Alphabet File page 160

Hammersbach, Prof. J., is here as a guest of the college. (SCE 01-07/1893)

 

Hammersbach, Prof., the leader of musical studies at the College, has been called by sickness to the home of his family in Kentucky.  (SCE 04/01/1893)

 

Hammersbach, Prof. Peter has been engaged by St. Stanislaus College as assistant music professor. He is fully competent for the position and is a graduate of the Conservatory  of music, Cologne, Germany. (SCE 09/23/1893)

 

Hammersbach, Prof., and family will occupy the cottage that is in course of construction on Union Street and owned by Mr. Planchet.  (SCE 11-4-1893)

 

Leduc, V. Rev. Father H., and Prof. John Hammersbach visited Pass Christian Thursday, guests of the beloved Rev. Father Victor Baily.  (SCE 11-25-1893)

 

Hammersbach, Prof., and family, have moved into the new Planchet cottage on Union Street. (SCE 12/23/1893)

 

Hammersbach, Prof. Peter and John - Very Rev. Father Leduc, our beloved pastor, was 60 years of age on New Year's day.  The Rev. Father had many callers who came to wish him well and many returns of the day.

  As guests at the dinner table the following-named were present:  Prof. Peter and John Hammersbach, Dr. W. B. Rohmer and son, Capt. Woods, Mr. Manly Blaize. (SCE 1-6-1894)

 

Hammett, Harry - see: Circuit Court article (SCE 10/28/1893)

 

Hanckes, Lloyd Dr. r 518 Bch. Blvd., Waveland (Ph 55)

 

Hancock Bank - Iron Safe Used As Bank - You will read in other parts of this Centennial Edition that Bay St. Louis was an incorporated city for 41 years before it secured its first banks - the Hancock Bank in 1899, followed by the Merchants Bank four years later.

Professional historians have a habit of overlooking the interesting details.  For instance, they tell you that Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo, but neglect to relate that at the time Napoleon was suffering acute pain from his ulcers which could have influenced the outcome of the battle.  Also, the historians emphatically state that Bay St. Louis got its first bank in 1899 - but neglect to say what people did with their money before that.  So, we have to fall back on the memories of the old-timers, who fill in the interesting details.

One 79-year old former resident of the Bay in the Nineties stated that August Keller, who operated the famous Blue Store at Washington Street (so named because it was painted a bright blue), had a huge iron safe in the back of his store where customers and citizens kept their money for safekeeping payable on demand.  And also, then Joseph F. Cazeneuve, who was sheriff at the time, permitted the country folk to put their money in the huge county safe, each person's money or valuables properly marked. And we learn in another section of this edition that John Osoinach, who worked for Keller a long time and who later opened his own store, acquired the unofficial title of the Bay's first banker because he cashed and issued checks for his customers.  Could be, of course, that the people of Bay St. Louis and its surrounding county folk didn't have too much hard cash to handle in those days.  (Sun Herald 7-29-1958)

 

Hancock County Bank - Just as the century turned and Bay St. Louis was heading into its second half of its century of corporate existence it dramatically demonstrated its civic growth and maturity with the organization of its first bank, The Hancock County Bank in 1899 (Sun Herald - July 29, 1958)

 

Hancock Bank- Hancock Bank opens Bay branch - WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN.... On the evening of August 29, 1899, nineteen business-minded citizens assembled at the Hancock County Courthouse for the purpose of organizing a bank for Bay St. Louis.  The original subscribers who were present: J.A. Breath, Jos. F. Cazeneuve, L.A. deMontluzin, F. B. Dunbar, James V. Dunbar, Thomas L. Evans, John B. Fahey, Peter Hellwege, Peter E. Hellwege, E. H. Hoffman, August Keller, Charles Marshall, Richard Mendes, Charles G. Moreau, John Osoinach, Mrs. Agnes T. Phillips, Eugene H. Roberts, L.N.C. Spotorno, John V. Toulme. They represented a total of 198 shares and these shareholders that night elected a Board of Directors composed of Peter Hellwege, P.E. Hellwege, G. H. Dunbar, F. B. Dunbar, August Keller, Joseph F. Cazaneuve, Charles Marshall and E. H. Hoffmann.  Today, the bank still counts among its shareholders and depositors a number of direct descendants of the original nineteen individuals who attended the first organizational meeting.

And thus the Hancock began.  Its first office was a small frame building located on South Beach immediately north of and joining the property of St. Joseph's Academy, and rented for the unbelievable sum of $7.00 a month.

  Shortly thereafter, the bank's board of directors had purchased the site at the corner of Main Street and South Beach, where the present bank is still located and began plans for erecting a new bank building.

A contract was let March 1, 1900, to John T. McDonald for the construction of the new bank.  It was the first two-story brick building ever built in Bay St. Louis, and when occupied in September of 1900, it housed the bank, post office, and U.S.  Customs office, which later moved to Gulfport.  Though remodeled several times, the Bay ST. Louis bank still owns and is housed in the same building.

  In 1899, the Hancock County Bank was unpretentious, but it was a solid, substantial bank founded and operated on the fundamentals of stability, personal integrity and public service.  The strength of the establishment has been shown by the institution's survival of our distinct national periods of financial panic - 1907, 1914, 1921, and 1929.

In a continuing effort to more efficiently serve the people of Hancock County as the founders did 77 years ago, the Hancock Bank will open its new branch office on Hwy. 90,  Bay St. Louis, Monday, June 28 at 8:45 A.M.  (COAST BUYER'S GUIDE - JUNE 23, 1976)

 

Hancock Bank 100 Front (Ph 55)

 

 

HANCOCK BANK’S CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

 

  Hancock Bank was originally known as the Hancock County Bank and was later changed to Hancock Bank.

 

  The first office of the bank was located on Main street in Bay St. Louis in a building behind the current Beach Boulevard location.   (I don’t think so – Charles H. Gray)

 

  Hancock Bank is the second oldest business to begin in Hancock County and is still in operation.  The Sea Coast Echo began publishing on January 9, 1892

 

  The Bay St. Louis Railroad Depot is a fiting place for Hancock to hold its big celebration, as the railroad was the key to the development o the area for so many years.

 

  Festivities begin at 9 a.m. and Leo Seal Jr., tells us that he and the bank’s staff and others have been gathering photos, stories, etc., of the many industries which led to the development of Hancock County and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

 

  There will be live entertainment throughout the day.  It will include the Coast Chorale, the Singing River Sounds, St Rose de Lima Gosopel Choir, St Stanislaus Prep Band, the Relative Unknown, and Brother Lee Barker’s Magic Show.

 

   There will be cinema schedules, such as Hancock Bank’s Centennial Chronicle, You and Your Bank: A Successful Partnership for the year 2000, the movie, This Property is Condemned and Centennial Reflections.

 

   There will be refreshments, cake, jambalaya, snowcones, and many of the old-time games such as checkers, marbles, may pole and ring-toss(SCE 10-7-1999.

 

 

 

Hancock County Bank.  Opened for business Oct. 9, 1899. P. E. Hellwege, Peter Hellwege, F. B. Dunbar, G. H. Dunbar, J. V. Dunbar, Eugene H. Roberts, Joseph F. Cazeneuve, E. H. Hoffmann, Charles Marshall, all on original board of directors.  1902, branches established at Pearlington and P. C. 1902 also, added to board of directors were, H. S. Weston, J. A, Favre, W. J. Poitevent.  Peter Tudery, assistant cashier in 1903. (SCE 5 Sep 1903 pg. 13).

 

Hancock County Bank - (Ph 48-89) 100 Front St.