Danny Wright of Evan Johnson and Sons Construction Inc. works on the portico on the south side of the former Levee Street Depot Monday.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[1/13/04]Work began Monday at City Front restoring a 96-year-old freight and passenger depot that will serve as a visitor center and railroad museum in days to come.

Employees of Evan Johnson and Sons of Brandon will repair and repaint window frames, rebuild porticos on three sides of the building and fix broken bricks and mortar at the Levee Street Depot. The work is expected to take about five months, said city architect David Clement.

The City of Vicksburg purchased the depot at the foot of Grove Street for $215,000 a year ago to use as part of a much larger waterfront redevelopment project.

“I’m happy to finally see work begin to restore an important part of the history of downtown,” said Mayor Laurence Leyens.

A $150,000 grant through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History is helping pick up the $423,500 tab for repairs. More work will be needed on the inside.

“This is just the exterior restoration right now,” Clement said.

The depot building was declared a Mississippi Landmark, and that allows the city to seek certain grants for work on it. The city is also seeking a grant from the Great American Station Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps communities revitalize old railroad stations, as seed money for the project.

Vicksburg also owns the retired MV Mississippi, once the Corps of Engineers’ flagship towboat, and the Corps is planning a museum at City Front near the former depot.

The depot was a center for north-south rail activity in the first part of the last century. In 1931, much business moved to the Holly Street Depot, which was just east of the Cherry Street viaduct until being torn down. The downtown depot was used by Illinois Central Railroad for offices until 1974 and has been used for a variety of purposes since, including as a kidney dialysis center and as a restaurant.