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THE
OCEAN SPRINGS HOTEL:
(1853-1905)
Jackson Avenue
LOCATION
The
Ocean Springs Hotel was located on what has become known as the
Hotel Tract. The south boundary of the property fronts
three-hundred feet on the Bay of Biloxi which consisted primarily of
marsh until more recent times. The west line of the Hotel Tract is
twelve-hundred feet in length and is bounded by the "Many Oaks"
estate founded by New Orleanian, John B. Honor (1856-1929), in
1909. The north line is Cleveland Avenue, once called Calhoun, a
distance of three-hundred seventy feet. The eastern periphery is
formed by Jackson Avenue-one thousand three-hundred seventy feet to
the Bay of Biloxi. Today, the Hotel Tract comprises about eight
acres of residential neighborhood.
The
approximate site of the Ocean Springs Hotel was twelve hundred feet
north of the Bay of Biloxi. The hotel was about twelve feet above
mean sea level.
Ocean Springs Hotel ca 1900
(image by Winifred Norwood Shapker
(1870-1937-courtesy of Lynne Ann Shapker Sutter)
BUILDINGS
From
photographs of the Ocean Springs Hotel taken in the late 19th
Century, Maria Bargas, local architect and preservationist, has made
an estimate of the dimensions and floor plan of the structure. It
is believed that the main building was completed in late 1852 or
early 1853. From her calculations, Ms. Bargas estimates this
edifice to be fifty feet by sixty feet. There was a ten-foot wide
gallery on the south and east. The building had a second floor and
large attic area. A newspaper person (Sobersides) reporting for
The New Orleans Daily Picayune on August 18, 1853, related the
following:
Before the opening of the next season, two wings of two hundred feet
in length each will be added to the now quite extensive main
building. This will make it one of the most commanding hotels on
the Gulf Coast. An immense number of shade trees, full grown from
the forest, will be planted in front, thus affording that which now
is its only drawback, a shady promenade.
(p. 1, col. 4).
Bargas
estimates the west wing additions (only one is visible in the
photographs) to be seventy feet in length. It is not known if the
second wing was ever built. It is judged this unit may have had
twenty-eight rooms while the main building contained thirty-four
rooms. Assigning two people per room, the hotel would have had a
one hundred twenty-four person capacity. This figure is
corroborated somewhat by an article in The Biloxi Daily Herald
(1905) which stated that "the hotel had accommodations for one
hundred and fifty guests".
All
buildings were of wood frame construction. It is assumed that the
hotel had outbuildings typical of this era such as, stables, a large
kitchen, and outhouses (latrines).
HISTORY
Early
in the morning of May 25, 1905, a raging fire was discovered on
Jackson Avenue in Ocean Springs destroying what had once been one of
the finest of the flagship hotels of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's
resort spas. Such spas, called "watering places" were renown for
their medicinal, spring fed waters.
These
"watering places" referred to by newspaper reporters from New
Orleans as the "Six Sisters" were Shieldsboro (Bay St. Louis), Pass
Christian, Mississippi City, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and the
Pascagoulas (East and West). When the fire department arrived, the
great Ocean Springs Hotel was too far gone to be saved by the
valiant firemen. The majestic old hostelry and most of its contents
were consumed in the conflagration.
The
history of the Ocean Springs Hotel commences with the discovery of
the mineral springs on the south bank of Old Fort Bayou by the
Reverend P.P. Bowen (1799-1871), the minister of the Tidewater
Baptist Church, in 1852-1853. As the result of this find, the
tourist industry was born at East Biloxi or Lynchburg Springs (name
changed to Ocean Springs in 1854). George Lynch (1835), a native of
Maryland, who operated a sawmill with Bowen near the present day
Fort Bayou bridge had given his name to the town in 1853. The
Reverend Bowen constructed marble baths at the Iberville Street
site, and visitors began to arrive for treatments in the medicinal
waters known to the local Indians as "E Ca Na Cha Ha" (Holy Spring).
The
population in the area was quite small at the time and consisted of
descendants of the French Colonial occupation, immigrants from
France, Spain, Germany, and Ireland, and Anglo-Saxon families
migrating from the Carolinas and Georgia. For the most part, the
people in the Ocean Springs area subsisted by fishing, lumbering,
charcoal making, farming, and brick making.
As the
mineral springs grew in popularity because of their propinquity to
the larger population centers at New Orleans and Mobile, it was
natural that someone would build an edifice to accommodate the
additional flow of visitors. Although Reverend Bowen did build a
boarding house near his Marble Springs, it wasn't until a New
Orleans physician, Dr. William G. Austin, constructed a large, first
class hotel on the front beach west of Jackson Avenue that
sufficient space and amenities were available to the sophisticated
traveler.
Dr.
William Glover Austin (1814-1894) was born in Somerset County,
Maryland in 1814. He did undergraduate work at Kenyon College in
Ohio, and received his medical degree from the Washington University
of Baltimore in 1836. He left medical school and went to Yazoo
County, Mississippi where he practiced medicine and married Martha
E. Porter (1818-1898), a fine lady from a notable Giles County,
Tennessee family. The Austins moved to New Orleans from Yazoo
County about 1840. Here Dr. Austin practiced medicine for over
forty years and was regarded highly as an authority in epidemic
diseases, especially yellow fever.
The
Austins had at least six children: John Edward.Austin (1840-1878),
Martha Porter (1842-1910+), Louisa Porter (b. 1846), William M.
Porter (b. 1849), Willie (Willamena?) Porter (b. 1854), and Thomas
Porter (1855-1855). The children were all born in Mississippi
except for daughter, Willie, who was a Louisiana native.
At New
Orleans, the Austins were known to have resided at 111 Prytania
Street, but also maintained a residence and owned beach front
property at Ocean Springs east and west of Martin Avenue which they
acquired in the late 1840s. In 1910, the old Austin home which was
located on "Many Oaks" was moved to 416 Martin Avenue (now
Winklejohn) by John H. Behrens (1848-1918). Behrens, a German
immigrant, resided at Highland Park, Illinois and owned the Fort
Bayou Fruit Company (1909). He purchased the Austin land on Martin
Avenue from Mattie Austin in 1910. It is believed that Behrens
lived here until "Terrace Hill" was built about 1911.(JXCO, Ms. Land
Deed Bk. 35, pp. 508-509)
William L. Porter, probably the brother of Martha Porter Austin,
owned a mercantile store at Ocean Springs in the 1850s and may have
been a factor in their locating here. Porter Avenue in Old Ocean
Springs is named for this pioneer family from south central
Tennessee, probably Giles County.
When
New Orleans fell to Union forces in 1862, Dr. Austin was
superintendent of the Charity Hospital. He went to the front lines
and saw active service. In the post-War years, Austin was appointed
to the Board of Health by Governor Nicholls, and in 1889 Nicholls
appointed him resident physician at the Mississippi Quarantine
Station.
In
addition to the mineral springs, the Ocean Springs area offered the
seasonal tourist excellent fishing and oystering, sailing, salt
water bathing, constant cooling sea breezes, and some relief from
the dreaded "yellow jack" which was pervasive at times during the
summers at New Orleans and Mobile. The Morgan Line packet made
daily trips to the area from New Orleans in only eight hours during
the tourist season.
A
letter dated Ocean Springs March 30, 1855 by Elvira A. Cox (b.
1809), the sister of George A. Cox (1811-1887), an Ocean Springs
pioneer, to her father at Jefferson County, Alabama gives an
impression of the area at this time:
This is a very healthy place. Ocean Springs, our little town, is
situated immediately on the Bay of Biloxi. We live about a half
mile from the hotel right on the bay at a beautiful place. It is
called Magnolia Grove. If it was not for the cold weather we would
not think of it as winter as we are surrounded with magnolias, live
and water oaks, and cedar trees in abundance and flowers of every
description, and upon the whole it is a beautiful place. There are
abundance of fish and oysters here and crabs and all such things but
it is a new settled place. Their were but a very few houses here
two years ago. Their were but very few that had gardens last
summer. Vegetables were scare indeed.....The land back of this
place is so poor it is not cultivated in the summer season. Their
is a boat that makes five trips from here to New Orleans a week and
it is about fifty miles by land to Mobile. I am very pleased with
the people here. Their (sic) a great many families that came over
from the City and stay through the sickly season. Their are mineral
springs all about over the place and we have a time bathing in the
salt water.
