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?	History has recently com* pleted the preservation of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and the first phas? of a systematic restoration of Historic Jefferson College -the birthplace of Mississippi statehood. These projects have been considered among the finest public examples of their kind in the country.
It is unfortunate that most of us become so accustomed to our immediate physical en? vironment that we arc not aware of the abundance of architectural treasures which surround us. Each different period of our history has produced strong architectural styles and details which are characteristic of their own time. They reflect the most up-to-date planning, craftsmanship and aesthetic reflection of their owners and -builders and commensurate with funds available. Some specific examples have been chosen by the writer as being good examples of that time.
In most cases the examples have been chosen not because of their present condition but because they show the original proportions, scale, and detail of the original builders. Other fine old buildings exist but in many cases they have been altered or ?moderniied" beyond recognition. Most selections are private residences and are not open to the general public but much of their charm is quite visible from the public street. Where dates of construction are known they are given by year, but where not known the approximate date is the writer's guess based on the style.
Location of the oldest example shows that water transportation was the only practical connection with the outside world (New Orleans and Mobile) until well after the Civil War. The railroad came across the coast in I860 and changed the growth pattern of the community and allowed the summer resort development which was so important up until World War n and the advent of air conditioning.
1. 907 North Beach - Me-ComUkey-CowaB House, popularly known as ?Elmwood? - This beach front home is without a doubt the most Important example of historic architecture in Hancock
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Araie style of about 1895. The projections, details, variety of spaces and textures all reflect the flamboyance of the period. The house today looks mudi as it did in a photograph in the September 5, 1903 edition of the Sea Coast Echo. It was probably painted in shades of tan, mustard and brown so popular at that time. The original roof was wood shingles.
5.	224 North Reach * Gex House ? This house probably dates from the 1640s and is basically Greek Revival as indicated by the capitals on the front porch columns and general proportion and details of window and door trims. Dormers are a much later addition and not in the style of the original. Victorian trim at the eave line is also later. The iron fence at the sidewalk is quite handsome and one of the few remaining from its period.
6.	208 North Beach ? de Mootluzio House - Built in 1900 this large but chaste house reflects a sentimentality for the Greek Revival in the columns and well proportioned comice, but dates itself with the double pitched roof, shingled gables and turned pordi ballisters. Proportions of the house are excellent.
7.	100 South Beach ? Han* cock Bank * Built tn 1901 as the Bank?s first permanent office it reflects the then popular Beaux*Arts Gassic style with details selected from several periods including the arched entrance and the stucco comice. Exterior detailing is not very refined but original interior marble detailing (now removed) was quite sophisticated. *n>e exterior of the structure appears almost exactly as it did when built except for the metal canopy and glass entrance doors.
8.	205 South Beach ? Merchants Bank * This commercial structure completed In 1908 is an excellent example of High Victorian Italianate which was popular several decades before its construction. The proportion and
' detail are excellent and the original building was probably painted In rusts and browns. The pink granite column at the entrance comer is a dassic Italianate detail.
9 . 230 South Beach ? Our Lady of the Gulf Church ? An earlier excellent Gothic Revival church building on
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originally encompassed all four sides on both levels. The . plan arrangement, proportion and detail al] combine to date this delightful house from the Spanish period before any influences from England or the new United States had an effect on popuar taste.
13.	806 South Beach - Baxter Home ? The detail of porch, columns and cornice on this bouse are refined Greek Revival of the late 1850s but are very probably a moder-niiation from that period of an earlier house with simpler details. Dormer and bay windows are twentieth cm-tury additions. A photograph of this house named ??Nellie's Villa'' appears in "Along the Gulf.?
H. 512 South Beach ? Christ Episcopal Church - This modern church erected In 1972 takes it places as an honest reflection of the taste and design Ideas of Its time. It seems to be very much at home on the beach front without Imitating any past architectural details. Good sitting, proportion and detail make this an important part of our architectural tradition.
