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Ocean Springs neighborhoods
EAST BEACH
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Louis H. Sullivan's East
Beach: 1890-1912
There was a time in the late 19th Century, at Ocean Springs, when
renown Chicago architect, Louis Henri Sullivan (1856-1924), led a
contingent of affluent business men from the Midwest to our verdant
shores. After Sullivan purchased six acres from Colonel Newcomb
Clark in 1890, his friend James Charnley, also from Chicago, bought
a contiguous fifteen-acre tract east of Sullivan. Sullivan's
brother, Albert W. Sullivan, superintendent of the Illinois Central
Railroad, then acquired nine acres east of James Charnely. Before
the turn of the Century, the cedar, oak and magnolia lined shores of
remote East Beach would become a "Chicago neighborhood". In
addition, a wealthy circle of families from the mining districts of
central Colorado, settled east of the Sullivan and Charnley cottages
where some erected winter retreats or purchased those of former
affluent proprietors.
In 1890, Louis H. Sullivan found
Ocean Springs "an undulating village all in bloom in softest
sunshine, the gentle sparkle waters of a bay land-locked by Deer
Island; a village sleeping as it had slept for generations with
untroubled surface; a people soft spoken, unconcerned, easy going,
indolent; the general store, the post office, the ancient live oaks;
the saloon near the depot, the one-man jail in the middle of the
street back of the depot; shell roads in the village, wagon trails
leading away into the hummock land, no "enterprise", no "progress",
no booming for a "Greater Ocean Springs", no factories, no anxious
faces, no glare of the dollar hunter, no land agents, no hustlers,
no drummers, no white-staked lonely subdivisions. Peace, peace, and
the joy of comrades, the lovely nights of sea breeze, black pool of
the sky oversprinkled with stars brilliant and unaccountable".
The village has changed. Today,
do you think Sullivan would have gotten back aboard his train?
Geographically, East
Beach at Ocean Springs, Mississippi is defined as the shoreface on
the Bay of Biloxi and Davis Bayou, from Weeks Bayou on the
northwest, southeasterly to Stark Bayou, a linear distance of about
1.3 miles. A low-lying peninsula, Marsh Point, which lies about a
mile to the south across Davis Bayou, affords some protection to the
shoreface from storms generated from the southeast. Most of East
Beach is located in irregular Section 32, T7S-R8W which contains 216
acres of highly variable terrain.
Inland, a few
hundred feet north of the beach, a low-lying, northwest-southeast
striking, narrow ridge, which parallels the entire shoreline of East
Beach, reaches an elevation of about fifteen feet above sea level.
This ridge, which was the site of early cultural development in
the area, is bounded on the
north by two small bayous, Weeks Bayou on the west and Halstead
Bayou, formerly Alderson Bayou, on the east. Vegetation in the area
ranges from marsh grasses in the bayous to live oaks, cedars,
magnolias, pines, yaupon and other indigenous shrubs and
plants on the sandy ridge.
PIONEER SETTLERS
The first American settlement at
East Beach probably occurred shortly after the land along this
sylvan strand was patented in 1837, by the Federal Government.
Section 32 was divided into four fractional, governmental lots each
1,320 feet wide. Lot 1 on the east was acquired by Louis A.
Caillavet (1790-1860), a native
of Opelousas Post, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana in August 1837.
With Marguerite Fayard (1787-1863), his wife, Monsieur Caillavet was
the progenitor of a large pioneer family at Biloxi; Lots 2 and 3
were patented to James Fitch Bradford, a Connecticut native; and Lot
4 went to John Black. The lands of James F. Bradford were the most
desirable as they encompassed over 2800 feet of water front and were
relatively high compared to Lots 1 and 4 which were chiefly bayou
and marsh.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 96, pp. 325-326 and Bk. 78, pp.
586-587 and Bk. 87, pp. 91-92)
Lyman Bradford
Since many early land titles in
Jackson County have been destroyed by fire, it is difficult to
abstract properties before 1875. From the available Jackson County
Chancery Court land deed records and the family genealogy of the
Bradford family provided by J.K. Lemon and his wife, Eleanor
Bradford, it appears that the family of Lyman Bradford (1803-1858)
was the earliest settlers at East Beach. Lyman Bradford was born at
Montville, New London County, Connecticut. Before 1810, he came
South as a child, with his father, Captain Stephen Bradford
(1771-1825+), and mother, Peggy Comstock. The Bradford family
homesteaded on 820 acres in Section 38, T4S-R6W and Section 39,
T4S-R7W. This settlement was situated on the east side of the
Pascagoula River and west of Big Cedar Creek, about 3.5 miles
northwest of Wade. The other children of Stephen and Peggy Bradford
were: James Fitch Bradford (1802-1860+), Burissa B. Holley
(1808-1881), and John Bradford (1817-1898).
Burrisa Bradford married
Benjamin Holley (1810-1860+), a native of New York. Holley would
become a judge in Harrison County at Biloxi, where he resided. Her
brother, John Bradford (1817-1898), also resided at Biloxi. Their
grandson, Anson Holley (1882-1967), would become one of Biloxi's
finest boat builders. Many of Holley's "white-winged queens" sailed
for U.S. Desporte and the C.B. Foster Packing Company.
In May 1850, Lyman Bradford
bought a one-half interest in 210 acres on the Pascagoula River,
primarily in Section 22, T7S-R6W, from his brother, James Fitch
Bradford. The Griffin Cemetery is now on this old Bradford
settlement site. Bradford family lore relates that James Fitch
Bradford sold his East Beach
property consisting of about 110 acres to Lyman and moved to Fannin
County, Texas before 1860.
In August 1836,
Lyman Bradford married Cynthia Davis (1813-1887), the daughter of
Samuel Davis and Sally Balshar? Here on East Beach, the Lyman
Bradfords reared their family: Margaret B. Davis (1836-1920),
Sherwood Bradford (1838-1922), Elizabeth Bradford (1840-1886),
Martha A. Bradford (1842-1887),
Sarah B. Turner Ramsay (1846-1926), Lyman Bradford, Jr. (1851-1894),
and Mary B. Ramsay (1853-1892+)
From land deed
records, it can be ascertained with a high degree of certitude that
the Lyman Bradford homestead was located in Lot 2. This is
corroborated by the U.S. Survey Map of 1854. The family cemetery
which had two burials before 1887, appears to have been located in
the
E/2 of the N/2 of Lot 1.
LAND SPECULATOR
In March 1888, New
York native, Colonel Newcomb Clark (18-19), a Civil War officer, who
commanded the only black unit from Michigan, the 102nd U.S.C.T., and
a recent retiree to Ocean Springs from the North, acquired the
remaining 75 acres of the original 110 acre Lyman Bradford tract
from Agnes W. Salisbury of Independence, Missouri for $2000. Clark
made his livelihood at Ocean Springs in real estate and land
speculation. His last home, which was erected in May 1904, stands
today at 525 Porter. The William Engbarth (1882-1957) family
resided here for many years. The Queen Anne-Stick style, two-story
structure is now the domicile of Vernon and Stephanie Reinike.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 9, pp. 42-43)
In March 1890, Colonel Clark sold James and Helen Charnley of
Chicago fifteen acres in Lot 3, at East Beach for $750. The
Charnleys were friends of Louis H. Sullivan (1850-1926), the renown
Chicago architect and a principal in the firm of Adler & Sullivan.
Sullivan, who had not vacationed since his architectural studies at
the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris fifteen years prior, was at New
Orleans with the Charnleys. He was just completing the Auditorium
Building at Chicago, and the stress of the four-year project led
Sullivan to seek solace from the Windy City.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk.
11, p. 13)
Mr. Sullivan first traveled to California to relax and
cogitate. He found the Golden State rainy, and an earthquake during
his sojourn there, enforced his negative impression of the region.
Sullivan then went to New Orleans where he met the Charnleys. They
convinced him to
make the short journey to Ocean
Springs. The discriminating Sullivan described the Crescent City
as, "that filthy town".
Louis H. Sullivan's
first impressions of Ocean Springs were quite astute. In his
memoir, Autobiography of An
Idea (1912), the
"Father of Skyscraper" found Ocean Springs:
an undulating village all
in bloom in softest sunshine, the gentle sparkle waters of a bay
land-locked by Deer Island; a village sleeping as it had slept for
generations with untroubled surface; a people soft spoken,
unconcerned, easy going, indolent; the general store, the post
office, the barber shop, the ancient live oaks; the saloon near
the depot, the one-man jail in the middle of the street back of
the depot; shell roads in the village, wagon trails leading away
into the hummock land, no "enterprise", no "progress", no booming
for a "Greater Ocean Springs", no factories, no anxious faces, no
glare of the dollar hunter, no land agents, no hustlers, no
drummers, no white- stacked lonely subdivisions. Peace, peace, and
the joy of comrades, the lovely nights of sea breeze, black pool of
the sky oversprinkled with stars brilliant and unaccountable.