(from The Neaves Story).
Dr.
Austin named the hotel the Ocean Springs Hotel for the valuable
mineral springs located near the ocean (Bay of Biloxi). Although
1835 is the date generally given for the founding of the Ocean
Springs Hotel, the year, 1853, is more appropriate. Charles Dyer in
Along The Gulf (1895) wrote:
With the exception of the old Gulfview at Mississippi City, the
Ocean Springs Hotel is without doubt the oldest established hostelry
on the Gulf. It was originally built in 1835 by a Mrs. Porter, the
mother of the wife of Dr. George W. Austin, the celebrated New
Orleans physician who gained a name for himself during the terrible
yellow fever epidemics of some years ago.
It is
postulated that the date 1835 proposed by Dyer was a transpositional
error in his manuscript and should have read 1853, the correct date
for the hotel inception.
In
1835, the land upon which the Ocean Springs Hotel was constructed
was in the possession of the LaFontaine Family being part of the 237
acre private Claim of the Widow LaFontaine, Catherine Bourgeois
(1768-circa 1845), which was confirmed by an Act of Congress in
March 1819. On August 31, 1846, the Widow LaFontaine tract, known
as Claim Section 37, was divided among her heirs and legal
representatives. The tract, called Lot 2, upon which the hotel was
built was deeded to Pennsylvanian, Robert B. Kendall. It had a
front of 672 feet on the Bay of Biloxi and went approximately 2500
feet to the north.
In
March 1850, Kendall sold Lot 2 and Lot 3 to William L. Porter (b.
1811), an Ocean Springs merchant from Tennessee and Thomas C.
Porter, the tax collector for the port of New Orleans from
1853-1857. By August 1851, Martha E. Austin, the wife of Dr.
William G. Austin, had acquired for $500 an undivided one half
interest in Lots 2 and 3 from Thomas C. Porter who was her uncle.
Lots 2 and 3 were situated between the Jerome Ryan tract on the west
and the property of Azalie LaForce Clay to the east. In the
transaction, Thomas C. Porter reserved one-half acre in the western
boundary of the tract as to include the grave of his deceased wife,
Deborah Porter (1801-1850).(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 4, p. 514 and
Bk. 4, p. 517)
Curiously in July 1986, The Ocean Springs Record reported
that the tombstone of Deborah Porter had ended up at Pointe-aux-Chenes
in Gulf Park Estates. Charles Ernest Schmidt (1904-1988), local
historian, civil engineer, and former Mayor, returned it to Ocean
Springs. He placed the stone in his front yard at the northwest
corner of Jackson and Cleveland Avenues where it rest today in a
horizontal position. This is very close to its original location in
the small cemetery behind the former Ocean Springs Hotel site on
Cleveland Avenue. Schmidt describes the hotel cemetery as
surrounded by a heavy ornate iron fence and containing four grave
sites.
In
August 1855, The New Orleans Christian Advocate reported that
Thomas Porter Austin, the infant son of Martha E. Austin, died of
pneumonia at Ocean Springs. This child was probably buried on the
Hotel property. It is generally believed that the four graves were
exhumed during the 1930s by a WPA work party and interred at the
Evergreen Cemetery.
It
cannot be determined with a great degree of certitude who actually
built the Ocean Springs Hotel. Dr. W.G. Austin, the New Orleans
physician who earned an excellent reputation for dealing with yellow
fever, and Mrs. Henrietta Porter, his mother-in-law, are generally
accepted as the initiators of the project. It is believed that Dr.
Austin operated a health sanitarium at Indian Springs near Fort
Bayou and had the hotel built to accommodate his clients.
In a
deed dated January 19, 1852 in which W.G. Austin and Martha E.
