Called the “Art Park of the World” by a Civil War veteran, the Vicksburg National Military Park is a jewel in Vicksburg’s crown, attracting thousands of visitors each year.

The 1,800-acre park features 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles of reconstructed trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile tour road, the Shirley House, which served as a Union hospital and survived the siege, cannon, and ironclad Union gunboat USS Cairo, which sunk by a Confederate torpedo in the Yazoo river.

But in its early years, the park, which was established the park by Congress on Feb. 21, 1899, many of the exhibits that grace the park were not there. Farmers still plowed sections of battleground and dirt roads cut through the park.

When the Illinois Memorial was dedicated in 1906, there wasn’t much around except the nearby Shirley House, which was vacant until the 1930s, when it was used for a home. It was restored in 1966.

The archway visitors pass under to tour the park wasn’t dedicated until 1917.