segregated USO club that is functioning and open to the public (Hattiesburg Business Today, 2017).

The African American Military History Museum was officially opened in 2009 to commemorate the accomplishments of African American members of the United States Armed Forces and the historic USO Club. The historic USO (United Service Organization) Club was opened in 1942 during World War II for members of the segregated Army. The original USO Club building is the building that now houses the African American Military History Museum. The Museum includes achievements of African American soldiers from the post-Civil War era through Operation Desert Storm and the Iraqi Freedom Operation. 

Highlights of Hattiesburg Mississippi Walking Tour

Old Hattiesburg High School

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information