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

---

date or me nrs t incorporation, t rom page ido ui Mississippi’s official 1818 publication, /Acts Past In the First Session of the First General Assembly comes this quote:
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi in General Assembly convened, that the place situated on the West Side of the Bay of St. Louis in the County of Hancock, known by the name of Shieldsborough, is hereby declared to be a town under the name of Shieldsborough. . . .
The act passed in January 1818 called for the annual election of five trustees, a treasurer and an assessor/collector to run the town’s business, levy taxes, write laws and impose fines.
“Shieldsborough” was later shortened to “Shieldsboro.” The name came from Thomas Shields who settled on a Bay land grant in the late 18th century. Some villagers, however, continued to use “Bay St. Louis,” the name given by the French explorers who first visited the bay on the Catholic Feast Day of St. Louis.
For years the two names were used interchangeably. The older name eventually won, but the date of the official change is uncertain. One City Hall minutes book mentions its incorporation as the "City of Bay St. Louis” on Feb.
time-capsuled pageant which advertised "a cast of 250 citizens in historically authentic costumes on a 250-foot panoramic stage with special lighting effects, special scenic effects, special musical effects."
The 90-minute extravaganza was staged every night of the birthday week, and whisked spectators from Choctaw campfires to pioneer huts; from European land grabs to the Civil War; from the Gay '90s to World War II and up through the 1950s. It left viewers "standing on the threshold of a new world — the Space Age."
Prima Wusnack was one of the pageant Indians. In addition to feathers and red skin, the librarian remembers pockets filled with wooden nickels. Her parents, who owned Fahey Drug Store, were among town merchants who passed out the nickels as souvenirs.
The coin was about the size of a silver dollar and imprinted on one side were the words, "One Wooden Nickel -- 5 Cents.” The ether side stated, "Good in trade at any co-operative business or redeemable at face value at either Bay St. Louis bank on or before Aug. 2, 1958.”
Charles Breath Jr.’e remembrances are a bit more “hairy." He was hauled off to court, sen-