The University of Mississippi Power House was located on the campus of the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...

. The original building was constructed in 1908 as a central power plant for the entire campus. Author

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...

was employed by the

in the Power House through the winter of 1929 as a night supervisor. At that time, the plant would supply power during the night for both the

and the town of

. The low power demand during the evening and the redundancy of the supervisory position offered Faulkner time to write, which he did using the back of a wheelbarrow. The resulting work was published in 1930 as ''

As I Lay Dying ''As I Lay Dying'' is a 1930 Southern Gothic novel by American author William Faulkner. Faulkner's fifth novel, it is consistently ranked among the best novels of 20th-century literature.The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to Wor ...

''. The University of Mississippi Power House was demolished by the University in the spring of 2016. The

plans to construct a commemorative space near the same location using a $5 million donation from the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation.

Gallery

File:U Miss Power House Cornerstone.jpg, University of Mississippi Power House Cornerstone File:U Miss Power House Front Facing.jpg, University of Mississippi Power House Front Facing File:U Miss Power House NW Facing.jpg, University of Mississippi Power House NW Facing File:U Miss Power House NE Facing.jpg, University of Mississippi Power House NE Facing File:U Miss Power House Rear Facing.jpg, University of Mississippi Power House Rear Facing File:U Miss Power House West Facing.jpg, University of Mississippi Power House West Facing

References

{{coord, 34.363931, -89.533283, display=title William Faulkner Infrastructure completed in 1908 Buildings and structures at the University of Mississippi 1908 establishments in Mississippi 2016 disestablishments in Mississippi Demolished buildings and structures in Mississippi Buildings and structures demolished in 2016 Former power stations in Mississippi