Today, one quick
glance to the north and Louis H. Sullivan would see quite a
different scenario. The recent massacre of one of our "ancient live
oaks" and the bon marche, hideous structures located there would
certainly precipitate his sojourn to another place.
At Ocean Springs,
shortly after the Charnley land acquisition in March 1890, on East
Beach, from Colonel Clark, Louis H. Sullivan bought a contiguous,
six-acre, tract west of the Charnley lot, from Florian Shafter of
New Orleans for $800. His elder brother, Albert W. Sullivan,
General Superintendent of the
Illinois Central Railroad, purchased a nine acre tract from Newcomb
Clark in April 1890. A.W. Sullivan paid $850 for his almost,
200-foot lot fronting Davis Bayou.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk.11, p.
44 and JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 11, p. 77)
Debate is still active among
architectural historians as to who designed the Louis H. Sullivan
and James Charnley cottages, both, which are extant on East Beach at
100 Holcomb Boulevard and 509 East Beach Drive respectively. The
consensus believes that Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959), one of the
architectural geniuses of the 20th Century, was the creator. At
this time, young Wright was in the employ of the firm of Adler &
Sullivan at Chicago, as a draftsman. He would leave the firm in
1893.
When Louis H.
Sullivan returned to Chicago from his restful spring of 1890, at
Ocean Springs, he was recharged with the joie de vivre. One of the
first projects to emerge from his drawing board at Adler & Sullivan
was the Wainwright Building at St. Louis. It was completed in
1891, the same year that the
Sullivan and the James Charnley’s cottages were completed on East
Beach. In late January 1891, the two Chicago gentlemen were
domiciled at the Ocean Springs Hotel awaiting the imminent
completion of their waterfront homes.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, January 30, 1891, p. 1)
Shortly thereafter,
the firm was hired to design the Illinois Central Passenger Terminal
at New Orleans, which lasted until its demolition in 1954. The
depot was not one of Sullivan's memorable architectural works, but
it allowed the Sullivan brothers an excellent opportunity to combine
work and pleasure. The propinquity of the job site to his blissful,
Ocean Springs, winter cottage was but a few hours by rail.
This simple cottage
at an isolated East Beach site, on the Bay of Biloxi, was the womb
into which Louis H. Sullivan retreated to recharge his creative
mind. Between 1890 and 1895, after which he dissolved his
partnership with Dankmar Adler, the firm designed and completed over forty buildings. Among these
were five major "skyscrapers".
In 1893, while in
the Crescent City, Albert W. Sullivan met and married Mary Spelman.
He never built a home at Ocean Springs. In 1896, the Sullivan
brothers became alienated over an internal family matter, and in
March 1898, Albert W. Sullivan sold his East Beach property to Fred
W. Norwood (1840-1921) and Elizabeth Norwood (1842-c. 1911) of
Chicago for $1050. The Norwoods had acquired the James and Helen
Charnley, ten-acre, estate in June 1896, for $6075.
(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk.19, p.
160 and Bk. 17, pp. 389-390)
PRE-SULLIVAN EAST BEACH
When Louis H.
Sullivan and James Charnley arrived on the shores of Biloxi Bay in
March 1890, several families were already established either as
occupies or absentee landowners on the East End, as the area was
called by the natives. They were from east to west: William and
Ella
Howard of Fenton, Michigan; the
David W. Halstead family from Iowa; Ohio born, the Reverend William
C. West (1848-1915), the local Presbyterian minister; Newcomb Clark
(1836-1913) and his wife, Ellen Chambers Clark (1841-1915); Florian
Shaffter of New Orleans; Dr. George W. Lawrence from Hot Springs,
Arkansas; and Maine native, Captain Silas Weeks (1823-1901), a
leading shipping agent from New Orleans.
THE WEEKS FAMILY
In July 1879,
Matilda Rayne Weeks (1830-1912), the spouse of Captain Weeks,
acquired a large parcel of land facing Deer Island between the Mill
Dam Bayou (now Ocean Springs Inner Harbor) and a small bayou, which
became known as Weeks Bayou from John I. Kendall and Mary E. Kendall
of New Orleans. The Weeks tract was east of the William Gray
Kendall (1812-1872) estate, which centered about the present day
Hansen-Dickey House on Shearwater Drive. Here, the
Weeks erected a large summer
home, which they appropriately named, "Anchorage". Captain Weeks
retired here raising poultry and growing vegetables until his demise
in January 1901. "Anchorage" was legated to his daughter, Jessie
Weeks Boyd, and later owned by her daughter, Miss Jessie M. Boyd
(1881-1963). It is believed to have been demolished in the 1940s.
Mrs. Matilda Weeks was born in
London, England of Robert W. Rayne and Mary B. Langdon. With Silas
Weeks, she reared a family consisting of four daughters: Ada W.
Depass, Jessie W. Boyd, Hattie W. Darsey, and Mamie W. Rice. Ada
Weeks (1851-1909) married David Depass (1850-1926) of New Orleans.
He made his livelihood dealing in stocks and cotton futures. In
June 1890, they purchased what we know today as the Shearwater
Pottery of the George W. Anderson (1861-1937) family from Albert
Baldwin (1843-1912), a dry goods merchant and entrepreneur of New
Orleans. They had one daughter, Hattie Virginia Depass
(1882-1926+), who married Howard Hall. The Halls resided at
Chicago.
Jessie Weeks (1855-1932) married
a Texan, William Boyd. Their children were Silas W. Boyd
(1876-1950) and Jessie M. Boyd (1881-1963). Silas W. Boyd made a
career in the Mississippi lumber business operating out of Jackson,
while his sister, Miss Jessie M. Boyd, gave her life helping others
primarily with the American Red Cross. She was at the scene of many
of the great floods of the 1920s and 1930s, including the infamous
August 1936, Johnstown, Pennsylvania disaster.
Hattie Darsey (1858-1939) was
born at sea possibly on her father's ship. She married Lowndes A.
Darsey (1849-1929), a Methodist minister, from Georgia. The
Reverend Darsey came to the Mississippi Conference circa 1904, and
served Methodist Episcopal churches at Ocean Springs and Pascagoula. The
Darsey children were: L.A. Darsey, Jr., J.W. Darsey, G.U. Darsey,
Rison C. Darsey, Mrs. Joe Zink, and Mrs. Lee Hammond.
Mamie Weeks
(1864-1937) married George A. Rice (1860-1942) of New Orleans. They
had one child, Ethel Weeks Rice (1887-1969).
In February 1883,
Captain Silas Weeks acquired sixty acres of land on East Beach.
This purchase precipitated a legal action in the Chancery Court of
Jackson County, Cause No. 416, "Martha H. Hilzeim v. Mary E. Snipes,
Silas Weeks, et al", filed February 1892. The disputed tract of
Captain Weeks at East Beach was located in E/2 of the W/2 of SW/4 of
Section 29, T7S-R8W and the eastern portion of Governmental Lot 4,
Section 32, T7S-R8W. The Old Martin Place had been situated here.
Mr. Martin may have been Warrick Martin (1810-1854+), a land
speculator and attorney, from Chester County, Pennsylvania.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 6, pp. 386-387)
In 1850, Warrick Martin
resided at Ocean Springs, Mississippi with his Ohio born wife,
Rachael Harbaugh (1813-1850+), whom he had married in May 1838 at
Columbiana, Ohio. Their first three children, James Martin
(1839-1850+), George W. Martin (1842-1850+), and Henry C. Martin
(1844-1850+), were all natives of Pennsylvania. There appears to
have been a fourth son, John M. Martin.(Goff, 1988, p. 47)
WILLIAM HOWARD
Little is currently
known about William and Ella Howard of Fenton, Michigan. They
purchased the most easterly lands at East Beach in May 1885, from
Frank H. Ayers and Hattie Ayers of New Orleans for $1500. The Ayers
Place consisted of about seventy-two acres on Davis and Stark
Bayou. The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory is located on a portion
of the former Ayers tract. Prior to 1876, this scenic,
quasi-peninsular, parcel of land had been in the possession of Enoch
N. Ramsay (1832-1916) and his spouse, Sarah E. Bradford
(1848-1926).(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 7, pp. 475-476)
The Ayers family was
Methodist and were prominent in their financial support of Methodism
at Ocean Springs. David Ayers, possibly the patriarch, resided at
Galveston. He provided the funds, which led Reverend C.F. Gillespie
to remark, "we were pleased to find the church (at Ocean Springs)
so
beautifully improved. It is not only neat and comfortable, but is
now an ornament to the town".
