Edwards House Timeline
By
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Timeline: A Storied Past1861: Major R.O. Edwards, founder of the town of Edwards, Miss., builds the Confederate House, modest by today’s standards but lavish for a small Mississippi town surrounded by swamp and prone to flood.
1863: The Confederate House attracts the attention of General William T. Sherman during his burning pillage through the south and is burned to ash.
1867: R.O. Edwards, using federal goodwill funds, begins rebuilding the hotel again, but dies before its completion in 1868.
1922: The hotel, now over 50 and ailing, is demolished. The new Hotel Edwards pops up in its place. The hotel becomes the biggest seat of politics outside the state capitol. Rumored to be a good place to duck prohibition laws, the hotel becomes a top hangout for the political and financially affluent.
1955: Years take their toll, and the Hotel Edwards falls out of fashion. Dumas Milner buys the hotel, vowing to transform it into the state’s best hotel. He makes many renovations, including installing an escalator and other period styles.
June 30, 1967: Hotel General Manager E. Bill Green, who began his career as a bellman, locks the doors of the hotel for the last time.
1967-2004: The King Edward suffers from false starts, empty promises and unfounded rumors from hotel owners and half-hearted investors. Suggestions are put forth for the empty structure, from turning it into another hotel, to demolition, to making it into a casino. Shovels, however, do not break the surface of the dirt.
2004: The city acquires the rundown landmark, beginning the process of either renovation or demolition.
Oct. 19, 2004: The Jackson Redevelopment Authority approves a development package for the hotel, allowing HRI Inc., New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister, Matt Bataille of Mandeville, La., and Jackson attorney David Watkins to gut the inside of the hotel to gauge structural requirements.
