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times running as many as six and eight a day, filled with the famous Long Beach long red radishes, would roll out over, the L & N and I.e. to the hungry markets of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Louisville, Chicago and New York.
But unfortunately the real estate fever that crept over from the Florida boom in the Twenties contaminated the Coast and the radish growers began selling their farms. And then, of course, came the 1929 crash that hit everybody from Long Island to Long Beaich -- and when it was over the "Day of the Long Reds11 was over and Long Beach regretfully closed a very colorful and very profitable chapter in its community history
In 19 32, in the midst of the Depression that followed the 19 2 9 crash, the city of Gulfport was without a bank. A delegation of Gulfport citizens and businessmen, including Joseph Milner and J. C. Rich, went to Leo Seal, Sr. and requested the Hancock Bank to open an office in Gulfport. The close-by Long Beach branch, which already had many Gulfport depositors, was transferred to Gulfport. In 1938 the Gulfport branch became the main headquarters.
And in 1955 the Long Beach branch was restored to that city and anothe one, Northeast, established on Pass Road, Gulfport, during the same year. From that point on, the bank continued to move out into residential areas to offer more convenient banking services for residents. In December 1959, Mississippi City-IIandsboro Branch was opened for business, and in November 1963, the bank's first trailer-housed office opened at the Mississippi Test Facility, NASA, site then under construction in Hancock County. Three years later the office was moved into a permanent building, where it is now located.
In October 1967, the bank opened an office at the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, and.in December of the same year opened an office on the mall at Edgewater Plaza Shopping City,