THE HALSTEADS
West of the Howards
were the Halsteads. Of the pre-Sullivan, settlers residing on East
Beach, only the E.W. Halstead family is here today. Their son, Kirk
Halstead, and grandchildren, are the fifth and sixth generations of
this family to reside on these sylvan shores.
David Wileder
Halstead (1842-1918) and his wife, Hannah Farnum (1841-1916), and
their triad of Iowa born sons, Harley F. Halstead, Harry P.
Halstead, and Ernest W. Halstead, came here from the Midwest in the
late 1880s. Mr. Halstead's mother, Betsy M. Halstead (1813-1902),
accompanied them to their new home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Betsy M. Halstead
and her mother were natives of Connecticut. Her father was born at
New York. She was the mother of ten children, but only six had
survived to see the 20th Century.
In June 1888, Mrs.
Betsy M. Halstead purchased land in Lot 1, at East Beach from
William and Ella Howard for $1475. The Halstead tract consisted of
about forty-five acres with over a thousand feet of frontage on
Davis Bayou. Today, this parcel would be in the area west of the
Gulf Coast Research Lab to Ashley
Place and north to Brumbaugh Road, excluding the E/2 of the N/2 of
Section 32, T7S-R8W.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 9, pp. 304-305)
Here her son, David
W. Halstead, erected a large, two-story, wood frame, front gable
structure. The three-bay gallery had a shed roof. Mr. Halstead
called his home, Wildemear. It burned to the ground in a great
conflagration late in the evening of June 14, 1911. Because of the
distance from town, the local fire companies were unable to reach
the Halstead home before its total destruction. David W. Halstead
was in Cuba visiting son, E.W. Halstead, at the time.
In 1900, Mrs. Betsy
Halstead was residing at Ocean Springs, with her daughter, Elizabeth
J. Ball (1853-1900+), and her grandson, Harrison E. Ball
(1884-1900+). Mrs. Ball was a newspaper correspondent. They rented
the Hubbard Cottage at present day 509 Washington Avenue. Mrs. Ball
subsequently moved to San Antonio, Texas.
David W. Halstead
was a veteran of the Civil War having served with the Company D of
the Ohio Cavalry. In March 1865, after the conflict, he married
Hannah Farnum, an Ohio lady of Virginia parentage, at Tipton, Iowa.
D.W. Halstead relocated to LaRue, Ohio, and then Fort Dodge, Iowa
where he built a successful John Deere farm implement retail
business. Failing health caused him to seek a more benign climate.
At Ocean Springs,
D.W. Halstead was engaged with E.T. Firth of Fort Recovery, Ohio in
a brick making operation on Fort Bayou. In June 1898, he took
charge of the Illing bakery with his sons, Harry and Ernest. They
planned to add a soda water and ice cream parlor. In 1900, D.W. Halstead was the custodian of
the U.S. Marine Hospital.
Near the turn of the
Century, with Ocean Springs in a period of pecan and citrus
prosperity, D.W. Halstead founded Halstead & Sons Nursery and
Orchards. The property was located on their East Beach property.
Here they propagated the most popular variety of pecans trees as
well as satsuma and grapefruit. Mr. Halstead continued as a
nurseryman until his demise on August 28, 1918.
David W. Halstead
brought his strong Presbyterian faith to Ocean Springs. It was he
who apparently influenced the Reverend William C. West (1848-1915)
of Decatur, Ohio to come to Ocean Springs and minister to the
spiritual needs of the small Presbyterian community. It is highly
probable that he was also responsible for former Iowans, the
Alderson family, of Leadville, Colorado to purchase a vacation villa
east of his place on East Beach in 1890.
It was in western
Iowa that the Halstead children were born. A son, Wileder Halstead,
died before his second birthday. A brief biography of the other
Halstead children follows:
There is a high
degree of certitude that David W. Halstead influenced several
families that he would have known in the Midwest, to settle near the
Halstead homestead on East Beach. These were the West and Alderson
clans. The West family was permanent residents while the Alderson
folks came a few years later and
were primarily seasonal visitors to their East Beach abode. Their
occupancy here will be discussed in a later segment of this essay.
THE WESTS
In October 1889, the Halstead
family sold Harriet N. West (1851-1931), the wife of the Reverend
William C. West (1848-1915), about fifteen acres off the west end of
their parcel for $625. The West tract had a front of 337 feet on
Davis Bayou.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 11, p. 8)
The Reverend William C. West was
a native of Decatur, Ohio, while Mrs. West was born at New Albany,
Indiana, the daughter of Silas C. Day (1813-1886) and Harriett
Newell McClung (1820-1912). They were married at New Albany, Floyd
County, Indiana on February 11, 1880. The West children were: Laura
T. West (1882-1900), William D. West (1885-1915+), David M. West
(1889-1915+), and Raynor E. West (1890-1915+).
The West family came to Ocean
Springs, Mississippi in 1889, probably from Illinois. At Ocean
Springs, Reverend West was the Presbyterian minister serving the
congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs from
1890-1895. He also preached to the people of Biloxi. The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star announced in June 1891, that,
"the prospect for building a Presbyterian Church with a goodly
congregation in Biloxi is very promising". In July 1892,
the great New Orleans philanthropist, John Henry Keller, donated Lot
1 (50 feet by 150 feet)-Block 6 of Keller's tract to the Biloxi
Presbyterian Church. The church was located on Howard Avenue east
of the old Biloxi Public High School. The deacons and elders of the
Biloxi Presbyterian Church, among them Bemis O. Bailey (1898-1969),
an Ocean Springs native, sold their property to the City of Biloxi
in late December 1940, for $3659.
Sometimes in 1899, the West
house was destroyed by fire. The Pascagoula Democrat-Star
announced in October 1899, "Reverend West was rebuilding his
residence on East Beach. It will be one of the most attractive on
the east end".
In July 1904, the West clan sold
their home site and ten acres to Gilbert O. Clayton of New Orleans
for $2000. After the sale, Reverend West went to Louisville,
Kentucky. He returned to Ocean Springs, in mid-October 1906. His
comment after returning, "glad to be back and eat mullet".(JXCO, Ms.
Land Deed Bk. 28, pp. 433-434)
The West family returned to
Indiana, the home of Mrs. West. This is corroborated in the May 6,
1915, weekly edition of The Ocean Springs News. It announced
at this time, "the Reverend W.C. West formerly of Ocean
Springs, but now at New Albany, Indiana is in very bad health".
Indeed, William C. West was suffering from cancer of the tongue. He
died on November 26, 1915. He and Mrs. West were interred in the
Fairview Cemetery at 800 E. Sixth Street in New Albany, Indiana.
POST-SULLIVAN ARRIVALS
The scene at East Beach is now complete for the March 1890, arrival
of Louis Henri Sullivan. Shortly after Sullivan's arrival, he
contracted locals to build his beach cottage, which he called de
Hutte, in literal French-"some or any cabin. Sullivan in July 1874
had embarked from New York for Paris to study at the L'Ecole des
Beaux Arts. Naturally, he became very fluent in the French language
during his seven-month sojourn in France. Mr. Sullivan studied
architecture in "The City of Lights" under Emil Vaudremer, the
designer of the Church of the Sacred Heart, of Mont Rouge, and the
Prison Mazzas.
Although in her excellent
research paper, "An Historical Research on the Louis Sullivan
Cottages in Ocean Springs, Mississippi (1973), Margaret Steelman,
did not discover the builder of de Hutte. I will speculate that
Lyman N. Bradford Jr. (1851-1894) was the erector of the Sullivan
residence and outbuildings. This premise is based on Bradford's
former residency on East Beach, and the fact that he built a home
for Mrs. Morgan Williams of Leadville, Colorado, Mrs. Rushton H.
Field, and Julia Brown of Chicago east of the Sullivan estate in
January 1894. They moved into their new residency, called "Wiljumarrie",
in late March 1894. Frederick S. Bradford (1878-1951), a nephew of
Lyman Bradford, would become a 20th Century construction genius at
Ocean Springs.
