NATCHEZ, Miss. – City officials want to name the Sergeant Prentiss Drive bridge crossing Liberty Road after former Natchez mayor Butch Brown.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen agreed Tuesday to get the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s permission for this bridge designation honoring Brown, who died in 2023.
The board last year had proposed naming the city’s flyover bridge that connects U.S. 61 with Sergeant Prentiss Drive, but officials later realized it’s already named in memory of military veterans.
Brown’s son Larry said it’s more appropriate to name the Seargent Prentiss Drive-Liberty Road bridge to honor his father because he helped design the decorative span with its black wrought-iron railings and ornate columns.
“It was very important to him,” he said.
His father also headed the Mississippi Department of Transportation in between stints as Natchez mayor. “He designed that bridge himself with an ink pen on a napkin in a steakhouse in Jackson and gave it to the design people at MDOT.”
Brown’s son met Tuesday with Natchez aldermen and Mayor Dan Gibson to express appreciation for paying tribute to his father.
Naming the bridge must be approved by MDOT because it’s part of the state highway system.
In addition to serving 12 years as Natchez mayor, Larry L. “Butch” Brown was MDOT’s executive director for 10 years.
Brown died at age 79 in April 2023. His three terms as Natchez mayor were from 1992 to 2000 and 2012 to 2016. His stint as MDOT executive director was from 2001 to 2011.
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