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In 1852, John B. Toulme, a city father, donated a plot of land at the corner of Main and Second Streets for a lViethodist Church. It contained a small building, and our church was officially organized.
By i860, Shieldsboro-Bay St. Louis by virtue of the coming of the railroads earlier, had become the County Seat. The courthouse was an old Victorian house on the same location as the present courthouse which was not built until 1911.
During the year 18?1, the Seashore District Conference met here, and in 1880, we had 16 members and a good building. The town had 2,000 people.
Many were Delta planters (summer people) who had palatial homes on the beach and arrived by schooner.
Front Street (Beach Blvd) was a lovely shell drive shaded by oak trees all up and down the beach. Where Main and Front intersected, a large oak stood in the middle of the road and divided traffic.
The town had several hotels (as it was quite a health resort), a dry good store, a general mercantile store, an apothecary, a tin smith and numerous other small businesses including a boarding house where you could get a good meal for a quarter.
The old parsonage was built behind the church in 1892, and in 18951 this present church building was constructed on the same site as the first building which was moved next door.
In 1897, the state meeting of the "Parsonage and Home Missionary Society" (our present United Methodist Women) was held in our church.
We have been blessed over the years by having among our membership skilled professional people, artisans, and intelligent and caring lay people who devoted themselves to upgrading the church properties without destroying the esthetic values inherent in older construction.
The original communion service is contained in a hand made display case on the west wall. It was constructed by the late Mr. Wallace Chevis as was the beautiful repository of the Book of Remembrance, the permanent honors and memorial records of this church.*
We have come a long way from the time when it took four days to ride to and from northern Hancock County to go to court or buy a marriage licence. Sometimes we didn’t get home for two weeks if the rivers were up. There were few real roads and they were narrow and