The former Louis Henri Sullivan
Cottage is extant at 100 Holcomb Boulevard, although somewhat
obfuscated by dense shrubbery. As paraphrased from The
Architectural Record (June 1905), it consisted of a one-story,
shingled cottage with a spacious gallery or piazza. Within the
Sullivan domicile was a long and wide, roomy hall. It contained
furniture, bookshelves with interesting books, pleasing
pictures, and a fireplace. In addition, a nook in the hall was
utilized for the dining table and its accessories. The guest
quarters and Sullivan's bedroom were at the front of the cottage on
opposite sides of the hall. These suites had access to the
veranda. At the rear of the great hall, was the service room, which
lead to the kitchen. The wing of this part of the cottage
terminated in an octagonal cistern used to store rainwater. An
artesian well was dug in May 1898, to eliminate the water storage
problem. The sewerage from the house was conveniently discharged
into Weeks Bayou to the north.
The sylvan grounds of the estate
were well planned. Sullivan became enamored with roses and
developed several gardens of these flowering, prickly plants. A
circular pool with spouting, artesian wellhead graced the entrance
of the villa.
At the rear of the Sullivan residence were the servants quarters,
stable, and chicken house and yard-"protected from the marauding
incursions of alligators by fence and screening". A fish pond and
vegetable garden at the northern terminus of the grounds completed
the estate.
We will now examine the people
and society that developed at East Beach after March 1890. These
men and women were primarily from the Midwest and West who came here
to enjoy the relatively mild winters compared to the harsh cold and
snow that often inundated their northern landscapes. At Ocean
Springs, these affluent people found fantastic fishing and hunting,
aquatics sports, and the joi de vivre manifested by
descendants of earlier Creole families, 19th Century expatriates
from southern Europe, and their progeny.
JOHN TRACY MARTIN-AMERICA'S
SPORTING PAINTER
In April 1890, the great
American naturalist and sporting painter, John Martin Tracy
(1842-1893) bought the old Bradford Cottage and tract which
encompassed 32.5 acres in Lot 2, at East Beach from Newcomb Clark.
Tracy died here in March 1893. His landscape paintings featuring
hunting dogs are well known on
the East Coast. In 1983, Tracy's "Field Trials in North Carolina"
sold for $46,000.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 11, pp. 150-151)
Artist Tracy was the
brother-in-law of Parker Earle (1831-1917), the husband of Melanie
Tracy (1837-1889). Their parents, John Martin Tracy (1808-1843) and
Hannah Maria Conant (1815-1896), were theologians and lawyers active
in the abolition movement prior to the Civil War. His own health failing, the
consummate artist, Tracy, came to Ocean Springs shortly after the
demise of his sister. He brought his family from Greenwich,
Connecticut where he had painted many of his hunting scenes.
Before locating on
East Beach, the Tracys had lived at Bay View, the Parker Earle
estate at Fort Point (Lovers Lane). Here John M. Tracy became
acquainted with the Poitevent family. In April 1893, shortly after
his demise and interment in the Evergreen Cemetery, his widow,
Melanie G. Tracy, sold their estate to Mary F. Field of Chicago and
Kate Mason Williams of Leadville, Colorado. Mrs. Tracy relocated
with her three children to New York City.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk.
14, pp. 570-571)
In 1994 and 1995,
Dr. Peter E. Sturrock (1929-1998) of Doraville, Georgia, and his
sister, Ruth Sturrock of Gaineville, Florida, donated several small
Tracy paintings to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. The Sturrocks
are the great grandchildren of Parker Earle and Melanie Tracy Earle.
GOLD MINERS ON THE
SILVER STRAND
In July 1890, John
Alderson (1851-1906), Edward D. Alderson (1860-1894), and Lizzie
Alderson (1849-1899) of Leadville, Colorado bought the William
Howard place on the extreme east end of East Beach for
$3000. They were the children of Thomas Alderson
(1827-1895) and Dorothy Alderson (1827-1907). Mr. and Mrs. Alderson
were born in England and immigrated to the United States in 1849.
Their first child Elizabeth, called Lizzie, was born at New
Diggings, Wisconsin in 1849. The other children were Miles Alderson
(1856-1896) and another daughter, Margaret A. Christy Shelton
(1862-1948).(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 11, pp. 466-467)
Circa 1855, the
Alderson family moved to Dubuque, Iowa, which is about twenty miles
west of New Diggings, Wisconsin. In 1870, the Aldersons relocated to
western Iowa. They moved to Omaha, Nebraska before finally settling
at Leadville, Colorado in 1879, joining their sons, John, Thomas
Miles (1856-1896), and Edward Alderson who preceded them there.
Leadville is located
seventy-five miles WSW of Denver at an elevation of 10,190 feet. It
was founded in 1878 as a silver mining camp and grew to 35,000 souls
by 1885. The present population is about 5000 people. Leadville
was one of the principal American mining centers of the 19th
Century. Gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, bismuth, manganese, and
molybdenum have been taken from the earth here in vast commercial
quantities.
At Leadville, Mr.
Thomas Alderson opened a grocery store and his sons clerked for
him. By 1885, Thomas, John, and Edward Alderson were mining while
Miles Alderson made his livelihood as a bookbinder. In 1880, the
Alderson brothers sunk a shaft known as the Hunter's Last Chance.
They quit without finding pay dirt. A few years later, others took
up the claim and dug ten feet deeper and discovered a world-class
ore body.
Several letters from
the Alderson-Shelton file from the Colorado Mountain History
Collection at the Lake County Public Library in Leadville, Colorado
reveal the character of the Leadville mining camp in the 1880s. In
a letter dated November 4, 1879 to his daughter, Margaret, called
Madge, who is attending school in Omaha, Nebraska, Thomas Alderson
describes some of the family activity at Leadville:
Miss Sheppard was to see us today and stayed her tea. Then she went
to the Temperance meeting at the Spruce Street church tonight. I
did not go. I do not like to be out at night. It is cold after the
sun goes down but very fine in the daytime. This place is a very
busy place and is going very fast. Miles came in last night on some
business. He has nine men working for him. He does not work in the
mine himself. He sharpens the tools and looks after the men. I was
with him until I took a bad cold. John and Eddy are about three
miles from home. They have the span of mules to hoist their dirt
and have three men working for them. You would enjoy their company
when they all come home on Saturday night.
In June 1894, Edward
Alderson was killed when he fell from a cage during an early morning
shift change at the Maid of Erin Mine near Leadville.
In April 1892, a few
years after Louis H. Sullivan's arrival at East beach, he bought
45.5 acres of land in Lot 2 from Colonel Newcomb Clark, east of his
place, for $5500. Almost immediately, he conveyed this large parcel
of land with a 900-foot frontage on Davis Bayou to Horace C.
Williston of Duluth, Minnesota.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 13, p. 425
and JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 13, p. 425)
At the end of 1892, the
inhabitants and land owners along the beach front of Davis Bayou,
from east to west were: John Alderson et al, D.W. Halstead, W.C.
West, John M. Tracy, Horace C. Williston, Albert W. Sullivan, James
Charnley, Louis H. Sullivan, Dr. George Lawrence, and Silas
Weeks, and F.M. Weed.
MORE COLORADANS ARRIVE
Henry M. Blakely
After John Martin Tracy's death
in March 1893, his widow moved to Hempstead, New York with her
children. In April 1893, Melanie Tracy sold for $2000 her home and
16 acres comprising the western half of the 32-acre Tracy homestead
to Mary Florence Field of Chicago and Kate Mason Williams
(1859-1895+) of Lendale, Colorado. Mrs. Tracy sold the eastern half
of her tract to Henry M. Blakely of Leadville, Colorado in September
1893 for $2000.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 14, pp. 570-571 and JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk.15, p. 304)
Henry M. Blakely (1866-1902+) was born at New York. He went
west and at the age of twenty-one was a clerk in the establishment
of R.H. Beggs & Company at Leadville, Colorado. In August 1888,
Blakely went into business for himself with $2000 in a little store
with an area of 360 square feet. He stocked his place with a small
but select line of dry goods and notions. In a short period of time
Blakely had succeeded to the status that he bought for $9000 the
building, which housed his former employer. In December 1889, the
local Leadville journal wrote the following about Henry M. Blakely:
Mr. Blakely
is to be heartily congratulated on his success in his Leadville
business. He is just such a citizen as the greatest mining camp on
earth needs, for he has shown pluck and an enterprise worthy of
emulation at every hand. He has fully exemplified the oft-quoted,
but unfortunately seldom demonstrated aphorism-"every man is the
architect of his own fortune,"-and has proved conclusively that he
is an admirable architect. That his business efforts have been
crowned by a richly deserved success is due entirely to his own
pushing, enterprising nature and that he may continue even more
prosperous in his future career is the sincere wish of every citizen
of Leadville. Mr. Blakely has the peculiar and fortunate faculty of
knowing what the people want, and here in, in large measure, lies
his success.
