This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.


A rich past & promising future
#■
/H J--V ■
r. ~ * =
>V,.	*■*-.£	.
0*wA • - / s»“ ijrV*
'h
%£?)[ Mess?& Virgin Mary ft ir-kt':'$$& can i>e found at
K yA A-nnunciation Catholic
By Glynda Phillips
The town of Kiln, located in Hancock County just minutes northwest of Bay St. Louis, possesses a rich history and many fine modern-day amenities. Tourism is a growing industry.
Kiln residents have worked hard to repair and rebuild following Hurricane Katrina and are looking forward to a promising future. Come with us as we leam more about this fascinating town.
THE KILN
Kiln, also known as The Kiln (pronounced “The Kill”), grew up in the 1800s around the sawmills, shipyards and other businesses linked to the area’s abundant natural resources. In fact, the town was named for the large kilns that French settlers built to dry lumber and extract pine tar and pitch. Back then, tar was used to caulk the hulls of wooden ships and resin was used in turpentine. The resulting charcoal from the oven fires was burned as fuel.
The arrival of the Edward Hines Yellow Pine Co. in 1912, said to be one of the largest sawmills in the South, served to enhance the town’s growth and prosperity. The mill was run by steam and used a band saw instead of a round blade saw to produce lumber, staves and shingles.
Dummy lines (or rail lines) ran out from the mill into the surrounding yellow pine and cypress forests. Locomotives delivered massive stands of timber back to the mill to be made into products that were shipped down the Jourdan River to Gulfport. From there, the products were transported to Ship Island and to New Orleans for city markets and foreign export.
The site where the mill once stood is now occupied by Whitfield Lumber Company. But back in those early years, in addition to the Hines mill, you could find saloons, hotels, doctors’ offices, stores and houses.
The Hines mill built 200 houses for its workers and painted some of them yellow and some of them red. Yellow houses were located along the road leading down to the mill. That road,
MISSISSIPPI FARM COUNTRY
JANUARY/FEBRUARY
2009


Kiln Kiln-MS-Farm-Country-2009
© 2008 - 2024
Hancock County Historical Society
All rights reserved