Restoring and preserving historic buildings can sometimes seem like an impossible task, but Meridian’s historic structures are worth preserving, Lolly Rash, executive director of Mississippi Heritage Trust told Meridian Rotarians Wednesday.

Rash, who was the speaker at this week’s Rotary meeting, has more than 20 years of experience in historic preservation and helped organize MHT when it was first founded in 1992. She has served as the city of Biloxi’s Historic Administrator, program manager for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Vice President of White House Properties. Rash has been the executive director of MHT since 2013.

“My organization’s mission is to save and preserve places meaningful to Mississippians and their history,” she said. “You couldn’t get a broader mission statement if you try, but the way we do that is through advocacy and education.”

Mississippi Heritage Trust also publishes the top 10 most endangered historic places in Mississippi, Rash said. The list is updated every two years and contains places of historic significance under threat of demolition, loss from neglect or being repurposed without proper focus on historic preservation.

Meridian buildings on the list have included the Threefoot Building, hailed as a historic preservation success having been renovated into the popular Threefoot Hotel, the Dentzel Carousel, the Temple Theatre, the old Fielder and Brooks Drug Store and the old Meridian Police Station, Rush said. Sadly, Fielder and Brooks was not able to be saved and was demolished in 2014, she said.

“Everyone desperately tried to figure out what can we do, and it was just too far gone,” she said. “A structural engineer deemed it structurally unsound, and after that, it was demolished.”

The former Meridian Police Station, located on Sixth Street directly across from city hall, is one of Meridian’s historic modernist buildings, Rash said. Built by Meridian’s Chris Risher Sr., a well known modernist architect, the police station has sat empty since the department relocated to its current home on 22nd Avenue in 2013.

“This building is worthy of preservation,” Rash said.

Since then, the city has courted several buyers for the building but has been unable to close the deal. In 2015, the building was designated as a Mississippi Landmark, granting it historic status and protecting it from demolition or renovations that would destroy its historic significance.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees rejected a request earlier this year from the city of Meridian to remove the historic designation and allow the building to be demolished. Years of water intrusion, vandalism and potential structural damage have raised questions whether restoration of the building is feasible.

The police station has historic significance, Rash said, and it likely qualifies for listing under the National Register of Historic Places. Inclusion on that list could open up some new funding options for the city or private developers, she said.

Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places qualify for a 20% federal tax credit, Rash said, and Mississippi offers an additional 25% state tax credit on top of that.

“It’s money that is equity to put back into your project,” she said. “So those are just two incentives that would be available for the redevelopment of Meridian Police Station.”

Historic preservation isn’t easy, but it is possible when a community comes together to save the places that help give the community its identity. Finding a developer with experience in historic preservation is often the first step followed by a search for funds, Rash said. Grants, tax credits, lobbying legislators and more can all yield funding or programs to help make the preservation a success.

“In my opinion, the Meridian Police Station is worthy of preservation, and if it is demolished to go along with all the other vacant land that you already have in downtown Meridian, it’s a loss,” she said. “So, for you as a community, get behind it, and find ways to support it and show your support.”