Mr. Blakely was known locally as
the "Dry Good Prince" of Leadville, Colorado. The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star of February 16, 1894, related that Blakely
expected to build a winter residence on the Tracy property. He may
have built the original "Elk Lodge" which soon became the winter
residence of Chicago residents, Joseph B. Rose and the Fields. Rose
acquired the sixteen-acre estate from Henry M. Blakely in March 1895
for $2000. Also at this time, J.B. Rose acquired twenty acres in
the western half of Lot 3 from Harry de Ponte of New Orleans. He
paid de Ponte $2000.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 16, pp. 344-346 and Bk.
16, p. 626)
THREE WESTERN LADIES
A more social and active clime
developed at East Beach with the arrival of Mary Florence Field,
Kate Mason Williams (1859-1895+), and Julia E. Brown (d. 1907) in
early 1893. Mrs. Field and Mrs. Brown were sisters. They may have
been the founders of the Cherokees, an East Beach social club. The
name may have been derived from the captivating Cherokee Rose, which
grows ubiquitously here in the wild state.
By the spring of 1895, these
affluent ladies were neighbored on the east by Joseph Benson Rose
(1841-1902), a wealthy capitalist from Chicago who made his fortune
in the baking powder business. Rose was an avid yachtsman with
memberships in the Atlantic Yacht Club of New York and the Southern
Yacht Club of New Orleans. He often took Madames Field and Brown on
cruises to nearby islands aboard his celebrated yacht, Nepenthe.
They once sailed four hundred miles southeast to the Florida coast
and returned to Ocean Springs by rail.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star
of November 17, 1899, described "Elk Lodge", the East Beach
residence of Mr. Rose as:
one of the finest and most
beautiful villas situated on east beach. The grounds are tastefully
and artistically ornamented with tropical fruit trees and rare
shrubbery. The dwelling is built after the style of a German
suburban home. It has a wide hall in the center with large elegant
rooms on both sides, richly furnished and is very particularly an
ideal seaside retreat. Colonel Rose is fond of yachting and hunting
and is the owner of the celebrated yacht, Nepenthe. He entertains
quite a select number of wealthy Northern friends each season.
Mr. Rose left his
name in the area as he bought the Earle Farm from creditors in
August 1897. This large plantation was located north of Fort
Bayou. The Rose Farm Road survives today as is reminder of this
man. For more information on George B. Rose see The Ocean
Springs Record, "Joseph Benson Rose (1841-1902): Biscuits,
beans, and boats", May 29, 1997, p. 22, and June 5, 1997, p. 24)
Although the Cheniere Caminada Hurricane struck the
Mississippi coast with great fury on the morning of October 2, 1893,
local journals reported no severe damage from the east end at Ocean
Springs. A 200-foot section of the L&N railroad bridge across the
Bay of Biloxi was washed away. Piers, oyster houses, and damage to
homes was reported from Breezy Point (the Lovers Lane area) to
Washington Avenue.
In early 1894, Lyman Bradford,
Jr. (1851-1894) erected a winter home, originally called "Wiljumarrie"
by Julia E. Brown, in Lot 2, on the west sixteen-acres of the John
M. Tracy tract. This land had been purchased for $2000 by Mary F.
Field and Kate M. Williams in April 1893, from the Widow Tracy.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star of March 23, 1894, announced that,
"Mrs. Julia E. Brown, Mrs. Morgan Williams, and Mrs. Rush
Field, wealthy ladies from the West
have moved into their new residence on the east end, and which
though still unfinished is sufficiently completed for occupancy”.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 14, pp. 570-571)
The lives of these
affluent Western women is most interesting. Each will be presented
individually:
KATE MASON WILLIAMS HOFSTRA
(1859-1895+)
Born Katherine Mason
at Illinois in 1859, she was the wife of Vermont native, Morgan H.
Williams (1854-1892). In 1880, they were residents of Leadville,
Colorado where Mr. Williams operated sawmills and dealt in lumber.
In 1888, Morgan H.
Williams and his brother, H.S. Williams, were the proprietors of
Williams Brothers. This organization manufactured and dealt in a
variety of lumber products: shingles, lath, sash, doors, and
paper. Their business reputation was based on their ability to
provide the client any dimension of lumber on the shortest possible
notice. In 1879, with H.S. Darby, the Williams brothers commenced
their operation at Leadville. Later they accepted Eugene Wilder
into the partnership, but by 1883, they were the sole proprietors.
In addition to
their efficient Leadville lumberyard, the Williams brothers had a
saw, shingle, and lath mill situated at Tennessee Pass, twelve miles
from Leadville. They also operated a large lumberard and planning
mill at Aspen, in Pitkin County, Colorado. In the Midwest, the
Monsieurs Williams were the
owners of a clothing, boot, and shoe business at Howard, Illinois.
When she was at
Ocean Springs during the winter months, Mrs. Williams was
transported about town in a fine carriage drawn by a span of elegant
horses.
Kate Mason Williams
was widowed on September 30, 1892, when her husband, Morgan, expired
at Leadville, Colorado from peritonitis. His remains were initially
interred in the evergreen Cemetery at Leadville, but they may have
later been disinterred and sent to Illinois for final
burial.
In August 1895, when
she conveyed her one-half interest in "Wiljumarrie" to Julia E.
Brown for $2000, her name on the warranty deed was Kate Mason
Hofstra of Cook County, Illinois. Her new husband was William S.
Hofstra. No further information.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 17, pp.
6-7)
JULIA E. BROWN
(d. 1907)
Julia E. Brown was
the sister of Mary Florence Field, the wife of Rushton H. Field of
Chicago, and Jessie I. Blair, the wife of James A. Blair of New York
City. She was divorced from James H. Brown. They had a daughter,
Pink Brown, who was residing at Troy, New York in 1893.
Mrs. Brown was a
guest of Kate M. Williams and Mary F. Field at East Beach for
several years at "Wiljumarrie". In August 1895, she bought the
one-half interest of Mrs. Morgan H. Williams (then married to
William S. Hofstra) in that estate. It was renamed Field Lodge and
became the winter quarters for the Field family.
Mrs. Brown acquired
a twenty-two acre tract in Lot 2, from Horace Williston of Boston,
Massachusetts in December 1900, for $2850. Before October 1901, she
built a raised cottage near the water in the southwest quarter of
her lot, which was named, "Belle Fleur" (Beautiful Flower).
In the last will and
testament of Julia E. Brown, Jackson County Chancery Court Cause No.
1691-November 1902, the following legatees are named: James A.
Blair, Jr. of NYC-two diamond pins; John B. Dennis of NYC-a diamond
ring; Jessie I. Blair-"Belle Fleur", her East Beach home at Ocean
Springs; Rushton H. Field-a watch, horses, carriages, wagons, and
harnesses, and all livestock at "Belle Fleur"; Mrs. Rushton H. Field
and Mrs. James A. Blair-the remainder of her property.
Julia E. Brown
passed on August 10, 1907, probably at New York City, New York.
"Belle Fleur" was sold to B.F. Kaufman (1871-1912+) of Polk County,
Iowa (Des Moines) for $7250 in March 1910, by her sister, Jessie I.
Blair. Kaufman owned the property for two years before he conveyed
this Davis Bayou estate to Ruth G. Chase of Chicago and Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, in March 1912, for $5600. Miss Chase renamed "Belle
Fleur", the "Rose Garden".(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 35, pp. 550-551
and JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 38, p. 47)
The Ocean Springs
News reported to its Ocean Springs and other local readers on
November 7, 1914, that a small fire had occurred on October 31st at
the beautiful East Beach home of Miss Chase. Part of her roof was
destroyed when a spark from the chimney ignited some shingles. The
resulting damage was deemed not great.
Other owners of the
"Rose Garden" parcel have been Dr. Chaillos Cross (1919-1925), F.J.A.
Forster (1925-1945) of Chicago, and James E. Elliot (1945-1968).
