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County Court Houses
Records indicate the old courthouse at Gainesville burned March 31, 1853. Another Courhouse was at BAy St. Louis. Legend has it that the Bay Courthouse had concrete sidewalks. Many citizens from the country would not walk upon the sidewalks when they do their business, because they had never seen a sidewalk before and did not
know its function. (PC&C p 27)T	_______________
18 70 Boar d~0~T Supervisors, CourT House." So named by the Legislature in 1870. Name formerly was Police Court.. -1894_- Countv Coujrt House, "New" in 1894 photo(''TkTG7pBSL-4) j^humbnellTHistory, Hancock County~~Courtho~us^ Hancock County was established in 1812. Five years later, in 1817, the first courthouse was built at Center, which later became Caesar. The county government remained there for twenty years - until the courthouse and county seat were moved to Gainesville in 1837.
The county seat remained at Gainesville for more than 15 years. When, in 1853, the Gainesville courthouse burned, the county seat was moved to Shieldsboro.
In 1866, a wooden courthouse was built at Shields-boro, now Bay St. louis. This served for about 45 years.
In 1910, H.S. Weston was president of the board of supervisors, and S.J. Craft, J.E. Smith, T.J.McArthur,
L.C. Bourgeois were "associate members". A.J. Carver was sheriff, and E.H. Hoffman was clerk.
In July, plans submitted by Kennan & Weiss, New Orleans architects, were approved for building a new courthouse "not to exceed the sum of $25,000." Jett Bros. Contracting Co of Alabama won the contract for construction with a bid of $24,989, which included granite steps at $650. However, before construction started, the plans were changed to eliminate the fire escapes, at a saving of $60.
Napoleon Caron was low bidder for moving the old courthouse out of the way. His bid, to move the building and vault 76 feet to the east side of the grounds, for $650.
John Henry, only applicant for the job, was hired as construction superintendent with compensation set at two per cent of the cost. The Contract with Jett Bros was signed August 1, 1910, with contract time 8 months.
Actual starting date is uncertain, but first payment under the contract, for $3,120, was made October 4, 1910 Although the courthouse was built from the general county fund, the supervisors on Dec. 6, 1910, borrowed $10,000 from Hancock Bank. They issued five warrants of $2,000 each, payable one each year for five years.
The courthouse was formally accepted by the board September 20, 1911. John Henry was employed to move the safe and furniture from the old building into the new, Jett Brothers was paid $50 for placing a marble cornerstone containing the names of the supervisors, and