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THE REV. CHARLES R. JOHNSON
RECTOR
MRS. E. W. SANTA CRUZ, Jr.
CLERK OF THE VESTRY
MR. JOHN O. KRAMER
TREASURER
Episcopal QUjurrlj
Bay St. Louis,
912 South Beach BAY ST. LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI 39520 PHONE 467-5125
'e
39520
VESTRYMEN
MR. wmLTER CRAWLEY, Sr. Warden
MR. VERNON D. NIVEN, Jr. Warden
MR. A. B. BARRETT II
MRS. IRBY CHARPING
MR. JOSEPH P. COMPRETTA
MR. TERENCE M. FEENEY
MR. JOHN O. KRAMER
MR. FREDERICK L. LOGAN
MR. CHARLES LYLE III
MR. PAUL D. MONTJOY
MRS. E. W. SANTA CRUZ, Jr.
HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN HANCOCK COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Shieldsborough, now known as	Bay	St. Louis, was the site where	records	show the very
first Episcopal services were held as	far tack as 1838, principally	through	the efforts
of the domestic Missionary Society. Despite this early beginning, it was not until 1851 that regular services began when Bishop Green confirmed two persons, assisted by the Rev. Thomas S. Savage of Pass Christian.
This was the beginning and in 1858 a small group of comnunicants was organized as St. Luke'8 Church and admitted to	the	Diocese. Two years later, in	1860, a	church
fronting the Bay was completed at	a cost of $2,000. A rectory also	was built with do-
nated materials. The Rev. Thomas Ozanne described this first church as a "neat Gothic structure." Then came the Civil War and both the Church and the rectory were destroyed, and title to the land was lost. By this time few comnunicants were left and in 1881 St. Luke1s was dropped from the roll of parishes. The few who remained gradually joined with a small Episcopal Church, called Grace Church, which was located on Nicholson Avenue in Waveland, but thisidid not last long because the building subsequently was destroyed by fire.
It was not a very bright outlook for the church, but one woman, Miss Hettie Crowell, would not stand quietly by. Through her efforts, and the help of a few remaining Episcopalians, Christ :Church was established in 1889 and the first services were held in her home on North Beach. IC was a humble new start but the desire was there, and by 1890 the cornerstone for a new church was laid on North Beach, adjacent to Boardman Avenue.
No one person can take credit for that new church. All during the preceding year children and adults alike worked zealously to raise money. During the summer months the children and adults staged outdoor bazaars and ice cream socials —- some of which were held under the oak trees on the grounds of the Pickwick Hotel on Beach Boulevard.
Mrs. Jesse Cowand, who was a child of 10 at the time, still recalls how she and the other children code about town by horse and buggy sellijg tickets for the outdoor events and the plays ~ all to swell the building fund. Among the first members of Christ Church were Miss Hettie Crowell, Mrs. Kate>Worsley, Miss Jennie Hunter, and the Aiken, Cowand, Von Gohren, Posey, and Delamain families. First known Vestrymen were Judge Aiken, Charles Cowand, Dr. L. H. Von Gohren, and L. H. Von Gohren, Jr.
The first wedding held in the new church was that of Miss Paula Von Gohren and W. W. Jenks. The date was November, 1891, and the decorations for the day were chrysanthemums.
In 1901 Christ Church was admitted to the diocese as a mission. Then, in 1904 the church was moved on rollers down Dunbar Avenue to a more central location — to the corner of North Beach and Carroll Avenue. By now other families had been added to the membership rolls, including Chapman, Horton, de Montluzin, Wisner, Power, Firshing,
Harris, Crawford, Penn, Pepperdene, Penrose, Capdepon, Bgiggg, Norman, Thurston and Robert Williams.