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Ms. Brach,
Here is a summary of my research from sources that I could not copy for you. Also I am faxing more information that can be found in our office. The photo of the Napoleon Baptist Church is the only identifiably ''Napoleon" photo in our office, however, if you still wish to come out tomorrow morning our graphics department may be able to find more. You might have to pay a small fee for the photo though. I have more information in the office about the landowners who sold their land during the building of the site. However, that information is not categorized by Town but rather by the County.
Please call me by 4:30 today (Thursday) if you still need to come out to Stennis Space Center tomorrow (Friday). Please fill out the evaluation form and mail it to us Feel free to call me for further information or for research in the future! Thank you, Wendy Stewart Clark (SSC History Office assistant)
NAPOLEON
The town of Napoleon was located six miles north of Pearlington before the establishment of Stennis Space Center in the early I960's. It was settled by the French and named after the French Emperor Napoleon's brother, Jerome, who reportedly came to America to raise money and valuables to bail his brother out of exile. The first families who settled in the area were the Favres, Murphys, and Hovers.
Mr, Simon Favre, a Frenchman sent to the area from Mobile by the government settled on a little farm in the area of Napoleon. His son Captain Joseph A. Favre was a founder of the Poitevent and Favre Lumber Company and the J.A. Favre Lumber Company. He was also president of the first Board of Supervisors of Hancock County. The Poitevent and Favre Lumber Company was the first lumber mill to employ African-American schooner captains, In 1908 the mill was destroyed by fire, and the family moved out of Napoleon.
More industry than timber was based in Napoleon. Many of the first families engaged in agriculture and stock raising. A brick yard was begun there but failed because the clay was not good enough to make brick. Of great importance was the installation and use of the first printing press in Hancock County in Napoleon.
Two African-American schooner captains were stationed at Napoleon on the Pearl River in the early 20th century, Captain Willis Vaughn and Henry Willis. The name of their barge which carried wood and coal to New Orleans was Vina,
Summary provided by the Stennis Space Center History Office.