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

---

g	HANCOCK COUNTY HISTORICAL SO?
f	P. 0. BOX 1340
J	BAY	ST.	LOUIS,	MS 39520
"V 1 j	THE MUNICIPALITY OF BAY ST. LOUIS_____________
IT IS ESPECIALLY INTERESTING TO KNO’W THAT THE CITY OF BAY ST. iLOUIfS HAS EEEN! KNOWN, AT SEPARATE TIMES, BY THREE DIFFERENT NAMES. TWO OF THE NANTES* SHIELDSBORO AND BAY ST. LOUIS, ARE OFFICIAL AND OF RECORD* BEFORE THE FI RST WHIT E WAN SET FOOT HB?E, THE INDIANS KNEW THIS SETTL0M BMT AS CHICAPOULA, WHICH MEANS, "BAD GRASS*. THIS NAME IS NOT TOO SURPRISING TO THOSE OF US WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE ROCK-A-CHAW GRASS THAT STILL INFESTS OUR LAND.
THERE IS MG' RECORD OF THE COMMUNITY WHEN IT WAS KNOWN AS CHICAPOULA, ONLY HISTORICAL DATA THAT HAS BEEN GATHERED IN FRAGMENTARY LOTS HERE AND THERE*
THE CITY OF SHIELDSBORO, PRECEDING BAY ST. LOUIS, WAS INCORPORATED ON J/WtiARY 4, T858. THE FIRST MAYOR WAS P.	C.	MONET♦	THE
SECOND ONE WAS ROBERT W. TOULME.
ON MARCH *, 1875, THE CITY OF SHIELDSBORO CHANGED ITS NAME TO BAY ST. LOUIS, NAMED AFTER THE BODf OF WATER ON WHICH IT rs LOCATED. ITS FIRST MAYOR WAS B. SONES. AT THIS TIME THERE WAS NO CITY HALL.
THE CITY'S BUSINESS WAS CARRIED ON IN A ROOM IN THE COURT HOUSE. IT BECAME NECESSARY TO SECURE SPACE ELSEWH ERE. THE CITY OFFICES WERE MOVED TO A COTTAGE-LIKE BUILDING ON THE BEACH FRONT.
. i I. fc i	i
AS THE CITY GREW, FT BECAME	ITERATIVE FOR	IT	TO	HAVE	ITS	OWN
BUILDING. THE PRESEMT CITY HALL WAS	BUILT ON PROPERTY	ON	SECOND STREET
WHICH HAD BEEN PURCHASED FROM THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSff»H, FOR THE SUM OF $950.00. CONTRACT PRICE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BUILDING WAS $8,750. AND THE CONTRACT WAS AWARDED TO GASTON G. GARDEBLED, WHO LATER BECAME MAYOR.
I
h
:1ETY
! 4