| Built as a U.S. Post Office in 1910-11, this Renaissance Revival building was designed and built under the direction of James Knox Taylor (1857-1929), Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. This building served as the Hattiesburg post office until a new post office opened in 1934. In 1939 it was converted into federal courthouse to house the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, which was created in 1936. It ceased to be used by the federal court around 1980, and was sold to Forrest County around 1986. This building is similar in design to the former post office building in Sumner, South Carolina, which was also built in 1910, and to the old post office in Crowley, Louisiana, built in 1913-15. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 18 September 1973. It was listed in 1981 as a contributing element (element #27) in the Hattiesburg Hub City Historic District, and it was later included as element #43 in the enlarged Hub City Historic District (Boundary Increase II), which was placed on the National Register on 9 November 2012. It was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 14 July 1986. It is mentioned in "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p. 316, in the listing for the U.S. Post Office, PW26). |