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Ten years later, in 1881, the church was on the Handsboro Circuit and M. C. Calloway, pastor, has been quoted as terming Bay St. Louis a town of 2000 population with a good church building and 16 members, well attended at times.^ Calloway is the second pastor listed by official church records, the initial listing being Rev. J, W. McLaurin who was appointed in December, 1879. The first known member named by records is Mrs. Eliza Bernard in 1880.
The final twenty years of the nineteenth century turned out to be a banner period for the church. In 1887» Benjamin Jones, then pastor, reported of a four-week revival at Bay St, Louis where he was assisted by Rev, J. A. Bowers of the North Mississippi Conference who was residing there because of the health of his wife. During the revival, ^6 new members were received into the church. A year later, the church was praised when it raised £52 to organize a county society
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for the distribution of the Bible in that section.
In 1890, Henry C.Brown, then pastor, moved to Covington exchanging places with Rev. L.Wallace Wood who took over duties at Bay St. Louis. Rev. Wood wrote of his fine reception under such leadership as the Honorable E. J. Bowers, Dr. R. L. Turner, J. C. Grimes, M. L.
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Ansley, W. F. Hall and L. H. Hearin.
One of the strong points of Main Street Methodist during this period apparently was a well-organized Women's Society group. In February of 1895* it was reported that the church Parsonage and Home Missionary Society secured control of "The Gulf Coast Echo" (now the "Sea Coast Echo"and the county's only newspaper) for one issue, with the entire proceeds from sales and advertising to go into the treasury of the society. One of the stipulations of the contract was that nothing written by a man could go into that issue of the paper. The "Echo", during that time, was owned and controlled by Roman Catholics, showing at that early date the amazing amount of cooperation that still
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exists today between Roman Catholic and Protestant groups. Two years
later in 1897, the annual state meeting of the Parsonage and Home Miss-
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lonary Society was held m Bay St. Louis.
The late nineteenth century was most notable, however, in the church building program which accompanied it. In 1892, the first par-