The faces lining the wall of a conference room in City Hall are those of strong, worn, concerned men.

The trait they share is a title — Mayor of Natchez.

But it takes more than a photo in city hall to be mayor. Past mayors, their families and city officials said you have to be thick-skinned, resolute and a little crazy to run for the office. But all said it was worth the effort to make a difference in their community.

A good mayor works with the community, the board of aldermen, department heads and county supervisors to communicate his ideas, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said.

Holloway first became interested in Natchez politics when he moved to town in 1975, and he’s served as clerk since 2000.

Most mayors run to fulfill a sense of obligation to their city, Holloway said.

“To give back to the community, out of a concern for the community, and it is important to improve the quality of life in the city, make sure people’s tax dollars are spent in the right direction,” Holloway said.

Each mayor has had a different personality and run the city in a different way, Holloway said. But most served out of a desire to help their community.

An early start

At 30 years old, Troy B. Watkins was the youngest Natchez mayor to take office.

In his years as mayor, from 1956 to 1962, Watkins brought the first voting machines to Natchez and improved city streets.

The late Watkins moved to Natchez with his wife, Margaret, in 1950. He developed a love for the town, Margaret Watkins said, and he had always been interested in politics.

“When we came to Natchez, he thought we needed a new mayor,” Margaret Watkins said. “We had rather elderly men in office for a while, and they didn’t seem to get much done.”

Watkins ran for state representative first but wasn’t elected. Margaret thought a position closer to home might be better.

“The next year, I encouraged him and said he should run for mayor,” she said. “He did and he won. Thankfully, the ladies in the Natchez garden clubs got behind him and loved him.”

Watkins spent his term overseeing the paving of city streets and the updating of the voting process.

After his term as mayor, he served in the state senate and operated convenience stores.

It’s not easy being mayor or being a mayor’s family, Margaret said.

“I think it takes someone who is aggressive, thoughtful, compassionate — a leader in every respect,” she said.

Struggling through

John J. Nosser, too, moved to Natchez and wanted to do his civic duty, former mayor Tony Byrne said.

Originally from Lebanon, Nosser was the only foreign-born mayor Natchez has had, Byrne said.

Nosser served from 1962 to 1968, a turbulent time. Because of the social turmoil, he had a hard time accomplishing goals, Byrne said.

“He was a good mayor and a good man,” said Byrne, who ran against him three times. “But he had a grocery store, and every move he made, either the whites boycotted him or the blacks boycotted him. He tried so hard to help the community.”

Nosser was generous, giving money to different organizations, Byrne said.

“Anybody who came to Mr. Nosser basically got money. If somebody needed a hospital bill paid, had a fundraiser, whatever it was, he was always in the forefront,” Byrne said. “He was very generous — to the point probably of giving too much away.”

Ultimately, Nosser’s legacy was at attempt at social change, and a heart in the right place, Byrne said.

“I think basically, he was trying so hard to keep the whites and blacks settled down, and he tried like the devil, but it just didn’t work because of his business,” Byrne said.

A coming together

Byrne himself served as Natchez mayor from 1968 to 1988. He faced the same challenges of racial disharmony Nosser had, but he had less to lose, he said.

“Since I didn’t have a business, I thought I could get the job done to heal race relations because they couldn’t hurt me either way,” he said. “I had nothing to boycott.”

Weeks after he was elected and just before he was scheduled to start his term, the city erupted.

“In June 1968, we had a riot in Downtown Natchez,” Byrne said. “The National Guard took control of the whole community. At the time, black groups didn’t want to meet with Nosser because he wasn’t going to be mayor anymore. So, we met at the chamber of commerce, and we got things settled down. Things kind of calmed back down.”

The rest of his term went a little smoother, Byrne said.

“We were in the oil heyday, when things were blowing and going, and money was pretty good,” Byrne said. “We were able to do housing projects, street work, things along those lines.”

Even when the economy’s good, being mayor is no easy feat, he said. You no longer have any private life, and everyone’s a critic.

“Everyplace you go, the grocery store or the restaurant, people are going to come up and tell you the problems,” Bryne said. “You don’t have a life anymore. You just have to learn to live with that kind of thing.

“And you certainly have to realize you’re going to hurt people’s feelings. They like you when you go in, and as soon as you make your first decision, you’ve hurt some feelings and pleased somebody else.”

Don’t back down

One man who didn’t back down from controversy was Natchez native David Armstrong, who served as mayor from 1998 to 1992.

“I don’t know why anybody in his right mind would run for mayor,” Armstrong said. “You’d have to be half-crazy. When you’re mayor, everybody’s your boss, and everybody’s telling you what you should do differently.”