Austin are conveying title to Sarah J. Rayburn, one of the
boundaries of the sales tract was described as:
the
dividing line between the said property and the Ocean Springs Hotel
property, known as belonging to Austin and Martin, at the time of
the public sale (1853), but now (1854) to Warrick Martin.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 39, pp. 214-216)
Warrick Martin
Warrick Martin (1810-1854+) was an attorney and land broker from
Pennsylvania. In 1850, he resided at Ocean Springs 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)
At
Ocean Springs, Warrick Martin owned real estate on Front Beach along
and west of Bayou Bauzage (Bosarge), which became the present day
Ocean Springs Harbor. He was residing in New Orleans in January
1854 when he sold his Front Beach land to John Hughes. It is
believed that Warrick Martin expired at Washington, District of
Columbia.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 2, pp. 585-587)
Because the land records of Jackson County have been destroyed
several times by fire before 1876, it is not always possible to
abstract older properties without breaks in the title chain. In the
matter of the Ocean Springs Hotel, this appears to be the case.
Utilizing newspaper reports from the New Orleans Daily Delta,
New
Orleans Daily Crescent,
New
Orleans Daily Picayune,
and other journals of the time, it is possible in conjunction with
deed records to trace the history of this property with some degree
of certitude.
From
the ownership of Warrick Martin in 1854, until the cessation of the
Civil War in 1865, there is some question of hotel proprietorship.
It appears the owner/owners may have leased the property to a number
of proprietors through these years. Among them were: Enoch Everitt
(b. 1853), L. Jennings (b. 1854), John McDonnell (b. 1856), F.A.
Kent (b. 1857) who proposed opening a male and female seminary, J.
Wilkinson (b. 1859), Judge T.C. Scarborough (b. 1866), Mr. Arrington
(b. 1867), Colonel A.G. Burley (b. 1869), J.P. Longly (b. 1873) and
Colonel Strout who died in August 1878, at the hotel of yellow fever
after throwing up black vomit. Ohio native, Harvey Cree (b. 1837)
was at the hotel in 1880. These managers were represented at New
Orleans by booking agents such as: The E.W. Geer & Co. in 1859 and
General Charles A. Labuzan in 1866.
1855
September storm
It is known that the during the 1855 September Storm, that Captain
Walker’s wharf, which was situated at the foot of Jackson Avenue was
severely damaged. The New Orleans Daily Picayune of September
18, 1855, reported that, "Captain Walker was on the pier head
of his wharf when the latter was swept away, and there he had to
remain all night, and until 4 P.M. on Sunday when he was discovered
with a flag of distress flying".
The
pier of the Ocean Springs Hotel, which was adjacent to that of
Walker was destroyed and replaced with a new structure ten feet
wide, but not as long as the previous.(The New Orleans Daily
Picayune, September 21, 1855, p. 2)
In
June 1859, E.W. Geer & Company, proprietors, advertised in The
New Orleans Christian Advocate, as follows:
Ocean Springs Hotel
This Hotel is now being throughly Renovated and Newly furnished and
will be Opened for the Reception of Visitors on the
FIRST
DAY OF NEXT JUNE. Every effort will be made to render Visitors
comfortable, and to make their stay pleasant. Than the beautiful
bay at Ocean Springs, there is no better place for yaching, fishing
or bathing.
The Mineral Springs so celerated for their curative powers are in
excellent condition. An Omnibus will run regularly several times a
day to and from the Hotel to the Springs. For testimony respecting
the medicinal virtues of these Springs, reference may be made to Dr.
Austin or Dr. Thorpe, New Orleans, to Rev. Dr. McTyere, Nashville,
Tennessee.
Ocean Springs never having been visited by epidemics is decidely the
healthiest as well as the most beautiful location on the Gulf
shores.
Ocean Springs, May 25,
1859 J.
Wilkinson, Agent
Civil
War
During
the Civil War (1861-1865), the Ocean Springs Hotel was probably
closed to guests because of the conflict. Ray M. Thompson in his
The Daily Herald column, "Know Your State", of June 8,
1961, relates an anecdotal story in which a Confederate conscript
officer was invited by an unwilling candidate to the Ocean Springs
Hotel for a drink. Before they were to join the Rebel army, the
young man got the officer so completely inebriated that he was able
to slip away. Some bars never close!
