2025 Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference

Crazy Little Thing Called Preservation

You wouldn't be coming to Listen Up! if you didn't feel the passion to save and renew places meaningful to Mississippians and their history deep in your soul. At this year's Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference, we look at how we use our brains and brawn to accomplish heartfelt projects that some people might see as crazy-beautifully restored historic buildings that meet a community need now and for many years to come.

Schedule

Wednesday, June 4

10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Optional Pre-Conference Preservation Toolkit Workshop
Episcopal Church of the Nativity Library
400 Howard Street, Greenwood

Using the Whittington Building as a case study, Kagan Coughlin and Glen Evans with the newly formed Rural Community Impact Fund will lead participants through the real estate development process. Have a historic building you are trying to redevelop? Bring your questions for a round-table discussion with seasoned developers about how to get your project from big idea to ribbon-cutting.

Fee-$25. Registration is limited to 10 people. Lunch will be served.

4:00-5:00 p.m. Welcome Party and MHT Annual Membership Meeting
Old City Hall
103 East Market Street, Greenwood

Join some of Greenwood’s most passionate preservationists for a glass of wine and a good gab about what makes this historic town tick. Our hostess Cyndi Long will share stories of long, dusty days and nights when she restored Greenwood’s first City Hall to become the town’s favorite meeting spot and her home. Following the party, stick around for movie night to find out what happens to Toon Town.

Thursday, June 5

9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference
Old City Hall
103 East Market Street, Greenwood

9:00-10:00 a.m. Breakfast and Registration

10:00-10:30 a.m. Welcome-The Honorable Carolyn McAdams, City of Greenwood

10:30-11:15 a.m. Keynote Address-Dr. Mary Carol Miller

What motivates you to pour everything you have into saving a historic building that most people have given up for gone? Is it the exquisite dentil molding, a connection to family history or the community need for a coffee shop? Or maybe it's the crazy (but true) notion that preservation is good for your pocketbook? For Greenwood native Dr. Mary Carol Miller, that passion starts with storytelling. From the vantage point of 30 years and 14 books on Mississippi’s historic treasures saved and lost, Mary Carol will talk about why old buildings make her heart skip a beat.

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. You Save Tin Cans But Throw Away Whole Buildings? That's Insane

As the saying goes, the greenest building is the one already built. Allison and John Anderson with unabridged Architecture will make the case for why saving historic places is at the heart of saving our planet. Following Allison and John’s talk, Terracon’s Lem Dial, Regional Brownfields Manager and Conner McCluer, Mississippi Environmental Manager, will share strategies for overcoming what seem like insurmountable obstacles on the path to preservation.

12:30-2:00 p.m. Fragile Beauty-The Fifty-Year Legacy of Pearl River Glass Studio
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Parish Hall
400 Howard Street, Greenwood

Trained as a landscape architect, Andy Young took a more whimsical path when an experiment in creativity turned into a life’s work of caring for Mississippi’s stained glass through his company Pearl River Glass Studio. Over a delicious lunch prepared by Fan and Johnny's, Andy will share stories of restoring windows and skylights across the state, including the many colorful creations in our 1903 National Historic Landmark New Capitol Building. Following lunch, we will wander back to Old City Hall and admire Greenwood’s many lovely stained glass windows with a newfound appreciation.

2:00-3:00 p.m. You'd Have to Be Nuts to Take That On-Case Studies in Preservation Perseverance

When preservationists see a need they jump in with both feet, sometimes not realizing that it will be a longggg way down to success. Our panelists will regale you with stories of how hard they had to flap their arms on the descent-but still stuck the landing.

Ken P’Pool, The Charnley-Norwood House and Mississippi’s Historic Preservation Response to Hurricane Katrina

Dr. Heather Denne’, Jackson State University’s Preservation-Forward Approach to the Future of Lynch Street

Russ Garner, Communities Unlimited’s Deep Dive to Save Macon

3:00-3:30 p.m. Crazy Love-Fred Carl, Jr. and Greenwood

In 1984, Fred Carl, Jr. looked at his hometown of Greenwood and said, what if? What if the Irving Hotel could graduate from being one of Mississippi’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Places to being the place to be in Mississippi? What if these vacant downtown buildings were buzzing with commerce and crepe-making? As the Viking Range Corporation gathered steam, Fred turned his love of Greenwood into community redevelopment at its finest. Bill Crump, former Director of Government Affairs and Executive Assistant to the President for Viking Range Corporation, will reflect on his work with Fred and forty years of big dreams and even bigger action.

3:30-5:00 p.m. Walking Tour of Downtown Greenwood

Thomas Gregory, Executive Director of the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation, will take participants down Memory Lane and High Hopes Alley as he shares stories about places saved and projects implemented, along with his vision for future preservation victories in downtown Greenwood. A highlight of the walking tour will be a stroll down Keesler Bridge, once listed as endangered and now a beloved community landmark. In honor of the 100th birthday of this engineering masterwork, we will pause for a round of applause celebrating the stalwart Greenwood preservations who fought the good fight and won.

5:00-6:00 p.m. Did You Just Call Me Hysterical? You’re Right!

Alluvian Hotel
318 Howard Street, Greenwood

The Alluvian’s famed Thursday Happy Hour is about to get a whole lot funnier as preservationists take center stage for MHT’s 1^st Annual Preservation Joke Contest. Laugh through your tears as those hysterical preservationists make a joke out of the pain of always being the underdog. The stakes are high stakes-2 tickets to 10 Most for the best joke as judged by your fellow sufferers.

Friday, June 6

7:30-8:45 a.m. Breakfast
The Bread and Butter Shoppe
500 Howard Street, Greenwood

At your leisure, take your golden breakfast ticket to the Bread and Butter Shoppe for delicious coffee and tasty treats.

8:45-9:00 a.m. 10 Most Update

On October 23, MHT will announce the 15^th list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi. Claire Winn, Mississippi Heritage Trust Director of Programs, will share all the news about preservation wins and losses since the first list was announced in 1999.

9:00-11:00 a.m. 10 Most Scavenger Hunt

Hop in your car and hunt down the historic places that have been listed as Mississippi’s most endangered. The starting gun sounds at 9 AM sharp as teams get their official 10 Most sign at the Bread and Butter Shoppe and hit the highways, dirt roads, brick streets and byways that lead them to places saved, lost and somewhere in between. Each member of the winning team will receive 2 tickets to the 2025 10 Most.

11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Tour of the Drew Rosenwald School

If you have not already bagged your “Rosenwald School”, here is a great chance to pick up another 10 Most site and learn about restoration plans for the Drew Rosenwald School. Belinda Stewart with Belinda Stewart Architects and chairperson for this year’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Places, the Honorable Melanie Townsend, City of Drew and Gloria Dickerson with We2gether Creating Change will share insights into what the restoration of the Drew Rosenwald School will mean for the revitalization of this Delta town.

12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch at Stafford’s on Main
Stafford’s on Main
119 North Main Street, Drew

The 2025 Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference wraps up with fried chicken and greasy high fives at Stafford’s on Main.

Conference Hotel

Once listed as endangered, the former Irving Hotel has been transformed into the Alluvian, an elegant spot to hang your hat in downtown Greenwood. They are saving us some rooms-call the hotel at 662-453-2114 and let them know you are with the Mississippi Heritage Trust Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference.