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etterlate
than never
Bay celebrates centennial 40 years too late
J	Ctf	6-’65	D	,	0
Bay St. Louis was swept through a time machine in 1958. Horses and buggies clopping down the streets were reflected in antiquated store windows. Women donned long gowns and bonnets, men grew beards, and children painted their skin Indian red.
The townsfolk were celebrating their 100th year of incorporation — 40 years too late.
One week in August had been singled out for the centennial party, replete with parades, a ball, bands, a 250-cast historical pageant, fireworks, speeches, old-fashioned bathing beauty contests, kangaroo courts and myriad other festive events.
The revelers didn’t know that two earlier incorporation dates — 1818 and 1838 — had evaded researchers, who had found only the later reincorporation date of 1858. So the birthday party began Aug. 2, 1958.
“It was enormous fun," recalls Nell Ducomb, Bay native who spearheaded publication of an offical centennial booklet. “Everyone wore costumes to get in the spirit — even the babies. The streets were filled with horses, old cars and wagons, as well as the people who dressed to represent different parts of our history.”
That history began long before the white man established his first settlement in the late 17th century. The area’s bountiful fishing and hunting opportunities had made it a popular Indian village. The handful of French families who landed in 1699 expanded and were joined by other residents over the centuries; today Bay St. Louis is a city of 8,471.
The Bay’s population was about 5,000 at the time of the 1958 celebration. Much had happened to make the residents toot their horns about the past
—	although they weren't aware of it all. If the centennial booklets were reprinted today, there would be many facts to add.
One of those facts concerns a proposal made during the 1817 constitutional convention which would have made Shieldsboro, an earlier name for Bay St. Louis, the state capital. Natchez won, but it was the seat of state government for only five years before centrally located Jackson became the permanent capital.
The most important fact, however, would be date of the first incorporation. From page }.5
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24, 1882, but that is not the only time the Bay was re-incorporated.
. "Name changes, re-defining of corporate limits, changing duties of town officers, changing from a ‘town’ to a ‘city* — all these things would bring about changes In the original Incorporation," explains Coast historian Charles Sullivan. In research for his book, The Mississippi Gulf Coast: Portrait of a People, he discovered most Coast towns experienced incorporation changes.
"These towns were growing and changing, and they had to do it legally through the state Legislature.”
In 1838, for example, the Senate and House singled out Pass Christian, Biloxi and Shieldsboro with acts of incorporation. Shieldsboro was told to elect five "selectmen,” a town treasurer and an assessor/collector. Those seven men, who had to be re-elected every March, chose from among themselves the “town president.”
In the early 1970s the Bay became the first city in the state to adopt the mayor-council form of government. But during the 1958 celebration, the commission form was in place. John Scafide was mayor then, and in an open letter to constituents, he and the two commissioners wrote:
"We want you to be as proud of this important occasion as we are and to remember it with long and lasting satisfaction.”
One of the long-remembered tales concerns then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Centennial organizers had decided a message from the president would be a coup, but they were having trouble securing one since he was busy with a Mideast crisis.
When time had nearly run out, Caroline Kiefer decided to tackle the problem head-on: She picked up the phone and called the White House.
"My mother was so surprised when she got through to Eisenhower’s personal secretary,” recalls her daughter Laurie Byrd. “ ‘Well, Mrs. Kiefer,' he told her, ‘I don't think the president could send you a letter by tomorrow, but will a telegram do?’ ”
The next day it arrived at Western Union, addressed to Mrs. Frank Kiefer. Rumors quickly flew around town that she had received a personal telegram from the president, although it was really addressed to the citizens of Bay St. Louis.
“I send greetings,” read the presidential message. “In the storied past of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, your city has played an important part. Strengthened by traditions of enterprise and community achievement. Bay St. Louis can enter its second century with confidence and thanksgiving."
And that they did, with a celebration yet unmatched by other Coast towns.	j
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