Moses McKissack III (1879–1952), was an American architect.[1][2][3] He had his own architecture firm McKissack Company from 1905 until 1922,[4] and was active in Tennessee and Alabama. In a partnership with his brother Calvin Lunsford McKissack, they founded the architecture firm McKissack & McKissack in 1922.[5][6]
Early life and education
Gabriel Moses McKissack III was born on May 8, 1879, in Pulaski, Tennessee.[7] He had six brothers.[8] His father Gabriel Moses McKissack II, whom he shared his name with, was a carpenter and builder; and his mother was Dolly Ann (née Maxwell).[6][7][9]
His paternal grandfather Moses was from the Ashanti tribe (or Asante tribe, modern-day Ghana) and he was enslaved in 1790.[1] His grandfather was purchased by William McKissack, a white builder who taught him the building trade.[1][10] His grandfather married Mirian (1804–1865), who was Cherokee, and together they had fourteen children.[8]
McKissack attended Pulaski Colored High School.[11] He apprenticed in construction drawings for 5 years under James Porter.[9] He also attended classes at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts and obtained architectural degrees through a correspondence course.[12] In 1896, McKissack had moved to prepared construction drawings for B. F. McGrew and Pitman & Peterson.[9]
Career
From 1895 until 1905, McKissack built houses in Decatur, Alabama; Mount Pleasant, Tennessee; and Columbia, Tennessee.[5] Followed by a move to Nashville in 1905, in order to open his own architecture firm McKissack Company, initially located in the Napier Court Building.[5][8] His first document client was Granberry Jackson Sr., the Dean of architecture and engineering at Vanderbilt University.[1] After in which he designed many other residences for faculty at Vanderbilt University.[1] The firm's first major project was design of the Fisk University Carnegie Library (1908). This is a two-story Classic Revival style building was constructed from brick with a stone columned porch, and features an interior light well; its cornerstone was laid in 1908 by William Howard Taft, then the U.S. Secretary of War.[7][12] Major projects designed by Moses McKissack during the 1910s included the main campus building for the Turner Normal and Industrial School for Negroes (1912) in Shelbyville, Tennessee; dormitories for Roger Williams University in Nashville; and Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.[1] By 1920, Moses McKissack had acquired design clients throughout Nashville.
In 1912, he married Miranda P. Winter, together they had six sons.[1][13]
In 1921, after the state of Tennessee instituted a registration law for architects, the McKissack brothers became two of the first registered architects in the state.[7] In 1922, Calvin McKissack joined Moses and the brothers established the partnership of McKissack & McKissack.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed McKissack to the White House Conference on Housing Problems.[1] In 1942, McKissack & McKissack received a large U.S. federal government contract to build and design the 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) Air Base at Tuskegee, Alabama.[14] The Air Base contract was the largest federal contract ever awarded to an African American company, valued at approximately US $5.8 million, and it made national news.[1][15] The brothers were each awarded the Spaulding Medal by the National Negro Business League in 1942, for outstanding business achievements.[15]
The McKissack family helped build the city Nashville.[18][19] The McKissack Park neighborhood, the McKissack Park, and McKissack Middle School, all of which are in Nashville were named in his honor.[6][7] A number of McKissack buildings are listed as National Register of Historic Places by the United States National Park Service.[8][19]
