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^	HISTORY	OF THE
HANCOCK COUNTY COURTHOUSE By Jim Pfeiffer
(This history of the present Hancock County Courthouse was compiled from Kinutes of the Board of Supervisors for the years 1910 and 1911, and various other historical sources, and was published In the Sea Coast Echo May 14, 1981.)
THE HANCOCK COUNTY COURTHOUSE, standing like a shabby dowager from another era among modern surroundings, will celebrate her 70th birthday in September, 1981.
A fresh coat of paint this summer brightened her exterior; but like a dowdy old lady wearing heavy makeup, she Is beginning to show her age beneath the cosmetics.
Paint and plaster shower down from her cracked Interior walls, rain and wind whistle through her out-of-plumb and broken windows. Additionally, she contains space for only about two more years accumulation of the steadily-increasing load of records straining her seams.
Nevertheless, she already has outlived three of her predecessors by many years. Severely battered by Hurricane Camille In 19&9* she recovered from a pounding that would have proved fatal to a less valiant lady. Today, the loss of her cupola Is the only readily discernible sign of the damage inflicted by the storm.
Although Bay St. Louis now Is the county seat over which she rules, for the first 4l years the hub of government was elsewhere.
Hancock County was founded in 1812. Five years later, in 1817, the first courthouse was built at Center, which later became Caesar.
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