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HISTORY OF THE PRESENT BUILDING
The courthouse was formally accepted by the board September 29, 1911. Construction time was eight months. John Henry was contracted to move the safe and furniture from the old building into the new. Jett Brothers was paid $50 for placing a marble cornerstone containing the names of the supervisors. Napoleon Caron bought the old courthouse at auction for $150.
In 1981, Jim Pfeiffer wrote, “The Hancock County Courthouse, standing like a shabby dowager from another era among modem surroundings, will celebrate her 70th birthday in September, 1981. A fresh coat of paint this summer brightened her exterior; but like a dowdy old lady wearing heavy makeup, she is beginning to show her age beneath the cosmetics.”
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 compromised the roof, exposing thousands of irreplaceable documents to the weather, but the excellent elevation saved the building
the devastating effects of the rising water. The magnificent renovation has returned it to its former splendor.
HISTORY OF EARLIER HANCOCK COUNTY COURT HOUSES
It is interesting to note the brick jail-house appears in the photograph below behind the wooden structure exactly as it does in the new building in 1911.
County-Seat Bay Si. Louis, Miss.
There were only eight counties in Mississippi when Hancock County was formed December 14, 1812. It was named for John Hancock, a diplomat and politician who’s large signature on the Declaration of Independence made “John Hancock” a synonym for signature.
The first county courthouse was located at Center, but after statehood it was leaned that there was another Center in the state so the name was changed by the postmaster to Caesar where it remained for twenty years at the request of the postmaster. It was then moved to Gainesville, which had become a center of commerce on the Pearl River.
The courthouse at Gainesville burned in 1853 followed by several years of disagreement as to where the new county seat would be located. On Wednesday, May 3, 1867, the Daily Picayune reported, “The seat of justice of Hancock County has been removed from Gainesville on the Pearl River to Bay St. Louis. Bay St. Louis, called in the law “Shieldsboro,” is now the seat of justice of Hancock County.”
In Shieldsboro, court was held in various locations and a new wooden building was built on the same approximate location as the present building. Forty-five years later this building was found to be inadequate for the~geeds of the growing county, and in the old building was moved seventy-five feet to the east. The present building was contracted at a cost of $24,989.00.