Stage Wall
Bird in Hands
The Lost Art of Farish Street
What fire of mind or heart feeds the human impulse to mold or mark the fabric and surfaces of the world into a semblance of imagined beauty? We cannot say; it is an indefinable spark, we can but marvel of its being.
These images were captured in 2004, and the work itself couldn’t have been very much over perhaps two years old. As to who painted them, I have no clue. Some seem to be by the same hand or set of hands, others don’t. When I first saw them on a lonely New Year’s morning, they brought to life that sad, lonely street.
A Farish Street Financial Timeline
| DATE | AMOUNT ($) | SOURCE | PURPOSE |
1 | 10/9/81 | 200,000 | CDBG* | Revitalization study |
2 | “ | 34,000 | CDBG | Extension of study |
3 | 7/23/82 | 100,000 | Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities via JSU | Historical survey of Farish Street |
4 | 12/10/89 | 1,600,000 | CDBG | Infrastructure, business loans, housing |
5 | “ | 85,000 | CDBG | Farish Street park |
6 | 11/22/94 | 50,000 | Jackson/Hinds Co. | Mary Means (Means Consulting) |
7 | 11/22/95 | 1,500,000 | State of Ms. | Alamo renovation |
8 | 3/7/96 | 130,000 | National Trust for Historic Preservation/State of Ms. | Renovation of Scott Ford House |
9 | “ | 200,000 | “ | Acquisition of property in Farish St. district |
10 | 3/26/98 | 2,500,000 | National Equity Fund; $600,000 from local banks; $350,000, CDBG (city) | “Rehab” of 37 historic houses |
11 | 4/27/99 | 6,000,000 | State of Ms. | Farish St. revitalization |
12 | 4/27/99 | 6,000,000 | Fannie Mae | Farish St. revitalization (matching of state funds |
13 | 3/23/01 | 1,500,000 | HUD? | Infrastructure |
14 | 5/22/01 | 900,000 | City of Jackson water and sewer fund | Infrastructure |
15 | 1/12/02 | 74,000 | ($50,000 J. Paul Getty Trust; $12,500 Ms. Dept. Archives and History; $3,500 Gannett, Inc.; $8,000 ChemFirst, Inc.) | Farish St./Scott-Ford Museum |
16 | 3/8/11 | 210,000 | Civil rights grant(?) | Medgar Evers House Museum |
TOTAL | 21,082,000 |
*(Community Development Block Grant – HUD)
Not included in this document are amounts for donations of real estate (e.g.: from state of Mississippi; donation of Alamo from Sunburst Bank), funding for the Smith-Robertson Museum and contract fees paid to Performa Entertainment and subsequent developers.
1) Hester, Lea Ann. “City expected to extend study of Farish Street.” The Clarion-Ledger 19 October 1981: 1B. Print.
2) Ibid.
3) Hester, Lea Ann. “Farish: Older than thought?” The Clarion-Ledger 23 July 1801: 1B. Print.
4) Scruggs, Afi-Odelia E. “Development plan fails to revitalize Farish Street.” The Clarion-Ledger 10 December 1989: 1A. Print.
5) Ibid.
6) Simmons, Grace. “Farish Street consultants to share info.” The Clarion-Ledger 9 October 1993: (no page cited)
7) Gates, Jimmie. “Renovation closer for Farish Street’s Alamo Theatre.” The Clarion-Ledger 22 November 1995: (no page cited)
8) Harris, Barbara. The Jackson Advocate. “Farish Street Historic District gets infusion of national, state funding.” 7 March 1996: 1A. Print.
9) Ibid.
10) Fleming, Eric. “Farish Street renovation under way.” The Mississippi Link. 26 March 1998. 1A: Print.
11) Henderson, Monique H. “Draft document targets Farish St. Historic District:12M allotted for development of district.” The Clarion-Ledger. 27 April 1999. 1B Print.
12) Ibid.
13) Mayer, Greg. “$1.5M grant going to Farish Street.” The Clarion-Ledger. 22 March 2001. 1B: Print.
14) Ibid.
15) _______. “Black museum receives grant.” The Picayune Item. 12 January 2000. (no page cited)
16) Mitchell, Jerry. “$2M-plus in grants awarded to state civil rights sites.” (“$210,000 will help stabilize the foundation and repair the Medgar Evers House Museum in Jackson.”) The Clarion-Ledger. 3 August 2011. (no page cited)