| This fine Greek Revival brick house is believed to have been built about 1836 for James R. McDowell. During the Civil War it was the residence of Dr. William T. Balfour and his wife Emma Balfour, author of a historically important diary that recorded life in Vicksburg during the siege of the city in 1863. This building was individually listed on the National Register on 26 October 1971, from a nomination prepared by MDAH historian Clinton Bagley. It was later included as element #36 in the Uptown Vicksburg Historic District, which was placed on the National Register on 19 August 1993, and it was more recently included as element #38 in the Uptown Vicksburg Amendment and Boundary Increase No. 2, which was added to the National Register on 4 February 2020. It was designated a Mississippi Landmark, at the request of the owners, on 18 July 1986. This house is included in "Old Homes of Mississippi, Volume I: Natchez and the South" (1977, 1979) (p. 88), "Historic Vicksburg Walking Tour Guide" (1987) (#25, pp. 21-22), "Vicksburg: Town and Country" (2001) (p.69), "The Majesty of the Mississippi Delta" (2002) (pp. 22-23), and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p.78, YB17). [HABS MS-116 (1936)] |