Although the Union Navy made occasional forays up the
Tchoutacabouffa River and Fort Bayou to destroy salt works, ferries,
and schooners, property damage at Ocean Springs was minimal during
the rebellion. In March 1862, a Federal raiding party from Ship
Island visited Ocean Springs and seized newspapers, mail, and
outdated firearms from the Post Office run by John J. Egan
(1827-1875).(The New York Herald, March 25, 1862)
Schmidt & Ziegler
From
1866, it can be documented with confidence that the Schmidt &
Ziegler Company of New Orleans owned the Ocean Springs Hotel for the
next thirty-five years with the exception of a transaction in 1873.
In March 1873, the hotel property was conveyed to Matilda T.
Huntington and
James
Huntington for $15,000. In the trust deed, the hostelry tract was
described to wit:
The Ocean Springs Both Hotel property together with the wharf, bath
houses, mineral springs, property and contents of said hotel as per
inventory and the Hotel property is more particularly described as
follows: Bounded on the north by Calhoun Avenue (now Cleveland), on
the east by Jackson Avenue, on the south by the Bay of Biloxi, on
the west by the property of Goldenbow and Ryan Heirs.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk.
1, pp.
537-539)
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star
reported in September 1878, that John and Mrs. Huntington were ill
at the hotel of yellow fever. Their eighteen year old daughter,
Alice Huntington (1860-1878), a native of Cleveland, Ohio died of
the fever on September 2, 1878. Mrs. Huntington and her son left
Ocean Springs for Ohio in early November 1879.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, September 13, 1878, p. 2 and November 12,
1879, p. 3)
In
June 1880 Federal Census of Jackson County, there is a J.H.
Huntington (1816-1880+)
employed as a wharf clerk. When the Huntingtons failed to make
their annual mortgage payment, the hotel property was seized. The
Schmidt & Ziegler Company purchased it in 1879.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed
Bk. 3, pp. 430-431)
William B. Schmidt (1823-1901) and Frances M. Ziegler (1818-1901)
were wholesale grocers and liquor importers from New Orleans.
Schmidt was born at Schwieberdingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany on
April 10, 1823. His parents settled initially at St. Louis,
Missouri and Lexington, Kentucky before establishing permanent
residence at New Orleans in 1838.
In
1845, at the age of twenty-two, Schmidt commenced a business
relationship with Francis M. Ziegler, a native of Oberndorf-Am-Nekar,
Baden-Wurttemberg in southwestern Germany. Their firm, Schmidt &
Ziegler, began as a small wholesale grocery business on Old Levee
Street in the Vieux Carre. It later located at 428-436 on South
Peters. By 1900, Schmidt & Ziegler had expanded to eleven stores.
The firm was the pioneer in New Orleans international trade
initiating
commerce between South and Central America.
In
January 1849, W.B. Schmidt married Virginia A. Jackson (1835-1912)
who was born at Philadelphia of Cuban parentage. Ziegler married,
Adrianna Weissenburger (1831-1886) on the same day at the Third
Presbyterian Church in New Orleans. She was a native of Lauterburg,
Lower Alsace.
In
later life, it is believed Schmidt converted to Roman Catholicism.
He donated land on the northwest corner of Rayborn and Porter to the
St. Johns Episcopal Church in 1891.
The
Schmidts had eleven children. At the time of Mr. Schmidt's demise
in 1900, seven were living: Victoria A. Maes, Lillian Ruby Donovan,
Florence J. Hoffman, Louise May Schmidt, James J. Schmidt, Charles
G. Schmidt, and Theodore Louis Schmidt (1871-1909). Two sons died
at Ocean Springs prior to 1896, and were interred in the Bellande
Cemetery. Schmidt asked the city government for permission through
his spokesman, G. Weider, in 1895 to disinter their bodies and move
them to the Schmidt Family tomb at New Orleans.(City of Ocean
Springs Minute Bk. (1892-1899), p. 92)
Both
the Schmidt and Ziegler families owned summer homes at Ocean Springs
west of their hotel. Schmidt became established on the front beach
(707 foot frontage) in 1878-1879, when he purchased Lots 16 thru 25
in Block 16 (Culmseig Map) from George A. Cox and Julia Ward.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 3, pp. 377-378 and pp. 441-443)
W.B.
