The state Legislature adjourned its annual session last week allocating millions of dollars for local improvement projects statewide that Mayor Dan Gibson said includes $362,000 for continuing renovations of the old train depot at the Natchez bluff park.
The money, he noted, is being allocated through the Mississippi Main Street Revitalization Grant Program. The Legislature appropriated about $7 million to towns such as Natchez designated as Main Street communities by a downtown revitalization group affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Natchez has been struggling for years to finish restoring the old Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad passenger depot built circa 1915 and to landscape its bluff area overlooking the Mississippi River. While nearly $1 million was spent in state and city funds to restore the exterior in 2016, the building has remained empty as plans stalled on how the interior is to be used.
The city-owned building’s south portion has now been rehabilitated for Visit Natchez, the city’s tourism agency, to use as a visitor’s information center. For the use of the building’s other half, city officials are working to finalize a lease agreement with the company that owns the nearby Natchez Grand Hotel.
The state Legislature, which finished its annual session last Saturday, passed a bill with the Main Street money along with more than $220 million for the state Local Improvements Projects Fund to assist towns and counties throughout Mississippi. Senate Bill 2468 shows Natchez-Adams County is not among more than 300 communities specified to receive LIPF money. Area localities that are earmarked include Wilkinson County with $1 million for a bridge replacement and Port Gibson with $100,000 for its city hall.
Mississippi’s Local Improvements Projects Fund was created by the state Legislature to allocate money from the American Rescue Plan Act that the U.S. Congress enacted in 2021 to help states recover from the economic impact of the COVID pandemic.
The Broadway Street depot building is a state-designated Mississippi Landmark that was Natchez’ passenger train station until the 1940s. The Craftsman-style building housed a souvenir shop and restaurants in the late 1900s-early 2000s until it was vacated prior to its 2016 partial restoration.
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