Arledge-Dabbs Neighborhood: Intensive-Level Historic Resource Survey - Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi

Destefano, Jaime

Project Description: "Initiated by the City of Hattiesburg and the Historic Preservation Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), this historic resource study was funded as part of an effort to identify and survey all properties within the historic Arledge-Dabbs neighborhood in Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi. The purpose of this project is to gain a greater understanding of the historical development of the study area and to identify individual resources and district that may be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). In 2019, the City contracted JLD Preservation Consulting LLC ('JLD Consulting') to conduct the intensive-level survey of Arledge-Dabbs The project included a field survey and recordation of individual resources, as well as background research. JLD Consulting conducted all phases of the survey project throughout the months of November 2019 to April 2020. Boundaries of the Survey Area were pre-defined by the City and MDAH and are believed to encompass the majority of the Arledge-Dabbs neighborhood, a predominately African American community located south of the central business district and the Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood District (NR-listed 1986), and directly west of the main line of the Illinois Central Gulf Railway. The Survey Area encompasses approximately 450 parcels of land occupying approximately 135 acres. The Survey Area is generally bounded to the north by Hall and Katie Avenues; to the east by the Illinois Central Gulf Railway; to the south by properties fronting the south side of Duke and Ruby Avenues; and to the west by properties fronting the west side of Dabbs Street. The Arledge-Dabbs neighborhood is largely residential, with a small number of commercial and religious architecture. The Survey includes two sectors that initially developed as a middle-class white neighborhood beginning in 1907. Beginning in the 1920s, an African American sector emerged around the southwest section of the Survey Area. By the 1970s, the entirety of the Survey Area had transitioned into a predominately working- and middle-class African American community. Resources within the Survey Area reflect the development patterns of both white and black sectors during the early 20th century. The Survey Area boasts an impressive collection of architectural types and styles characteristic of a working class, low-income to middle-class urban neighborhood in Forrest County. Among the most distinguishable residential architecture characterizing the neighborhood is the bungalow dwelling, which occurs in exceedingly high numbers throughout the Survey Area. Collectively, the neighborhood is a good representation of a predominately African American community at the periphery of a Mississippi city. Despite years of recent change and natural disasters, the majority of the Survey Area continues to prove to be a tight-knit, middle-class community." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Mississippi Historic Preservation Division, Department of Archives & History, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P19AF00221).

Arledge-Dabbs Neighborhood: Intensive-Level Historic Resource Survey - Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi

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