Did you know that the first bridge across Hancock County’s Bay of St. Louis was not built until 1926? While Robert L. Genin had procured a franchise for a privately built bridge across the Bay of St. Louis as early as 1912, it took the efforts of Horatio S. Weston, president of the Hancock County Board of Supervisors, and his associates finally to bring the idea of a publicly funded bridge to fruition. This group successfully made the case that the existing ferry was not only inadequate for ever-increasing traffic, but it was also slow and sometimes dangerous.
In a combined financing effort, the counties of Hancock and Harrison, along with the Mississippi State Highway Department, initiated construction in May of 1926. Under the arrangement fifty percent of the cost was to be federally funded, made available through the highway department, with the balance borne jointly by the two participating counties of Hancock and Harrison. The selected contractor, J. B. Smith of New Orleans, was to be replaced at the end of the year with Youman and Moore of Houston, Texas, which completed the project. The completed bridge, built at a cost of $752,610.65, was approximately 1.9 miles long and incorporated 491 creosoted timber spans, each 21 feet in length, and a 202 foot electrically operated drawbridge. The roadway was 20 feet wide with a 4-foot sidewalk on the north side of the bridge. The total construction time was approximately eighteen months.
Entering the City of Bay Saint Louis at Ulman Avenue, the new bridge was officially dedicated on March 2, 1928, with Mayor Charles B. Traub declaring a city half-holiday and requesting that all businesses close during the dedication celebration. In addition to local residents and officials, Governor Theodore G. Bilbo and seventy-five state legislators also attended the dedication. The state delegation had a luncheon at the new Pine Hills Hotel, located between the old Kiln Road and the north side of the Bay, while a parallel luncheon was held for local dignitaries at the new Weston Hotel (the future Reed Hotel) in Bay St. Louis. The dedication ceremony itself was held on the grounds of the Weston Hotel where a grandstand had been constructed. Reports estimate that more than ten thousand people attended.
The Mississippi Highway Commission was the custodian of the new toll-free bridge which, unfortunately, was to require constant maintenance at an average cost of about ten thousand dollars a year in its early years. By 1941, bridge traffic averaged 2,645 cars and trucks per twenty-four hour period and was to increase substantially each year thereafter. Constant repairs to the wooden bridge delayed the flow of traffic. Additionally, frequent fires
over the years required motorists to detour more than thirty miles around the Bay. The city’s isolation resulting from damage by the 1947 hurricane finally led local civic leaders to realize that a more stable and reliable structure was needed.
On August 1, 1953, a new bridge across the Bay of St. Louis was opened to traffic, and the original wooden bridge was soon to pass into history.
SOURCES:
“Bi-County Bridge.” The Sea Coast Echo. (Bay St. Louis) 2 March 1928, Commemorative Issue.
Scharff, Robert G. Louisiana’s Loss, Mississippi’s Gain. Lawrence- ville, VA: Brunswick Publish- ing Corp., 1999.