$1 million earmark pending in Congress for historic Natchez sites

NATCHEZ, Miss. — The U.S. Senate is considering for Natchez a $1 million allocation the House has earmarked for enhancing city landmarks commemorating black history.

Mayor Dan Gibson said the money could be used to further develop historic sites that include the former Forks of the Road slave market and the planned Hiram Revels Plaza on St. Catherine Street. Also envisioned is the Black Union soldiers monument on Broadway Street.

While the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted for the $1 million earmark for Natchez, Gibson said, it won’t be certain until later this year if it’s approved by the Senate and president. All appropriations in the U.S. Congress are in limbo now as the two houses haven’t been able to finalize the funding of the federal government for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The House is also currently paralyzed without a leader after ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.

Gibson and aldermen on Tuesday reviewed landscaping plans for the plaza honoring the first Black member of Congress. Hiram Revels was a Natchez alderman who went on to represent Mississippi in the Senate 1870-71.

A $25,000 National Park Service grant helped fund landscape architect Russ Ryan’s plans he presented Tuesday for Revels Plaza’s design, which is modeled after the city’s master plan drafted in 2018 to revitalize downtown Natchez.

Government and private partners are planning to place the commemorative park at “The Triangle” at the intersection of St. Catherine, Martin Luther King and Jefferson streets.

The site is across the street from Zion Chapel AME Church, where Revels was pastor in 1866. At least $700,000 in total is needed to build Revels Plaza, according to estimates presented last year to the mayor and Board of Aldermen. The Downtown Natchez Alliance, Zion Chapel and various government agencies are collaborating to plan and fund the project.

The monument for Black Union Civil War soldiers has been designed to be located on the north end of Broadway Street at the large lawn there. It’s to honor more than 3,000 former enslaved men who served with Union troops in Natchez when they occupied Natchez beginning in 1863. Estimates have the monument and surrounding landscape costing as much as $1 million to build.

The board voted Tuesday to apply for a NPS grant for the Black Union soldiers monument. Other public and private sources are being sought for this.

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City officials continue to be frustrated by the high costs of construction that have stymied plans for renovating the Duncan Park Golf Clubhouse. Aldermen today had to turn down a contractor’s bid because it exceeded the $1 million budgeted for the project.