Schmidt called his property "Summer Hill". By 1895, the Schmidt
holdings were of estate proportions. Charles Dyer in Along
The Gulf (1895) (Ocean Springs Section) describes the
Schmidt property as follows:
The finest, most elaborate and most expensive estate on the entire
gulf coast is that of Mr. W.B. Schmidt, of New Orleans. Covering as
it does an immense territory of hilly land, with beautiful ponds, of
which there are three large islands, namely Dog, Crane and deer
Islands each of which have an immense iron figure according to these
names. These beautiful spots are connected with one another and the
main island with rustic bridges.
The house, which is an elaborate modern structure, sits on a high
bluff, surrounded by a beautifully mowed lawn, with numerous beds of
rare flowers and majestic oaks, magnolias, and cedars. The tall
stately pines are in abundance in the rear of the estate, through
which runs numerous walks and drives. The house itself is one of
the most elaborate on the coast. It is large and airy, with wide
gallery and immense rooms, and, being located on a hill, near the
water's edge, the stiff gulf breeze is generally blown through the
house, which is magnificently furnished with everything necessary
for the comfort of its owner. Mr. Schmidt has spent nearly $40,000
on improvements alone, so the reader may form an idea of the
magnificence of this estate.
The
Ziegler home, called "Lake View", was located west of the Schmidt
Estate on Lots 17, 18, and 19 of Block 17 (Culmseig Map). It was
modest in comparison to the Schmidt holdings. Dyer (1895) described
it as:
an attractive little cottage, situated on a hill, with neatly laid
out and well-kept lawn, with any number of massive moss-covered oaks
and magnolias to shade it. The estate contains all the comforts it
is possible for a complete seaside residence to have.
Schmidt was described as a quiet, thoughtful man with a will of iron
and a heart of gold. He was a moving force assisting those less
fortunate than himself. At various times, he sent German immigrants
to Ocean Springs to work on his estate until they could get a start
in life. Among those whom Schmidt guided to Ocean Springs were
Adolph Joseph Schrieber (1835-1875) and Ferdinand W. Illing
(1838-1884) who had escaped from Mexico in 1867 after the fall of
Emperor Maximilian and his German and Austrian nationals. Illing
operated a hotel, the Illing House, on the northeast corner of
Washington and Porter for many years.
Among
the organizations and enterprises during his life, Schmidt could
list: Sugar Exchange, Board of Trade, Board of Liquidation, Charity
Hospital Board, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital (President),
Canal Bank (Director), Teutonia Insurance Company, Texas and Pacific
Railroad (Director), and Vice-President of the organization
responsible for the Cotton Centennial of 1884-1885 in New Orleans.
In his
obituary of 1900, he was described as "not only a merchant prince,
but a prince of merchants". The month of June 1878, found Schmidt &
Zeigler extending their hotel wharf into the bay of Biloxi to
accommodate the Pearl Rivers, the steamboat, of
Captain Junius Poitevent (1837-1919). Poitevent was reared in lower
Hancock County and moved to Ocean Springs about 1877. He built a
Victorian Italianate home for his family called "Bay Home" at Fort
Point. The Pascagoula Democrat-Star stated that
"Captain Poitevent does everything in his power to accommodate the
coast people which is in marked contrast with the policy pursued by
the railroad company." (June 14, 1878, p. 3).
Poitevent's steamer left Ocean Springs at 8:00 AM on Monday and
Friday.
M.R.
and R.E. Arrinton
In 1867, M.R. and R.E. Arrinton were the proprietors of
the Ocean Springs Hotel. They announced in early August 1867, that
the rates of board were being reduced to $60 per month.(The New
Orleans Times, August 6, 1867, p. 2)
Colonel Strout (d. 1878)
Before her demise, Mrs. Buford also recorded the death
of Colonel Strout of the Ocean Springs Hotel. On August 19, 1878,
she wrote to her husband at Water Valley:
Mr. Strout one of the proprietors of the hotel died
last night, and Dr. Dunlop (sic) dispatched the board of health this
morning...that he died of black vomit and the place is in ferment.
