NATCHEZ — Two ribbon cutting ceremonies took place Thursday in downtown Natchez to commemorate the completion of major city projects.

The Toll Plaza Colonnades and the Mississippi River Valley Railroad Depot were celebrated in the ceremonies, at which Natchez Mayor Butch Brown thanked representatives of the state and federal funding organizations that he said made the construction possible.

Natchez resident and former Mississippi Department of Transportation Special Project Officer Janet Sullivan-Vines served as master of ceremonies for both events. Sullivan-Vines said she had worked with Brown while he was the director of MDOT.

“We all know that when our mayor had a vision for something done, it somehow got done,” she said. “And today, we want to express our appreciation to those wonderful partners in funding who have always been there when a project of a large magnitude needed to be done.”

At the colonnades, Brown lauded the quality of the construction and the hardy materials used to renovate the once-crumbling columns.

Community Development Director James Johnston said the total cost of the renovation was approximately $406,000, paid for largely through a grant from MDOT

“This effort here will allow the colonnades to stand for at least another 100 years,” Brown said. “Without the tenaciousness of the inspection team with (MDOT and the Federal Highway Administration) it wouldn’t be as perfect as it is today. We thank you for being tenacious, but most of all we thank you for your money and your assistance in putting this together.”

MDOT Southern Transportation Commissioner Tom King passed Brown’s thanks on to FHA Mississippi Division Administrator Andy Hughes, who was also in attendance. He said the MDOT grant used to repair the colonnades was sourced through FHA funds.

“We sure do appreciate (the grant money), Andy,” he said. “And as long as I keep getting it, I’m going to keep giving it away to people like Natchez.”

Sullivan-Vines said the plaza was completed in 1940, and once served to collect the bridge toll from those traveling from Vidalia to Natchez.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said she often passed through the toll plaza during her childhood, on her way home to Natchez from visiting family in Louisiana.

“Isn’t it a beautiful entry to the City of Natchez and to Ward 1?” Arceneaux-Mathis said. “And I think that was the whole purpose when it was built, to bring that grandeur, to say, ‘You’re coming to Natchez, and Natchez is unique, it’s a jewel on the Mississippi river, and you’re coming through our portals here.’”

Another ceremony on the bluff happened Thursday afternoon to commemorate the completion of the exterior renovation of the historic railway depot on Broadway Street.

King said the significance of the project is important to the history of transportation in Mississippi. The depot was built between 1910 and 1913, Sullivan-Vines said, and was added to the national register of historic places in 1979. In 1990, it was designated a Mississippi Landmark.

“There’s a lot of historical significance with the depot and the railways,” he said. “We need them, they’ve been very important in the birth of our country and the continued growth of our country.”

King said he was glad to have formed a partnership with the city in order to bring the project to fruition.

Johnston said the exterior renovation of the depot cost a total of $879,000.

Brown said the completion of the building’s interior would follow shortly, after the city reviews bids and decides on a tenant for the space.

“One of the things that has to come and will be taking place here shortly is the finishing of the interior,” he said. “The City of Natchez will move forward and hopefully get the interior design work done and finished before the end of the tricentennial.”