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THE HISTORIAN OF HANCOCK COUNTY
THE
HISTORIAN
OF HANCOCK COUNTY
Editor - Dale St.Amant Publisher - Paul LaViolette
Published monthly by the HANCOCK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
2003 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jim Henrie, President Charles Gray, Exec. Dir.
Ruth Carlson Marine Collins Marlene Johnson Paul LaViolette Ellis Cuevas Roland Schexnayder
108 Cue Street or P.O.Box 312
Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi 39520 Telephone/Fax [228] 467-4090
On Line www2.datasync.com/ history
LOBRANO HOUSE HOURS
MONDAY — FRJODAY
We are requesting “ghost stories” you or your friends might have heard concerning the Hancock County area. These would be published in a booklet in time for our next Halloween celebration.
If you or someone you know is related to the Browns of “Brown’s Vineyard” located in Waveland during the late 1800’s-early 1900’s, or have access to any authentic history concerning this family, please give us a call at the Lobrano House. You may also contact Russell Guerin at 466-9916 or (504) 948-9277. Volunteers are needed also to work on People Profiles. Call Dale 465-4090.
delightful one.”
There were twenty-five company agents on the grounds who looked after the visitors, showing them over the greatly improved property.
The marketing plan for the Clermont area as the new “ Riviera” had begun. “Lots were sold at high prices. Improvements were made,such as sidewalks and structures that served as gateways (these still could be seen only a few years ago) and possibly a train depot and other beautification.”
Before the developers arrived, there “were 15 resident property owners, and five nonresidents.” After the Gulf Coast Development Corporation claimed ownership to “99% of Clermont City, filing a new plat with the county as Clermont Harbor, the area began to grow. Plans included “widening the streets and making the low part... into a magnificent lake... at the cost of over $25,000. ‘
In Russell Guerin’s booklet entitled The Clermont Harbor Hotel, dedicated to his father, he tells us in the early 1900’s the Clermont area was promoted as ‘the Riviera of the Gulf Coast’. The earliest history of the area that became Clermont Harbor goes back to February 28, 1837, “when the U.S. Land Office at Jackson sold 571.34 acres at $1.25 per acre to Peter Chambliss and Charles La Coste, of Natchez, Mississippi.”
According to Guerin, thus began a succession of owners: Joseph Lobrano sold to John Ioor and F.C. Bordage, Sr. for $1,000 in 1897. Clermont City was named after the ancestral home of the Bordage family in Clermont, France. The Clermont City development and Professor Bordage’s duties as County As-
sessor took up so much of his time that he resigned his position on the school board. Today streets bear the names of these two men. These owners, says Guerin, “filed a new plat (1898) with the county, calling the area simply Clermont City since there was no harbor at the time, just the marsh area.
CLERMONT HARBOR HOTEL
In June of 1913, Charles Hopkins, president cf Gulf Coast Development, was given authority to act for the company in the sale of Clermont Harbor lots. In April of the next year, he purchased lots at a cost of $3,853.62. He paid $2,603 in cash, the balance was financed on^a note. This parcel was to become the site of the Clermont Harbor Hotel.
The dates of the hotel’s construction, says Guerin, have not been established, but he feels “it must have been in place by July 3, 1915, the date on which Hopkins borrowed $4,500 on a 30 day note to one George Mitcheson. On May 14, 1915, Gulf Coast Developers, in a Deed of Dedication, “conveys, warrants, assigns, transfers, sets over and dedicates to the said property owners of Clermont Harbor the following lots: lots 1 to 12, Block 42 (the “water-lots” lying on the Gulf side of Front Street) the motor boat harbor, pier, bathhouse, dancing pavilion, and all sidewalks. ”
Also mentioned was a “wharf and appurtenances thereto...projecting 900 feet toward the sound.” On September 29, 1915, a hurricane with winds measuring at least 140 mph hit the Gulf Coast, demolishing the pier and heavily damaging the hotel. One year later, Hopkins borrowed an additional $2,400 for repairs and maintenance.
Over the next few years Hopkins acquired a majority of the bonds