Historic College Street home to be razed next week

A historic home sitting in a prominent Olde Towne gateway area is soon to be razed by the City, following a vote by Clinton’s Board of Aldermen. The vote, with only Ward 4 Alderman Mike Cashion dissenting, gave the family fourteen additional days to clear out, salvage and raze the structure themselves, or else the City would do so. In the meeting, it was noted that the fourteen days is over on August 18. Calls to verify the actual date the house will be demolished were not returned by Community Development prior to press time.

The home, situated on 13.7 acres at 500 West College Street, was built in the 1930s by Baylus Richard Albritton, Sr., the first bursar of Mississippi College. According to historical information provided by City Historian Dr. Walter Howell, Albritton was the first business manager at Mississippi College, and his title was “Bursar.” One of the Albritton’s children, Joe Albritton, is one of the two Marines represented in the Fallen Comrade monument at the Clinton Visitor Center.

Howell said that Richard and his wife, Martha Burson Albritton, lived in the home for years. Richard died in 1984, and Martha died in 2003. They are buried in the Clinton Cemetery near their son Joe’s grave. The Albritton’s oldest son, Dick Jr., moved back to Clinton in the late 1980s after he retired from a distinguished career in the missile field.  No one has lived in the house after Mrs. Albritton died in the 1990s. Dick Albritton died around 2015, and the property went into the family’s estate.

Surviving family members live out-of-state and have not been able to keep up the property. The City has been communicating with the Albritton heirs for three years regarding the home, which the City has deemed a nuisance property. The family has worked to sell the home, however, deals have fallen through over the years. The family asked the City to give them until the end of September in order to remove the remains of their personal property from the home and to work with a historic salvage expert to have significant items removed from the structure. The family also wants to hire the company to demolish the home.

When the city nominated Clinton’s Olde Towne Historic District to be named to the National Register of Historic Places, the Albritton home was deemed to be of historical significance in the district:
“The National Register of Historic Places deemed the Albritton House to be of significance as an example of West Colonial Revival (c. 1930) style. The home is a one-story, four-bay, frame Colonial Revival house with wood drop siding. Gable roof is concrete tile with three projecting gable-roofed dormers with 6/6 windows (some have broken panes) and an attached chimney. Windows are 6/6 wood, double-hung. The two on each end have metal awnings while the two under the portico have screens. Projecting portico has a widow’s walk with wood rail and is supported by six square posts, a pair on each side and single posts near the concrete steps. The entablature above the door has dentil molding and the side moldings are fluted pilasters. The door is wood with recessed panels and has a four-light Palladian window at the top. It is covered by a wood screen door with decorative scroll metalwork.”

Aldermen voted on August 4 to give the family fourteen days to handle property removal and to engage a company to raze the structure, since the heirs have been granted numerous opportunities to handle the removal of items from the home and to hire a company to raze the structure. At that time, if the family has not complied, the City will tear down the home.

In other business, the Board approved a certificate of appropriateness for the Baptist Student Union at 203 Monroe Street and approved the site plan for Bullet Fuel, located at 209 Clinton Blvd. The owner plans to renovate the old car wash for use as retail space, as well as paint and improving the property.

In addition, aldermen approved the City of Clinton Zoning Ordinance as it pertains to abortion facilities. The City is following regulations set by the State Department of Health.
Aldermen also approved the lowest and best quote from Empire Truck Sales, LLC, in the amount of $398,715 to purchase a Sewer Jet-Vac Truck for the Clinton Public Works Department. The truck will be purchased on a lease/purchase agreement, which is the standard procedure the City implements to purchase equipment and vehicles.

The next Board of Aldermen meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8, at the Municipal Courtroom, 305 Monroe Street.