In 1873, eight years after the end of the Civil War, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened an office in Monroe, La., to conduct surveys and remove wrecks and other navigation hazards from the Yazoo River on Mississippi and the Ouachita River in Louisiana.

One-hundred fifty years later, the Corps will observe its sesquicentennial of the Vicksburg District, which began in that office, Wednesday during a special 2 p.m. program celebrating its anniversary at the District’s headquarters at 4155 Clay St.

The guest list includes members of the Mississippi River Commission who are in Vicksburg for its annual low water tour, federal, state and community leaders, Vicksburg District employees and retirees and officials from Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

Operating from its headquarters on Clay Street, the Corps’ Vicksburg District has become a major operation in efforts to aid navigation, flood control, water resources development, public works engineering, and emergency response in its Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi service areas.

The Vicksburg District encompasses a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana that holds nine major river basins and incorporates approximately 460 miles of mainline Mississippi River levees. The District is engaged in hundreds of projects and employs approximately 1,100 personnel.