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members who will then be more inclined to move into the area.
But now to the actual history of Main Street Methodist which apparently began in 1852 when Bay St. Louis was then known by the name of Shieldsboro. Actually, reports show that the town was a preaching place as early as 1842,^ but it was ten years later that Mr. E. D. Pitts, a school teacher and local preacher, organized what has become known as Main Street Methodist.
The church was originally included in the Gainsville Circuit, though later was on the Handsboro and Biloxi circuits. In the 1850's, it was one of four churches on the Gainesville Circuit, the others being Gainesville, Pearlington, and Jordan River churches in Hancock County. J. B. Cain, in his book, "Methodism in tne Mississippi Conference 1846-1870, "wrote that in 1858 Reverend Henry D. Perry, pastor of the circuit led several outstanding revivals which resulted in a gain of 50 members. He remarks, however, that though membership before the Civil War was relatively large, the people were generally quite
poor and in 1864 the Gainesville charge was changed to Pearlington,
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the name by which it had been called thirty years earlier.
November 25, 1859» a leading citizen, John B. Toulme and his wife, Victorie Toulme, deeded to the Trustees (Cornelia Martin and Martha Carr Toulme) of St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church South of Shieldsboro, a lot 50x200 feet, the property now being known as Lot 25, Ward 2, of the City of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. This is the lot on which the present church stands, at the corner of Main and Second Streets in downtown Bay St. Louis.^
June 20, 1889* J. V. Toulme, son of John B. Toulme and husband
of Martha Carr Toulme, deeded to the Trustees (R. J. Turner, M. L.
Ansley, and E. J. Bowers) of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, a
lot 60x146 feet for a parsonage, this property being south of the church
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on the now comer of Second and Court Streets, Bay St. Louis.
By 1871, according to W. B. Jones in "Methodism in the Mississippi Conference 1870-1894,"Bay St. Louis was one of the four most.prominent preaching places on the coast, along with Biloxi, handsboro, and Pass Christian. During that year the Seashore District Conference met in Bay St. Louis.