The city’s newest floodwall mural honors the beautification efforts of garden club members in Vicksburg through the years and the building that signifies their efforts.

“In the 77-year history of garden clubs in Vicksburg the members have worked long and hard to beautify our city and make it a better place to live,” Nancy Bell, president of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, said during Thursday’s unveiling. “Their greatest legacy was to preserve Planters Hall.”

At 822 Main St., Planters Hall housed Vicksburg’s first bank when built in 1834 and also served as living quarters for the bank president. The bank failed in 1842, and the building became single-family residences and apartments. The Vicksburg Council of Garden Clubs purchased the building in 1956 in a dilapidated condition for $17,500.

Miriam Jabour, who has been active in Vicksburg garden clubs for more than 30 years as a Master Gardener and flower show judge, told about 100 at the unveiling of the effort put forth by the council to purchase and restore Planters Hall.

“There were holes in the floor, the wood inside had not seen paint in decades and I was told that one occupant had chickens and a goat living with him in his room,” she said. “Thousands of hours and a considerable amount of money was raised to make the initial down payment and to secure insurance.”

Over the years, the council members received monetary donations and furniture. They hosted Christmas shops, antique shows, bulb sales and other fundraising events to pay for restorations.

The mural depicts Planters Hall upon its complete restoration, with blooming trees, shrubs and flowers surrounding the building. Among a few anonymous children and women on the grounds, three important women in Vicksburg gardening history are also depicted. Hester Flowers – who founded the city’s first garden club – is shown, as well as Clyde Everette and Fannie Peeples. All three women served as president of the State of Mississippi Gardening Club in their lifetimes.

Founded in 1931, the Vicksburg Council of Garden Clubs’ membership had grown substantially by the early 1950s, at which point the members were divided into 12 clubs with an overall council based at Planters Hall. Clubs planted trees and gardens throughout the city and established the Vicksburg Historical Tours, the forerunner to today’s spring and fall pilgrimages.

Planters Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, but due to economic hardships and the demise of more than half of the garden clubs in Vicksburg, it was sold by the council in 1996. The council later disbanded, and today five gardening clubs remain, Green Hills, Hester Flowers, Openwood Plantation, Morning Gardeners and Town and Country. Planters Hall today is privately owned, and once again is privately owned as a single-family home.

Renowned muralist Robert Dafford, who has worked on all of the 26 completed historical murals, said the Planters Hall mural was of particular interest to him because of his love of landscape art.

“More than anything, I love to paint landscapes, and it’s rare for me to get to do one with as much color as this mural,” he said.

A total of 32 murals are planned for the City Front floodwall.