According to Virginia E. DeFrank (1919-2001), the present owner and
spouse of Paul DeFrank Jr. (1918-2006) of the
twenty-two acre, Julia E. Brown tract, "Belle Fleur" was gone and
the lot over grown when her parents, James E. Elliot (1886-1980) and
Lucille Lundy Elliott (1892-1980), acquired it from Mr. Forster in
July 1945.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 89, pp. 559-560)
James E. Elliott
James E. Elliott was born a
Havana, Alabama just south of Tuscaloosa. He arrived on the
Mississippi coast circa 1915, and commenced Elliott's Jewelry at
Biloxi, in 1928. His grandson, "Skip" DeFrank, operates the same
family business at west Biloxi today. Mrs. DeFrank
postulates that a fire destroyed the former home of Mrs. Brown. Her
mother had visited the Davis Bayou site on a church picnic during
her youth and was quite enamored with the waterfront tract. Mrs.
Elliott (then Miss Lundy) had come by boat from Gulfport, her home, to the site which would
eventually be her domicile for many years. Virginia E. DeFrank
acquired title to the estate in January 1968.
MARY FLORENCE FIELD
Mary F. Field
(1859-1930+), nee
Meyers, was born at Mansfield, Ohio, on November 27, 1859. Her family went to Wheeling,
West Virginia where they started the first iron foundry in that
region. Mary F. Meyers married Rushton Holmes Field
(1838-1908), the founder of
Fields' Point, Rhode Island, and the proprietor of the Reviere House
at Chicago. Mr. Field was also an early pioneer of the West and a
Colorado mining magnate. At East Beach, the
Fields enjoyed the good life afforded to the affluent. They were
primarily fall-winter visitors usually arriving in mid-October from
Chicago. When not at "Field Lodge", the appellation given to their
East Beach estate after Mrs. Field's sister, Julia E. Brown of New
York, built "Belle Fleur", west of them, Mr. Field traveled
extensively by rail throughout the United States and Canada seeking
business opportunities. He was also a frequent visitor to his
mining properties in the Colorado mountains.(The Ocean Springs
News, April 14, 1914, p. 5)
It appears that the
Fields were well received by the community and shared some of their
wealth with the local citizenry. The Pascagoula Democrat-Star
reported on Christmas Day 1896, that "a display of fireworks at Elk
Lodge will be given for the entertainment of all good citizens of
Ocean Springs and vicinity Christmas evening, commencing at 6 o'
clock. Display can be seen from the roadway in front as well from
the grounds".
In October 1901,
Mary F. Field acquired the sixteen-acre estate of Joseph Benson Rose
(1841-1902), which was contiguous and east of her land. This
purchase enlarged Field Lodge, to thirty-two acres with about 600
feet of water frontage on Davis Bayou.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 24, pp. 14-15)
When at Ocean
Springs, Rush Field enjoyed gardening. In February 1905, he
exhibited his grapefruit, blood oranges, satsumas, and creole sweets
at the Mississippi State Fair at Jackson, Mississippi. In late
October 1905, Mr. and Mrs. R.H. Field and Julia E. Brown returned to
Ocean Springs from their summer holiday in North Carolina and New
York City.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, November 3, 1905, p. 3)
Rushton H. Field
died at Ocean Springs on December 29, 1908. After his demise, Mary F. Field may have spent
time with her sister, Jessie Isabelle Blair, at New York City. She
continued her winter sojourns to Ocean Springs. In September 1911,
Mrs. Field presented the Ocean Springs public school on Dewey and
Porter, a sanitary drinking fountain. It was placed in the
schoolyard in memory of her late husband, Rushton H. Field. It was
the first sanitary drinking fountain installed in South
Mississippi. The Civic Federation planned to place one at Marshall
Park.(The Biloxi Daily Herald, December 29, 1908, p. 1 and The Ocean Springs News, September 16, 1911, p. 5)
In September 1909,
Field Lodge was sold to Captain Malicah G. May of Pass Christian for
$19,000. Mrs. Field financed $18,000 of the selling price. For his
investment, Captain May received thirty-two acres with a large
modern residence and numerous outbuildings, an artesian well,
orange, pecan, and grape fruit groves, a rose garden, pier, and boat
houses. In addition, Mrs. Field conveyed all the furniture,
fixtures, and appliances, except the billiard table, and goods,
which were packed and stored in the closet on the second floor of
the house.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 35, pp.
58-59)
In the spring of 1914 in the Elham District of Kent County, England,
Mary F. Field (1859-1930+) married Edward Brooks Scovel (1852-1930+), a
native of Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Scovel
was a well-known tenor of his time. They met at Nice, France on the
Cote d'Azur and lived after their wedding at the Villa Spontini in
Paris. In November 1914, the Scovels sailed from England for
New York City aboard the SS Minnewaska.(New
York Passenger Lists T715_2384, p. 102)
E.
Brooks Scovel had married Marcia Roosevelt, the daughter of Judge
James I. Roosevelt who resided at 13th Street and Broadway in
Manhattan.
In 1920, Mary F. Scovel and her spouse were living in retirement
at San Diego, California. They went to Hawaii in 1921 and
returned in March 1921 to San Francisco aboard the SS Maui.
By 1930, the Scovels were living quite well at San Diego.
Their home was valued at $35,000 and they had three domestics living
with them: a cook, chauffeur, and housekeeper. No further
informaiton.(1920 and 1930 Coronado Co., California T625_130, p.
15B, ED 238 and R 190, p. 11B, ED 37)
Captain M.G. May
Captain Malicah G. May
(1834-1910) was a veteran of the Civil War having served with CO A
of the 9th Alabama regiment. He was well known at Gulfport where he
had many investments and business interests. May was a widower
having lost his wife circa 1907.
Captain May expired
on October 4, 1910, at his East beach estate. The land and
improvements were repossessed and conveyed to Mrs. Field for
$14,452.85 on February 5, 1912, by Fred Taylor, commissioner of the
Jackson County Chancery Court. In April 1913, Mary F. Field sold
Field Lodge to Newton M. Jones of Columbus, Ohio for $25,000. Jones
started the Jackson County Sheep Ranch, a 1200-acre spread, west of
Latimer.
If you reside at
East Beach today in the LeMoyne Beach Subdivision between Watersedge
(1975) and Ashly Place (1980), which was platted in August 1968,
your home occupies the former Field Lodge grounds.
MORE ILLINOISANS ARRIVE
Shortly before and
after the turn of the Century, three more Illinois families would
acquire land at East Beach. They were the Woodruff, Curtiss, and
Vermilyea clans.
EDWARD WOODRUFF
In April 1897, Horace C.
Williston, formerly a resident of Duluth, Minnesota, but now living
at Boston, sold Ohio native Ellen Woodruff (1851-1940), 9 acres from
the eastern end of his large tract in Lot 2 of Section 32, T7S-R8W,
for $900. She married circa 1868, Edward Woodruff
(1847-1910+) also an Ohioan, who
fathered their two children. The family resided at Chicago. (JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 18, pp. 546-547)
In March 1899, the Woodruffs
were staying at the Alderson cottage and were expected to build soon
on their East Beach property. Unfortunately, Mr. Woodruff was
recalled to Chicago on business and their anticipated domicile
construction date was deferred until the fall of 1899.
In 1911, the local journal
announced that the Woodruffs had taken their summer vacation to
North Carolina. They returned to Ocean Springs in September. The
Woodruffs employed Martha Person (1887-1910+) from Alabama as their
domestic cook.
Ellen Woodruff sold her East
Beach estate to H.O. Penick in April 1920. It is believed that her
husband died at East Beach before the conveyance and Mrs. Woodruff
relocated to San Diego, California where she expired on May 10,
1940.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 48, p. 77 and The Jackson County
Times, May 18, 1940, p. 4)
H.O. Penick
H.O. Penick came to Ocean
Springs from New Orleans where he was active in the banking
community. Penick had been with the Central Trust and Savings Bank
and Whitney-Central Trust and Savings Bank as cashier. Prior to his
arrival here, he was in the manufacturing business and a director of
the Citizen's Bank at New Orleans. Mr. Penick had a brother, J.A.
Penick, who resided at Charlton, Iowa.
Mrs. Penick, nee Foster, had
been reared on the Dixie Plantation at Franklin, Louisiana. Her
father, Murphy J. Foster, served the people of Louisiana as its
United States Senator from 1901-1913 and Governor from 1892-1900.
The present governor of Louisiana, Murphy Foster, is a relative.
