Trustmark will close its Cherry Street branch, the bank’s oldest in the city, on May 16, in efforts to consolidate services after a decline in customers there, Trustmark’s Vicksburg president, Jerry Hall, said Friday.

“At one time we had six employees there and now we’re down to two,” Hall said. “It was the one with the fewest transactions.”

The closure coincides with the expansion of the bank’s Halls Ferry branch, where Hall said mortgage and investment offices will move from the bank’s headquarters at 1301 Washington St.

After the branch at 2101 Cherry St., closes, Trustmark will have six locations operating in Vicksburg, including the main office.

“It’s going to be sad,” said Linda Watson, the head teller, who has worked at the Cherry Street bank for 20 years. “This is the oldest branch Vicksburg Trustmark’s got.”

The building was the first branch of First National Bank to open in Vicksburg in the early 1960s. In 1994, First National Financial Corporation merged and became Trustmark.

The branch has seen a slow decline in use as businesses in the neighborhood have moved away from the area, Watson said.

“You know how things change through the years,” she said. “We used to have a lot more things going on in this area.”

Her branch still gets steady use from its regular customers, including many neighbors who walk there, Watson said.

Hall said brisk business at nearby locations convinced bank officials the Cherry Street branch was no longer needed.

“It’s not like folks that are using that location have a long way to go,” he said.

Safe deposit boxes at Cherry Street will be moved to other branches, and some customers may receive discounts on their boxes, Hall said.

Cherry Street customers will be notified by mail of the closing.

This week, Trustmark National Bank’s board of directors hired the president of general banking, Gerald Host, as chief operating officer.

In December, the bank sold the 102-year-old downtown building where its Vicksburg operations are headquartered. The building, also home to the law offices of Wheeless, Shappley, Bailess & Rector, sold to a limited liability corporation, First National LLC, which owns Bienville Apartments on I-20 Frontage Road and has stated plans to turn the top floors into apartments.

Trustmark will continue to operate its bank and offices on the first and second floors of the eight-story building, which was built as First National Bank’s headquarters in 1905.

The Cherry Street branch reduced its hours several years ago, and dropped to two employees in August. They will be moved to other branches, Hall said.

“When I came here this place was huge. It was busy,” Watson said. Businesses that previously operated in the are were The Vicksburg Post, BellSouth, two grocery stores and a Coca-Cola bottling plant.