Just weeks from a date with a wrecking ball, a condemned apartment building at Speed and Marshall streets has been deemed to have historical significance that should factor into its immediate future, a local historic preservationist said.

The former Speed Street School has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985, making it attractive on more than a few levels, said Nancy Bell, director of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.

“There are tax credits available if someone were to rehab the building,” Bell said, adding the designation “should make it important enough for anyone to give it a second look.”

Vicksburg building inspection officials condemned the structure Sept. 19 after inspectors found backed-up sewage and structural damage inside its 12 federally subsidized living spaces. Wastewater had saturated some floors and, in one instance, caved in a ceiling in apartments below.

About 30 residents had until Tuesday to move out, with most making arrangements with family and friends. Notice of the eviction was given by the Mississippi Regional Housing Authority, which has indicated the new owners have not opted to qualify for public funds.   

Marshall Street LLC, the building’s owners, have an Oct. 20 deadline to clarify its renovation intentions to city inspectors — specifically, whether the owners intend to demolish it on their own, city buildings inspections chief Victor Gray-Lewis said.

“The ball is in their court whether to repair it or take it down,” Gray-Lewis said, adding the city would make the decision whether to order its removal if no plans come about from the ownership group.

A nomination form filed with the U.S. Department of the Interior for its inclusion on the register reveals a history rippling through the evolution of the school system and the surrounding neighborhood.  

The three-story brick structure was built in 1894 by Vicksburg architect William Stanton after residents of the southern portion of a then-smaller city petitioned the school board for a neighborhood school. Stanton was experienced in planning schools, having designed in 1886 the Main Street School — demolished to make way for the City Auditorium — Walnut Street School and Cherry Street School, both of which were demolished in the 1930s.

Known formally as South Vicksburg Public School No. 200, its existence to today makes it the last remaining 19th century public school building in Vicksburg. According to the form obtained from the VFHP, the only other school operating at the time of Speed’s construction was the Clay Street School, which operated from 1892 to 1902.

It operated as a school until 1940, when it was sold to the Allein Post No. 3 of the American Legion as market-rate apartments. Sold again in 1968, it soon became low-income apartments. Its former owner, William Joseph Jr., purchased the property in 1985 and promised preservation of its vintage interior and to upgrade its condition. Its sale to the current ownership group came months after Joseph’s death in a January 2007 plane crash at Hawkins Field in northwest Jackson.

Situated in a mixed-use area of town, it is not in the Vicksburg National Register District where modifications to historic properties must come with the approval of the Board of Architectural Review. The district’s southern boundary runs parallel with Depot Street and the Cherry Street rail overpass, several blocks north of the Speed Street property.