The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-07-20

a
described in the Federal Writers
Guide on Mississippi in part as
follows:
"Paseagoula is in reality four
communities held together by a
lotus-eating philosophy. History
here becomes an old wives tale
as full OF legend as fact. About
the rotting wharvss and the aged
fort, the marsh grass and the
Spanish moss grow as they have
for centuries; and though desti-
niss were once shaped in the
shadows Of the aged oaks, the
events are accepted with charm
ing unconcern."
The writer might have related
that Pasesgoula once had a three
story, l,000-guest hotel serviced
by staff OF slaves; that Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, according
to local legend, wrote The Build
ing OF the Ship during sojourn
IN dormer- adorned mansion
that has been rehabilitated as a
guest house for the towns dis
tinguished visitors, and that John
Ruskln once visited at Ocean
Springs nearby and enjoyed the
experience. II has been building
boats since 1888. Wild geese, in
season, may be shot in the swales
round about.
The lotus eaters, if there ever
were any, are gone, but despite
any current booster complex Pas
cagoula folk still love flowers
and the succession of blooms COW
ers the entire year. Home gar
dens, some of them with the
grace OF many years of cultiva-
ton, are adorned with japonica,
azaleas and oleanders Mimosas,
bays and msgnolias fill the air
with fragrance. Gardenias are ma
tive flowers and Grape myrtle
and the poinsettia thrive The
town has authentic charm.
BEEN of Is40-46
The decennial census of 1920
gave Pascagoula a popuiation of
6,062; it had dropped to 4,339 in
1880, and ten Years later, with
ingalls, already in town, the pop
ulation had mounted to $500, re
flecting the first days of con-
struction for defense production.
Orders from the war in Europe
were piling up in American fac
tories. Then came Pearl Harbor
and what happened in Pascagou-
Ia was happening in some degree
in 300 other war-impaeted com
munities.
The big population shifts of
workers already had started and
the larger migration trends were
to the South and the West Coast.
A sugar ration count in 1943
listed more than $4,000 new COM
ers in Pascagoula, and by March,
1914, ingalls, was employing TO-
790 men ana women; nearly
thousand were at work at the In
teTnational Paper plant, the jack
son County Mills reported 423
making textiles, and smaller To-
cal industries were booming. Be
tween June 1910 and July 1943
war supply contracts amounting
to S246,000,000 were awarded in
the Pascagoula area
The industrial impact hit this
venerable community with swift
violence. The immigrant work
ers drawn by the wartime wag-
es, piled in by train and boat,
bus and ancient jalopies, hitch
hiking, and through sheer pres
sure of numbers overwhelmed
existing housing, utility and SER
vice facilities. More than 38 of
every 100 houses were more than
twenty years old and 1e per cent
of all tenantable domiciles were
built before 1899.
Help From Uncle Sam
Struggling with problems with
out precedent, Pascagoula turned
to Washington for help, money
and guidance. The u S. Public
Health Service reported hazards
in lack of housing although
dwelling units were being built
as rapidly as manpower and ma
terials would permit; in made
quate water and sewerage SER
vices, and in the shortage of hos