Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ – The next step toward construction of the Baptist Heritage and Arts Center on the grounds of Historic Natchez College takes place this morning.

The Rev. Reginald Buckley will sign a contract to begin construction of the center by the General Mississippi Baptist State Convention of Mississippi during the group’s spring session, taking place at the Natchez Convention Center.

The contract signing is at 11 a.m.

The $797,000 contract will begin the next phase of restoration of Huddleston Memorial Chapel at Natchez College. The campus will become the Baptist Heritage and Arts Center.

Natchez College was one of several private institutions of higher learning established by African American religious organizations in Mississippi during the post-Civil War period. Natchez College was founded by the GMBSC in 1884 and closed in 1989. It’s campus is a Mississippi Landmark.

A $2.5 million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant to the Foundation for Mississippi Department of Archives and History to support and promote programs and projects focused on understanding the role of religion in Mississippi history and culture.

The religion initiative includes capital improvements at two Adams County sites: Huddleston Memorial Chapel at Natchez College, which is owned by the General Mississippi Baptist State Convention, and at Historic Jefferson College, a MDAH site.