Help Restore the Mound Bayou Bank
Located in one of the oldest African American towns in the United States, Mound Bayou Bank stands as a testament to the tenacity and hard work of the early residents of Mound Bayou.
In December 1887, Isaiah T. Montgomery and his cousin, Benjamin Green, both former slaves, bought the land on which they would begin to establish the town of Mound Bayou. Montgomery and Green quickly recruited settlers to join their new community, with many of the new residents coming from Davis Bend, a former settlement that had been established by Benjamin T. Montgomery, Isaiah’s father, on land once owned by Joseph Davis, Jefferson Davis’s brother.
After much labor to convert swampland into agricultural fields, Mound Bayou experienced a level of success in the cotton industry that rivaled and often exceeded other cotton-producing areas in the state, making the town the leading cotton producer in Mississippi at the turn of the century. In 1904, John Frances and Charles Banks founded Mound Bayou Bank with a capital investment of $10,000. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 for its significance to the history of African American industry and commerce, Mound Bayou Bank is the only historic commercial building remaining from the early settlement of Mound Bayou.
The Mississippi Heritage Trust, in partnership with the City of Mound Bayou, is raising funds to restore the Mound Bayou Bank to become a visitor’s center and community archives. $594,000 in funding has been secured toward the goal of $1,000,000.
To make a tax-deductible donation for the restoration of this building that speaks to the African American experience in America, please send your check payable to the Mississippi Heritage Trust to P.O. Box 577, Jackson, MS 39205 marked “Mound Bayou Bank” or click the link above to make a payment by credit card.