With industries dying and the local economy in a steep decline, Armstrong said he realized the need for a broader industry base. And he saw the solution as tourism.

“That wasn’t a particularly popular stand at the time in Natchez,” Armstrong said. “I also felt it was important to get the black community involved in the operation of the city.

“I appointed the first black department head in the history of the town. That was probably the kiss of death for me politically, but it was what I needed to do.”

Another unpopular move, but one Armstrong saw as necessary, was bringing in the city’s first casino.

“At the time, that was the only industry knocking on our door,” Armstrong said. “It created 400 jobs. I’m proud of that.”

His controversial moves meant he was never reelected, but Armstrong said he felt good about his role in improving the community.

“I don’t have any regrets,” he said. “I probably wasn’t the smartest politician, but I think I was a good mayor. I was a better mayor than politician.”

Growing the community

As a boy, downtown Natchez was Larry L. “Butch” Brown’s playground. Growing up, Brown was influenced by older Natchezians instilled in him a love of the city and the need to be involved.

An entrepreneur, Brown owned several businesses in town.

“Financially, I thought I was strong enough I could give back some time to the community,” he said.

In his term, Brown oversaw a “revamped” police department, street paving and improved waterworks. He also had a hand in the restoration of the city auditorium and the building of the convention center, the visitors center and the stabilization of the bluffs.

“Every mayor has similar goals and aspirations,” Brown said. “It’s what you inherit, what you pick up and work on. Hopefully, you’ll stay long enough to make a difference. I think I did.”

Brown also said he worked to find funding outside city tax dollars, such as grants, to help finance city projects.

“I think the community understands now that you can’t just operate and grow a community without being proactive and finding other sources of funds,” Brown said. “Managing the budgeting process and money is something else I’m awfully proud of.”

Up by the bootstraps

Soon after F.L. “Hank” Smith took office in 2000, the economy seemed to fall apart. And though he didn’t have much to do with its downslide, he did what he could to keep the local economy afloat.

“The entire time I was there, there was a lack of money,” Smith said. “Just about every single penny was allocated to something. We had used up all available gaming revenue to serve that debt.”

Then, International Paper closed, taking with it jobs and vital industry. Not long after, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks drove away tourists.

“It was a tough time to be mayor,” Smith said. “But we managed to stay ahead of the game and keep a balanced budget and had clean audits with very little to work with.”

To combat the problems, Smith worked to reform the long-dormant Natchez-Adams County Economic Development Association. The EDA would entice businesses and industry to the area and help revitalize the economy.

Even now, Smith said, the area can see the results of that.

“I think the city should really not be in that game themselves,” Smith said. “Let those people who are professionals make the contacts.”

The Natchez native who worked for Bell South for 22 years before and after his term still says the biggest challenge in his role as mayor was the lack of control.

“The mayor of Natchez does not have a lot of the power most people think they do,” Smith said. “The mayor is really the executive officer in charge of running day-to-day operations of the city. The board of aldermen have the real say-so.”

The mayor also acts as ambassador, a role Smith filled when trying to bring tourists back to Natchez. That was one of his favorite jobs, he said.

“I enjoyed spreading the word about Natchez,” he said.

Think forward

After years serving on the county board and in the state legislature, Phillip West wound up mayor of Natchez.

It wasn’t a thought-out plan or a longtime desire of his, he said. He just sort of fell into it.

He had run in 1996 to give an opposing position, but just to make a point that things weren’t being run the way he thought they should, he said.

Recently reelected to the state legislature, he decided to serve out his term and move into the private sector.

“Several people asked me to consider running for mayor, and I decided I didn’t want the job,” West said.

It wasn’t until he was unexpectedly back in Natchez in church after a friend’s death when felt perhaps he was called to serve his hometown.

“I qualified on the last hour of the last day, just to give myself time to think about it,” West said.

Friends in the legislature urged him to take the race seriously, and West was elected.

West’s original goal was to lift the spirits of a long-suffering city, he said.

“Originally, I wanted to focus on developing an attitude and environment in which people feel optimistic abut our future, where businesses are attracted to our community because we have a positive attitude and energy-filled community,” West said.

Now he sees that mostly accomplished, West said he hopes to facilitate a change in the city’s unique feature — relaying history, especially that of the African American experience.

“(I want to) fulfill the untold story about the real uniqueness of Natchez,” West said. “Because of the Forks of the Road (slave market site), I think Natchez is the only place where we can really tell the full story of the history of our state and probably even the South.”

Recreation and drawing more tourism are other priorities, he said.

And being mayor, West said, he could help to bring those changes about.

“It’s what I’ve been doing all my life, trying to help the City of Natchez, trying to help my hometown.”