VICKSBURG TIMELINE OF DEVELOPMENTS
1863		Union Army siege of Vicksburg. Confederate troops surrender the city.
1890		Establishment of Chickamauga/Chattanooga National Military Park and Antietam National Battlefield.
1895		Incorporation of Vicksburg National Military Park Association.
1899		Vicksburg National Military Park established; Capt. William T, Rigby selected as Resident Commissioner.
1900-02		Planning and surveying begins for road alignment and bridge location.
1902		Road and bridge construction begins with Confederate Avenue.
1903		Construction of Union and Grant avenues; bodies of two soldiers unearthed during construction. Melan Arch Bridges on Union Avenue constructed by William T. Young Bridge Company. Steel Bridge constructed by Penn Bridge Company on Confederate Avenue. Guttering of park roadways begins. Massachussetts dedicates first state memorial.
1907-08		Maloney Circle Bridge constructed by William T. Young Bridge Company.
1903-09		Construction of three concrete observation towers.
1920s		Increasing number of motorists necessitate road improvements.
1933		National Park Service becomes responsible for administration of the park.
1930s		Road construction and improvement projects in association with Depression Era relief agencies, WPA and CCC.
1936-37		Halls Ferry Bridge constructed on Confederate Avenue by Coggin and Deermont.
1951		Proposed land transfer between the park and the City of Vicksburg studied by officials.
1952		Public outcry against proposed land transfer leads to ten years of debate.
1956		Beginning of Mission 66 projects, an NPS servicewide rehabilitation program. (Improvements developed for Vicksburg in this program not completed until 1980)
1963		Controversial transfer of southern section of park land to City of Vicksburg.
1964-80		Mission 66 projects result in the closing of Confederate Avenue to through traffic and the establishment of a one-way, closed-loop tour road.
1963		Removal of observation towers.
1997		Replacement of one Melan Arch bridge with box culvert. Historic American Engineering Record documents tour road system.

This schematic HAER drawing represents the different aspects of the tour road design along siege lines. Confederate Avenue follows the line of Southern entrenchments while Union Avenue roughly follows the line of advancing Northern forces. (Deb James, 1997).

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