The Penicks left Ocean Springs for Kent, Washington in March 1924.
Mr. Penick has acquired an interest in a bank in the Seattle area.
H.O. Penick sold "Wildwood", their East Beach estate, to G.W. May,
et al in April 1925.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 55, pp. 208-209)
RALPH C. CURTISS-WINTHROP
CURTISS
Ralph C. Curtiss (1831-1900+)
was born in Warren, Litchfield County Connecticut. Erastus
Curtiss (1790-pre-1860), his father, was a farmer. Circa 1862,
R.C. Curtiss married Calista L. Curtiss (1834-1910+), an Illinois
native. By 1870, they were domiciled at Waverly, Morgan County,
Illinois where Ralph C. Curtiss was a successful farmer. Waverly is twenty miles southwest of Springfield. Calista L. Curtiss had no children, but
she reared and
educated ten. Among these juveniles were Ralph's nephew, Winthrop Curtiss (1862-1903), and his wife, Ida M. Curtiss (1874-1902).
Winthrop made his home at his uncle's winter residence on East
Beach, "Seven Pines", where he was the caretaker, and enumerator of
the 1900 U.S. Census at Ocean Springs.
Ralph C. Curtiss
purchased the northeast quarter of Lot 1 (20 acres), Section 32,
T7S-R8W at East Beach in March 1895, from A.G. Tebo of New Orleans
for $100. He acquired water frontage on Davis Bayou with John J.
Tribble in August 1897, from Hannah F. Halstead. Mrs. Halstead had
acquired the western 350-feet of the Alderson tract in a court
action of March 1897.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 16, pp. 506-507, Bk.
18, p. 490, Bk. 19, p. 171)
John J. Tribble and Winthrop
Curtiss planted oyster beds on their riparian rights in Davis
Bayou. They shared jointly in the gain from the harvesting and sale
of these mollusks by Adolph Schrieber. Mr. Tribble also from
Waverly, Illinois, quitclaimed his one-half interest at East Beach
to R.C. Curtiss in December 1897.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 18, p.
491)
The R.C. Curtiss lot
acquired from Mrs. Halstead had about 350 feet on Davis Bayou.
Lizzie Alderson of Leadville, Colorado at "Bonnie Oaks" (now Gulf
Coast Research Laboratory) was his eastern neighbor and David W.
Halstead and family resided to the west at "Wildermear".
In October 1898,
Ralph C. Curtiss conveyed a one-half interest in all of his East
Beach property (about 70 acres) for $1500 to Winthrop Curtiss, his
nephew. Winthrop and Ida M. Curtiss had two children, Ralph Charles
Curtiss (1897-1910+) and Helen M. Curtiss (1899-1910+), who were
born at Ocean Springs. Winthrop Curtiss died at San Antonio, Texas
on January 15, 1903. His brother, Charles F. Curtiss
(1859-1903+) of Waverly,
Illinois, was the executor of his estate, Jackson County, Miss.
Chancery Court Cause No. 1129-February 1903. Maternal aunt, Grace
McCasland of East St. Louis received $5.00 per month to rear the
Curtiss children.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 19, p. 371)
The Curtiss lands
were sold to John Duncan Minor (1863-1920) for $1600 in February
1911. Minor was a building contractor and the forefather of the
Ocean Springs Lumber Company. He served the people of Jackson
County as their Sheriff (1902-1904) and Ocean Springs as Mayor (1911-1912).(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed
Bk. 36, pp. 359-360)
ADELBERT R. VERMILYEA
Adelbert R.
Vermilyea was a prominent capitalist from Chicago. In December
1897, he was a guest of Colonel Joseph B. Rose at "Elk Lodge".
Obviously, Mr. Vermilyea was impressed with the climate and
recreational potential of the area, as in July 1901, he and wife,
Ida B. Vermilyea, bought the last lot in the Williston tract
(western two-thirds of Lot 2) from Horace and Mary L. Williston of
New York. The consideration for the land was $650.(JXCO, Ms. Land
Deed Bk. 23, pp. 289-290)
A.R. Vermilyea
expired before 1914, as Ida was married to George D. McCain at this
time. Although she was active in the local Civic Federation, which
built Marshall Park in 1911, and the Homemakers Club, Mrs. McCain
left for Des Moines, Iowa in April 1914. The business interests of
her husband precluded their permanent residency at East Beach.
When the Vermilyea
tract was sold to H.O. Penick for $1250 in July 1920, Ida McCain was
residing at Hennepin County (Minneapolis), Minnesota. She was
referred to as the only heir of Adelbert R. Vermilyea.(JXCO, Ms.
Land Deed Bk. 48, p. 297)
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
HURRICANES
The Hurricane of
August 15, 1901, was the worst natural disaster at Ocean Springs
since the October Storm of 1893. The shoreline from "Bonnie Oaks" on
East Beach to "Breezy Point" at Lovers Lane
was in ruins. From "Bonnie Oaks" to "Elk Lodge", the home of
Rushton Field, the damage was slight, only the road and fences were
affected.
West of "Elk Lodge",
the piers, bathhouses, and pavilions were destroyed. Mrs. Norwood
of Chicago lost her new wharf, pavilion, and bathhouse. The large
bridge over Weeks Bayou was washed 100 feet up into the bayou. The
entire New Beach Road, which had just been built and shelled was
swept into the bay. All small bridges along the beach were lost.
The only damage
reported in local journals concerning the 1906 Hurricane in the East
Beach area was to the cottage of Mrs. Chauncey S. Bell (1847-1922+)
on the Boulevard Farm (probably situated on Holcomb Boulevard). It
was an entire wreck. The loss in monetary value in the region was
probably greater to those engaged in the timber and naval stores
industry than anyone else.
SULLIVANS DEPARTURE
During the twenty
years that architect Louis H. Sullivan owned property at East Beach,
his presence was less noted than the other effluents by the local
journals, indicating that he led a private existence when here from
Chicago. This was in keeping with his purpose for acquiring the
estate. As stated previously, East Beach served as an opportunity
for Louis H. Sullivan to rest, relax, and recharge his creative
mind. His accomplishments in the field of American architecture
Fred W. Norwood
In June 1896, Mr. Sullivan had acquired a new neighbor on his
eastern perimeter, when his friend and client, James Charnley, sold
"Bon Silence" to Fred W. Norwood (1840-1921). Mr. Norwood was born
at Northhampton, Massachusetts. He made his livelihood as a
lumber broker.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 17, pp.
389-391 and Hickman, Mississippi Harvest, p. 60)
Although not documented and of
anecdotal origin, Ray Thompson, the author of “Know Your Coast”,
The Daily Herald, reported in his newspaper column of July 29,
1957, the following:
“during one of the annual
absences of the Norwoods, this house that Sullivan had designed and
which they named "Bon Silene" burned completely to the ground.
However, Mr. Norwood loved the house so well that he had it rebuilt
from Sullivan's original blue- prints exactly as it was-with the
exception that he finished the house inside entirely with priceless
curly pine he had been hoarding for years.”
Fred W. Norwood and his wife, Lizzie Norwood (1842-pre
1916), had two daughters, Winifred N. Shapker (1862-1937) and
Virginia N. Jones Culver (d. 1906). Circa 1904, Winifred married
Edward B. Shapker (1867-1925+), a bond banker, of Chicago. The
Shapkers resided at Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of
Chicago, with their children Betsy (1905-1925+) and Ned (post
1910-1925+).
Mrs. George Culver and her
husband, a veteran of the Spanish American War, perished in the
Hurricane of September 1906. Her corporal remains were initially
buried on Heron Bayou and re-interred in March 1908, in the
Evergreen Cemetery on Old Fort Bayou.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, March 14, 1908, p. 3)
They left one son, Horace
Culver, who was circulation manager of The Mobile Item in
July 1914. Young Culver was a sailboat racing enthusiasts.(The
Ocean Springs News, July 18, 1914, p. 5)
The Norwoods called their estate
"Bon Silene". In April 1904, The Progress, our local
journal, reported that, "for abundance, variety and beauty of
roses, no place excels Bon Saline (sic), the home of Mrs. Norwood on
East Beach. It is one of the beautiful sights of this locality".
After Mrs. Norwood passed, her husband married the widow, Mrs.
Priscilla Finnel, at Cincinnati, Ohio in December 1916.
