The newest mural at Vicksburg’s City Front was dedicated Tuesday to the memory of those who lost their lives in December 1953 when one of the worst tornadoes in Mississippi history swept through the city.

Six young girls sang &#8220Jingle Bells” during the ceremony, a reminder of what children in the crushed Saenger Theatre did to keep up their courage and help rescuers find them.

The mural, the 16th to be unveiled, depicts the devastation, but also tells the story of the community rebuilding, said Riverfront Mural chairman Nellie Caldwell.

&#8220It shows that through the devastation that Vicksburg went through, the people pulled together and made a positive thing happen,” she said.

The $16,500 mural, the first of the second phase unveiled at the north end of the floodwall, was sponsored by The Vicksburg Post editor and publisher Pat Cashman, his wife, Barbara Cashman, and their children, Amanda and John, who all participated in the unveiling.

The storm moved in from the Southwest at 5:23 p.m. on Dec. 5, destroying much of downtown before moving out in a northeasterly direction. Thirty-eight people died, including four children at a birthday party at the Saenger on Walnut Street and two children at a nursery school on Cherry at Jackson.

The center is a paper boy, surrounded by debris and people, to represent delivery of The Sunday Post-Herald on Dec. 6, 1953, the day after the tornado hit. The newspaper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the edition that was published within hours despite difficult circumstances, Cashman said.

&#8220The Post lost electricity, had no phones, no natural gas and no water for the film,” said Nancy Bell, historian for the mural committee. &#8220The newsmen wrote stories by candlelight and collected water from rain and any puddles they could find to develop their film.”

The storm was one of only two F5 tornadoes in the state and was the third deadliest.

Cashman said the Dec. 6 issue was important because it dispelled false reports spinning through town of greater numbers of deaths.

&#8220As bad as it was, the destruction was not as bad as the rumors that quickly got out,” Cashman said. &#8220The idea was to get the newspaper out so people could know.”

The mural, painted by employees of Robert Dafford Murals, was a collaboration of photographs taken from The Vicksburg Post archives.

Cashman said the tornado, even though it happened more than 50 years ago, is still talked about today.

&#8220My family has been here since the 1860s and played a part in Vicksburg’s history,” he said. &#8220My family wanted to do our part with this Waterfront mural.” Cashman’s grandfather, Louis P. Cashman Sr., was editor and publisher when the storm hit. His father, Louis P. Cashman Jr. worked for the family business. He was a toddler.

The next mural unveiling is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 29 at City Front. Sponsored by graduates of St. Aloysius High School, the mural will depict The Brothers of Sacred Heart, longtime operators of the parochial school.

The mural will depict the original three-story brick structure that housed the school and its faculty until 1948.

The Riverfront Mural Project began in 2001 and should be completed in less than four years, Caldwell said, with panels along the concrete wall transformed into depictions of the community’s legacy.