The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1905-02-11

Snieldsboro, in honor OF General Shields
About this time the writer's grand.
father came here and purchased from
the heirs Of Louis Alexo Lessassier the
lands granted him by Spain. He was
only one of many who came here and
bought up land and cast their futures
with Shieldsboro.
Inen came an. era of prosperity.
Slaves worked in fields of the finest Sea
Island cotton, cane, rice and vegetables,
Lovely plantation homes began to grace
the banks of the bay.
A Catholic church, Our Lady of the
Gull, arose and was, as 1T is now, an or
nament to old Shieldsboro. Since those
days the church has been greatly i'm
proved, but the original part Of the sdi-
fice remains intact.
The Rectors OF The Sacred Heart and
the Sisters Of st. Joseph also came and
added their share towards the progress
of the town.
Steamboats, landed ut the head Of
where Canal avenue is now. Twas not
thought possible in those days that q
railroad bridge could eyer be constructed
across our water ways.
The Indians, few in numbers, were
friendly with the planters, and often
came in from the woods with presents OF
game for the whites.
Bears, wolves, wild cats and deers
swarmed through the forests, but seldom
did any harm-saye wolf that would
steal a sheep once in while, or bsar
that would slip into the planters field
and steal an armful Of corn for his sup
per. But the animals, like the poor
Choctaw, have passed out of Bay st.
Louis. and out Of our memories also.
Men who were prominent in the an
mails Of Shieldsboro before the Civil War
were Dimetry Gamma, a Greek by birth,
Noel Jourdan - for whom the gentle
reed-bordered. stream emptying into the
bay just above Dunbar's Canning Fac
tory was named-Elihu Carver, Father
Buteaux, John O'Brien, Jesse Cowand,
Joseph Fields, Willis H. Arnold, Alex
ander Bookter, J. B. Toulme, ]. Monet,
and many others, Of whom the writer
would like to make mention, but has no
record of these names.
In the foregoing period written of,
Augusta was the county seat, and the
people Of Shieldsboro had to journey up
there to have their differences settled,
which must have been very inconven-
lent, but everything in those days ap-
pears inconvenient in our Twentieth
Century minds eye.
Shieldsboro continued prosperous un-
til the Civil War broke out; then, like
the rest OF the South, the little town
suffered reverses.
After the war, when the once rich
planter came home to ruin and desola-
ton, he lost heart, and Shieldsboro be-
came a grave yard Of dead hopes with
apparently no future before her, when
10 and behold! the Louisville G. NASH
vile Railroad invaded the town, and
new era OF prosperity began.
AS is the case OF Bay st. Louis now,
Shieldsboro also had her few "moss-
backs" who fought against the progress
of the railroad as if it we're an enemy
instead Of the means Of building up the
town more than ever before.
But the railroad "came, saw and con-
quered," ;" and since then Shieldsboro be-
came Bay ST. Louis.
With the advent Of the railroad came
a gradual change for the better to Bay
St. Louis. More people came to live
here; the woods were cleared away;
streets were laid out; hotels were built.
But the most wonderful progress OF all
has taken place within the past ten
years-nay, even the past five years,
and now the future ofou town is painted
in glowing colors on the wall Of pros
perity.
Before the shrek Of the locomotive
echoed along our shores our town could
not boast Of local newspaper. The
nearest journal was "The Sea Shore
Sentinel, published over in Harrison
County. These days two splendid local
newspapers, The Sea Coast Echo and
Gulf Coast Progress, are in circulation.
In the summer of 1908 The Sea Coast
Echo moved into its new home. an ele-
giant two story brick structure at the cor
ner of Front and State streets.
Septenbsr of the same year Editor
Moreau issued magazine edition OF
The Sea Coast Echo, setting forth the
advantages Of the "Bay" in every pos
sible way. These magazines went the
ways Of the four winds Of heaven, ana
tho not two years have elapsed since
their publication, responses have arrived
from every direction.
Not long after The Echo Building was
finished it's second story was let out in
offices. while the remaining space ON its
ground floor became The Merchants
Bank. an institution which is proving
most successful.
In the fall OF the year just dead The
Peerless Oyster Co., new concern,