The citizens have protested against his remains being carried
through town and he will be buried in the hotel yard.
Mr. Strout was denined a liquor license by the Jackson
County, Mississippi Board of Police in April 1875.(JXCO, Ms. Board
of Supervisors Minute Bk. 1, p. 3)
J.P.
Longley
J.P.
Longley appears to have replaced Mr. Strout at the Ocean Ssprings
Hotel. He was at the St. James Hotel in New Orleans in July 1880,
as proprietor. Opening in October for boarders.(The Pascagoula
Democrat- Star, July 23, 1880, p. 3)
Harvey
Cree
The
1880 season at the Ocean Springs Hotel opened on June 1st
with lessee and manager Harvey Cree (1837-1880+), an Ohioan, at the
helm. Mr. Cree, an experienced Mississippi River steamboatman, had
years of hosting travelers. His cuisine was on par with the St.
Charles of New Orleans.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, May 21,
1880, p. 3, July 2, 1880, p. 3, and July 16, 1880, p. 3 )
Jefferson Davis visits
Jefferson Davis and wife, Varina Howell Davis, came to Ocean Springs
in July 1880 and spent the day at the Ocean Springs Hotel.(The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star, July 23, 1880, p. 3)
Mr.
Cree would advertise his establishment in The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star of July 9,
1880
as follows:
OCEAN SPRINGS HOTEL
and
Mineral Springs
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
This charming summer resort, one of the most delightful on the lake
coast, is now open under the new management for the season of 1880,
with first class accommodations for 250 guests.
The health and pleasure attractions of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi
are unparalleled, and at Ocean Springs alone can visitors enjoy the
benefits of the mineral waters. The salt bathing and fishing are
unsurpassed.
All that visitors can desire is obtainable within three hours ride
from New Orleans and two from Mobile by three daily trains (the
accommodations and excursion trains being now extended to this
point). Terms reasonable.
Harvey
Cree, proprietor. (page 1).
By mid-July 1880, Mr. Cree was turning away reservations
for the Ocean Springs Hotel as his bookings had gone well. The
remainder of the village was also seeing their greatest prosperity
since the Civil War. Merchants and proprietors of rental cottages
were excited about the tourist boom which had everyone in town fully
employed.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, July 16, 1880. p. 3)
As late as August 1886, Harvey Cree was residing at New
Orleans, where he was the proprietor ofHarvey Cree’s Saloon.
Advertised in The Pascagoula-Democrat Star as follows:
HARVEY CREE’S SALOON
The finest wines and liquors always on hand
No.
48 Magazine Street
New
Orleans
(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, August 27, 1886, p. 1)
In 1895, Augustus Smith was the proprietor of a white
barbershop on Jackson Avenue opposite the Ocean Springs Hotel.(The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star, August 23, 1895, p. 3)
Frederick Frye
In
1886, Schmidt & Ziegler leased their hotel to a Swiss hotelier,
Frederick Frye (1846-1892), a native of Geneva. The Fryes had
formerly operated the Willow Cottage at Biloxi. In October 1890,
the Fryes initiated a major renovation campaign at the Ocean Springs
Hotel before the winter season. They replaced the roof, installed
double doors, and remodeled the rooms. New carpet replaced worn
fabric in the rooms. A hot water heating system was placed in the
building. At this time, The Biloxi Herald lauded the Ocean
Springs Hotel "as comfortable, if not more so, than any other
on the coast, and offers most excellent accommodations to our
northern visitors".(The Biloxi Herald, November 8, 1890,
p. 4)
Mrs.
Frye hosted a “hop” at the hotel, for the young adults of Ocean
Springs in late June 1891. It was a spirited occasion and
appreciated by the community.(The Biloxi Herald, July 4, 1891, p.