Henry Seymour (1880-1910+) and
Mary Seymour (1880-1910+) worked for the Norwoods as yardman and
cook respectively. Other black families working in the area in
1910, were those of Ernest P. Mayfield, Sr. (1880-1960) who may have
been employed by Matilda E. Weeks at "Anchorage", and William "Billy
Boo" Seymour (1871-1937) who was an overseer for ?. Two of
their grandchildren, Harold M. Mayfield, Jr. and Jocelyn Seymour
married and are the proprietors
of one of Ocean Springs finest
eateries, Jocelyn's- "like this, no place", established in December
1982.
Park Place
In February 1911, Mr. Norwood
sold his East Beach cottage to Mrs. Fronie Stealy Park, the wife of
Samuel T. Park, a retired railroad executive for the C.& E.I. R.R..
He expired on the 4th of July 1921, at Maysville, Kentucky. His
daughter, Mrs. Edward Shapker and family, returned to Ocean Springs
for visits as late as April 1925, when they had leased the Darsey
Cottage at East Beach.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 36, pp. 445-446)
The Parks called their new
home, "Park Place". Mrs. Park's father, Orlando Oscar Stealey (c.
1850-1924+), who resided at Millboro, Virginia in the 1920s, had
been the Washington correspondent for the Louisville (Ky.) Courier
Journal. He lived seasonally with his daughter and son-in-law at
East Beach and was a frequent contributor to The Jackson County
Times, the local journal. Colonel O.O. Stealy was a staunch
Democrat. There are still a few on East Beach today!
Gustav Hottinger
A sad day in Louis H. Sullivan's
life must have been on May 1, 1910, when his inspirational cottage
was sold to Gustav Hottinger of Chicago for $8500.(JXCO, Ms. Land
Deed Bk. 35, pp. 600-601)
A sense of what the ambience
of Ocean Springs may have meant to the creativity of Sullivan was
expressed by him in his autobiography as follows:
For while the great cities are great battle grounds, they are not
great breeding grounds. The great minds may go to the great cities
but are not born and bred in the great cities. In the formation of
a great mind, solitude is prerequisite; for such a mind is nurtured
in contemplation, and strengthened in it.
Gustav Hottinger
(1848-1929) came to Chicago from Vienna, Austria circa 1878. He
married a Bohemian, 1866 immigrant, Katharina Rous (1850-1932). Mr.
Hottinger formed the Northwest Terra Cotta Company at Chicago. Its
assets in 1923 were $4,000,000. Herr Hottinger legated 93% of the
stock in his tile company to his thirty-six original employees. The
Hottinger's son, Adolph T. Hottinger, held the Sullivan cottage
until March 1943, when it was conveyed to William G. Nichols of
Birmingham, Alabama.
The final years of
Louis H. Sullivan's life were marked by great sadness. Divorce and
bankruptcy entered his life and he died destitute on April 24,
1924. On his final project in 1922, Sullivan served as an associate
to one of his former draftsmen.
EPILOGUE
On May 21, 1949,
Louis H. Sullivan was honored at Ocean Springs by the emplacement of
a memorial tablet in the St. Johns Episcopal Church on Rayburn
Avenue. At this time, there were approximately 500 architects
attending the Southern Conference on Hospital Planning at the Buena
Vista Hotel in Biloxi. A rose
garden was planned on the church grounds.
Today, East Beach,
like many great neighborhoods of 19th Century America, has lost its
original character. The white, shell road, leading from the tidal
marsh and deep green pine forest, and slowly drifting parallel
southeastward along the grassy, shoreface of Davis Bayou past graceful, post-Victorian, raised
cottages is no more. Lone gone are the marvelously landscaped
estates of the wealthy Midwestern winter visitors. Only the
Sullivan and Charnley cottages remain basically intact, and
fortunately in the proprietorship of good stewards. As the ink on
this essay dries, the romantic view of Deer Island from East Beach,
is threatened to be replicated as a clone to Biloxi's rapidly
developing casino-resort, skyline.
With the formation
of subdivisions at East Beach, commencing with Lee-Hail in July
1924, the great estate lots of the Sullivan Era (1890-1910) slowly
became dissected into smaller tracts. Only the twenty-two acre,
Virginia Elliott DeFrank parcel, which was established by Julia E.
Brown in December 1900, remains intact. Other subdivisions on East
Beach and their platting dates are: Halstead No. 1 (1953), Gulfview
(1958), Le Moyne Beach (1968), Watersedge (1975), Yarbrough (1980),
Ashley Place (1980), and Halstead Bayou (1985).
Local architects,
Bruce Tolar and Maria Bargas, have left their mark at East Beach.
The Robohm House (1990) of Tolar and Charles Yarbrough's guest
cottage (1991) of Bargas are certainly noteworthy architectural
contributions to this east end neighborhood.
These series of
articles were inspired by Dr. Paul E. Sprague, a recent retiree from
the art history department of the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Sprague continues to research and write
about the Sullivan cottages at Ocean Springs. Paul is no stranger
to Ocean Springs, especially the residents of the
Sullivan East Beach cottages.
Some sources
utilized in the preparation of this essay were: Willard Connely,
Louis Sullivan, The Shaping of American Architecture (1960); Louis
H. Sullivan,
Autobiography of an Idea (1924); The Architectural
Record, "The Home of an Artist-Architect" (June 1905); Ocean Springs
Genealogical Society Journal, Thomas Park, "Recollections of Ocean
Springs 1911-1919" (July 1996 and March 1997); Sloss Furnaces
National Historic Landmark, "Louis Sullivan Ornamental Iron Work"
(1988); Pamela L. Jacobs, "Louis Sullivan's New Orleans Illinois
Central Railroad Station and Ocean Springs
Cottages" (1972); Margaret Steelman, "An Historical Research on the
Louis Sullivan Cottages in Ocean Springs, Mississippi" (1973); North
& South, Volume No. III, Nos. 9-10, (1905); The Daily Herald, "East
Beach of Ocean Springs Takes a Bow", July 29, 1957; and the land
deed records of the Jackson County, Mississippi Chancery Court.
Personal thanks to the following
people for their kind assistance with this project: Betty Armand,
E.W. "Wy" Halstead and Margaret Lemon Halstead, Virginia E. DeFrank,
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Rasor, and Linda Scupien of Ocean Springs; Else
Martin and Betty Rodgers of Pascagoula; Betty Pruitt and Benita K.
Mason of New Albany, Indiana; and Nancy Manly of Leadville,
Colorado.
Hurricane Katrina-August 2005
On the Monday morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck
the Mississippi Gulf Coast near the mouth of the Pearl River, which
separates it from the marshlands of southeast Louisiana. This
Category Four tempest brought high winds and a devastating storm
surge estimated at twenty to thirty feet, which inundated the entire
Mississippi coastline destroying or severely damaging all structures
from Waveland to Pascagoula. The shoreline of Ocean Springs
was no exception. The waters of Old Fort Bayou and Biloxi Bay
removed or flooded almost every home from Seapointe to Gulf Park
Estates. Relatively low-lying East Beach was particularly
destroyed. The Sullivan-Minor cottage was destroyed and the
Charnley-Ruddiman house heavily damaged while the Charnley-Butera
octagonal cottage received a moderate to severe beating
from the wind driven tidal surge.
CHARNLEY-SWEENEY COTTAGE
509 East Beach
[L:R: image made June 1992 and September 2006]
The Charnley
Cottage: “awash in paper work”
[published in The Ocean Springs Record, November 15 and 22, 2007]
Time and Hurricane Katrina have
changed Ocean Springs and the Mississippi Gulf Coast region
forever. Developers scramble for the last square-foot of commercial
and residential land to metamorphose and remold the landscape and
streetscape and create their own ‘architectural history.’ The
stabilization and restoration of the Charnley-Sweeney Cottage at 509
East Beach in Ocean Springs is a salient step in preserving one of
America’s treasured, architectural structures that was severely
damaged by the late tempest of August 2005.
The history of the Charnley-Sweeney Cottage commences in the late 19th
Century, when renowned Chicago architect, Louis H. Sullivan
(1850-1926), led a contingent of affluent business men from the
Midwest to the vacant, verdant shores of East Beach. After Sullivan
purchased six acres from Colonel Newcomb Clark (1836-1913) in 1890,
his friend James Charnley, also from Chicago, bought a contiguous
fifteen-acre tract east of Sullivan. Sullivan's brother, Albert W.
Sullivan, superintendent of the Illinois Central Railroad, then
acquired nine acres east of James Charnely. Before the turn of the
Century, the cedar, oak and magnolia lin |
By
Ray L. Bellande