The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1905-02-04

n % n aaIl
only one Of many who came hora ~ a.ss ~s
bought up land aid cast thor t,,,,,sa. ~
with Shieldsboro. ~ 'u'uies
Then came an era OF
Slaves worked in fields of tn, o9peie ie.s ~. !
Island cotton, cane, rice and ,,o,o,," es I
Lovely plantation homes beg o. ,sDa
the banks of the bay. '"''
A Catholic church, Our Lady Of tb
Gulf, arose and was, as 1T is now, an or
nament to old Shieldsboro. Since tbos
days the church has been greatly i'm
proved, but the original part of the edi
flee remains intact.
The Rectors Of The Sacred Heart ant
the Sisters OF st. Joseph also came ane
added their share towards the progress
OF the town.
Steamboats, landed at the head OF
where Canal avenue is now. Twas not
thought possible in those days that a
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-save a wolf that would
steal sheep once in while, or bear
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 ip the an
nails 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 Coward,
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-
tii the Civil War broke out; then, like
The rest OF the South, the little town
suffered reyerses.
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
o and behold the Louisville & Nash
vile Railroad invaded the town, and a
new era Of prosperity began,
AS is the case of Bay st. Louis now,
also had her few "moss-
packs" who fought against the progress
If the railroad as if 1t were an enemy
instead of the means of building up the
own more than ever before
But the Railroad Heame, saw and con-
luered," and since then Shieldsboro be-
iame Bay st. Louis.
With the advent of the railroad came
! gradual change for the better to Bay
St. Louis. More people came to live
lere; the woods were cleared away;
treets were laid out; hotels were built.
But the most wonderful progress of all
las taken place within the past ten
vears--nay, even the past five years,
md now the future ofour town is painted
n glowing colors on the wall of pros
,eFity.
Before the shrek of the locomotive
choed along our shores our town could I
lot boast of local newspaper. The
learest journal was "The Sea shore
Sentinel, published over in Harrison
,ounty. These days two splendid local
ewspapers, The Sea Coast Eeho and
iulf Coast Progress, are in circulation.
In the summer Of 1868 The Sea Coast
echo moved into its new home, an ele-
.ant two story brick structure at the cor
Ier Of Front and State streets. II
September of the same year Editor /,
doreau issued magazine edition OF
NE Sea Coast Echo, setting forth the
dyantages of the "Bayp in every pos {
ible way. These magazines went the ,
tays of the four winds OF heaven, and !
ho' not two years have elapsed since !
heir publication, responses have arrived Z
rom every direction. Ii
Not long after The Echo Building was
nished its second story was let out IN
fflces, while the remaining space on ito :
round floor became Tie Merchanps
,ank. an institutlon whicn is proving
lost successful.
In the fall Of the year just dead The
eerless Oyster Co., . new concern,