15.	920 South Beach ? Brlgnac House - Although not easily Identified as to a specific style this line beach house is the only building in the county which shows the specific Influence of Frank Uoyd Wright and the ?Prairie School. The broad opei galleries and very large overhangs together with the intense, rhythmic detail of the ballisters and railings all date this house from the pre-World War I period. Sun room windows are a later addition.
16.	The house behind 984 South Beach and 98S South Beacb - Tradition has it that at one time these two structures were one house known as the Jewish Federation Home which was divided in the 1940s as a settlement of an estate Visualizing the two parts Joined presents a unique Victorian grand house of the turn of the century. The octagonal corner porches, the V shaped dormers and the east porte-cachere are inventive and imaginative details from that period.
17.	202 St. Charles Street ? This gray house with white trim is an excellent example of a more modest shotgun house from the late Greek
M the paired front porch columns and the wood arches *ctc probably installeclat?? tun, ol the
other houses in the same vicinity have used the same wood arches salvaged from a building demolished at St Sunis aus)
but none so well done as thus house.
23 115 Cltiien Street ? Old Rudolph Pl.? ? This .UnMt primitive little house is probably from the period and was originally 5?. room, wide ?"<* ?' room deep - one ol very few houses left of what was probably once a common floor
** 24. 115 Washington Street -McDonald House - Thi* house dates from around 1910 and is
the only good example of what
was very popularly and nationally known as he Shingle Style. The angles, projections, the l?,ur' shingles, the barge rafter ?* all are excellent examples of this style. The stone work
through m* native to this part
of the country is nevertheless characteristic of this design-Only the screeching of the front porch detracts from the purity of this example 25 200 Block South Second Street ? Bay Saint Louis City Hall - built * W irom designs by the eminent New Orleans firm of Diboll an Owens. Ud. We drawing on this page Is a reproduction of (he front elevation Irom the original blue print* of tMs
building m the wrier, collection. The style is early Neo-Classic and Ihe classic portico and leaded glass entrance transom are ??llwt example of the period. Un-lortunately the handsome cupola destroyed in Hurricane Camille has not been
re*??<R.lln.aa at Second Street - The three houses side
by side on the north slde^f the
railroad tracks and east of Second Street are little noticed but very Interesting tures. They were built in the 1890s by Eugene Ray a tree man of color." They are Queen Anne style - not very
distinguished but almost unchanged Irom a picture in tne
1895 ?Along the Gulf." Porch
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, XV SUKS, Oil 80^342 Mala. Street - These four plain cottages are chaste early Greek Revival and probably date from the 1840s. All four were probably alike when built, with 2 rooms side by side and gallery front and rear. 338 and 342 had rear wings added ? probably before the Civil War. Porch railings on 337 and 338 are a later ?updating? as are the Victorian decorations on the columns at 337. The individual colors and the large trees give these four buildings a setting which has the ambience of a street scene of a bygone era.
31.	S37 de MontulziD Street ? Quintlni House -This small modern house was built In the 1950s and is a very fine example of the post World War FI "International School' espoused by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. The setting enhances the house and the proportion and detail are quite good. This house has weathered better than most examples of this period.
32.	109 Carroll Ave. ? Kergosien House - This well maintained 2 story structure is a good example of High Victorian from the 1890 period. The chimney detail, the roof, the front door and the gallery detail all are true to the period.
The examples mentioned above are all within the city limits of Bay Saint Louis. Waveland, Pearlington and other parts of Hancock County had many fine examples of early buildings but only a very few remain and most of those have been so altered as to be misleading in appearance. If your home or one of your favorites is missing from the list, the writer would be glad to have other examples called to his attention. In a gesture of modesty I have refrained from listing any of my own designs though I have several favorites which, hopefully, some other observer might have included.
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Wolf River flows across the northeast part of the county for some 20 miles and empties into the Bay of St. Louis. ?Wolves roamed these woods in the early days and cattle owners who lived in the vicinity (wolf River) dug pits or wolf traps baited them with beef heads and thus captured
f irst tiancocu bounty Courthouse log bldg. in Center Community
1817 was a limelight year on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In that year Mississippi was admitted to the Union, and Hancock County was bom. It was a big County embracing two-thirds of what is now Pearl River County, and a sizeable portion of what is now Harrison County, plus Hancock County as we know her today.
In the early beginnings there were Indian settlements, woodlands filled with longleaf yellow pine trees, and there was the beautiful Pearl River and many fresh-water streams, bayous, and riverlets. Zigzagging through this terrain were crude roadways ? Indian trails and paths -leading to a large community later to be known as Center, because it was just about the dead-center of the county.
It was here that Hancock County housed its first county seat in a log building. This building stood about one-half mile east of the present community of Caesar. The little community of Center stood on a level sandy hammock by the side of a brisk running stream.
The courthouse was moved from Center to Gainsvllle in the early 1830's (the exact date has not bee* verified). During this era most of the population lived along the river and It was for the convenience of the people that the county seat was moved. The courthouse in Gainsville burned in 1853 and all records were lost, however Gainsville continued to be the county seat until 1857.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroads brought about many changes and the population of the county shifted. The L and N was built in the 1840's and by 1857 the majority of the people had moved from Gainesville to Shieldsboro, later named Bay St. Ixmis.
changes and the population of
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N was built in the 1840's and by 1857 the majority of the people had moved from Gainesville to Shieldsboro, later named Bay St. Louis.
Once again the Hancock County seat was moved to accomodate the people. The location was a frame Victorian type building standing on the site of the present Courthouse. When the population increased and the building was not large enough to accomodate the various offices a decision was made and recorded in the August 1, 1910 minutes of the Board of Supervisors to cause a public notice to be printed in the Gulf Coast Progress for contract bids for construction of a new Courthouse building.
The old courthouse was moved a distance of 76 feet to the East side of the lot where business of the county went on as usual during the period of construction of the new building. The old building was later tom down for salvage but much of the furnishings the vault and equipment were placed in the new building.
Keenan and Weis of New Orleans were architects for the new courthouse building, and the contract was awarded to Jett Bros. Contracting Company. The actual contract price for the building of the courthouse was $24,929.85, and the sum of $177.88 for extra work was agreed upon.
Minutes of the 20th day of February, 1911 provided that the new building should house the Circuit, and Chancery Courts, the Board of Supervisors, the office of the Sheriff and the offices of the Superintendent of Public Education. A committee composed of S. J. Craft, J. E. Smith, L. S. Bourgeois and H.
S.	Weston Inspected and accepted the building and found it to be according to plans and specifications. The building was insured for $20,000 at a rate of 3 percent for 5 years with a premium of $600.00. A etnn*	at	a	cost
of $50, carried the following wording: Cornerstone,Board of Supervisors: H. S. Weston, President, S. J. Craft, I. J. McArthur, L J. Bourgeois, A. J. Carver, Sheriff; E. H. Hoffman, Clerk of Courts. Keenan and Weis, Architects; John Henry Superintendent; Jett Bros. Contracting Builders. MCMXL.
And so it stands today, a well-proportioned building, with fine Ionic columns, wide steps somewhat worn with years of treading feet. Some remodeling was needed following Hurricane Camille and the original cupola was not restored. Well-kept grounds are under the supervision of Sheriff Sylvan Ladner, and Old Glory is flown faithfully each day.
County officials include John Rutherford, Jr., Chancery Clerk; Henry L. Otis, Circuit Clerk; Carl J. Banderet, Coroner and Ranger; Sylvan J. Ladner, Jr., Sheriff; Terrell Randolph, Supt. of Education; George E. Heitzmann, Tax Assessor and Collector; Supervisors Bert Courrege, Dolph Kellar, Oscar Peterson, Sam J. Pemiciaro, Sr. and James N. Travlrca.
The Bay St. Louis Hotel at Shieldsboro was advertised in New Orleans papers in 1839 by the owner, J. Saint Cyr. His rates were $60 a month. In 1842 the hotel was run by Edward Milford and Augustus McDonald, who reduced the rates to $35 a month.
In the 1020's and 30's planters from the Delta and Natchez made Bay St. Louis their summer home because of the cool breezes from the Gulf. Recreation included bathing, driving along the beautiful shell beach, ten-pins, billiards, sailing, etc.