1)
In
mid-April 1892, Frederick Frye expired at Ocean Springs from heart
failure. He was so respected and admired by the community that most
businesses closed on the day of his burial in the Evergreen Cemetery
on Old Fort Bayou. Frye’s funeral was conducted by the local lodge
of the Knights of Pythias of which he was a distinguished member.(The
Biloxi Herald, April 23, 1892, p. 4)
After
her husbands demise, Mrs. Frye continued to operate the Ocean
Springs Hotel. She had an excellent reputation along the Coast for
running a first class operation. In May 1892, Mrs. Frye ran the
following advertisement in The New Orleans Daily Picayune:
EXCURSION TO THE OCEAN SPRINGS HOTEL
MRS. J. FRYE
Celebrated Dinner $.75
Bath and Towel Included
Board for Families
FISH & OYSTERS
This
advertisement indicates the Ocean Springs Hotel was catering to the
day tripper and weekend guest from New Orleans. The L&N ran an
excursion train on weekends to provide daily service for those who
wanted to escape the City for a day or two. One train, the "Coast
Flyer", commenced service in June 1896 and made the jaunt from New
Orleans in two hours and forty minutes.
To
promote business among Mississippi Gulf Coast residents Mrs. Frye
ran the following announcement in The Pascagoula Democrat-Star
on July 22, 1892, p. 4:
OCEAN SPRINGS HOTEL
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
on the beach
Mrs. J. Frye-Proprietress
Mineral waters analyzed by Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans. The
healthiest and pleasantest resort of any Southern coast. Finest
fishing, hunting, and drives. This commodious hotel has just been
refitted with hot waters, new carpets in halls and apartments, and
other modern conveniences. Families boarded at reasonable rates.
Best of accommodations for tourists, commercial travelers, and
prospectors.
Some
months after the untimely death of her husband in April 1892, Mrs.
Frye moved to Pass Christian. She returned to Ocean Springs in 1895
to open Frye's Hotel ( formerly the VanCleave) at Robinson and
Washington across from the L&N Depot. The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star reported in October 1893 that the Ocean Springs
Hotel was closed and still for rent.
Dr.
Absalom Jackson II
Dyer
reports in Along The Gulf (1895), that in June 1894,
Dr. A. Jackson (1841-1925) and his wife, Laura Scott (1844-1922),
opened the Ocean Springs Hotel. Dyer's laud of the Jacksons
follows:
They have the best accommodations for excursionists, commercial
travelers and families, and, as Ocean Springs is unsurpassed for
healthfulness, being free from epidemics, etc. it makes one of the
prettiest spots on the coast at which to pass a vacation. Guests of
the hotel can be served with mineral water from the famous marble
springs controlled by them...
Dr.
Jackson renewed his lease for another year as indicated by this line
in The Pascagoula Democrat-Star of October 11, 1895:
Dr. A. Jackson has leased that popular hostelry, the Ocean Springs
Hotel, which will continue under his excellent management for
another year.
Dr. Absalom Jackson
II
Dr. Absalom Jackson II (1842-1925), a dentist, was the son of
Absalom Jackson (1805-1870+) and Emma Boling (1810-pre-1860). He
was born on January 26, 1842 at Mayhew, Autauga County, now Elmore
County, Alabama, of which Wetumpka, near Montgomery, is the present
day county seat. Dr. Jackson arrived in Biloxi, Mississippi circa
1902. He was fond of children and was well liked in the
community. A veteran of the Civil War, Ab Jackson II served
gallantly with Company E of the 5th Alabama Infantry.(The
Daily Herald, October 28, 1925, p. 1 and Bradford-O’Keefe Burial
Bk. 14, p. 3)
Dr. Jackson married Laura Scott (1845-1922). She was born February
28, 1845 at Auburn, Alabama, the daughter of William Scott. They
had a son, Absalom Jackson III (1879-1959).( Bradford-O’Keefe Bk.
11, p. 220)
Ocean Springs
Several years before he retired to Biloxi, Dr. Absalom Jackson and
his small family resided at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, a small
resort community, on the east side of the Bay of Biloxi. Here in
June 1894, Dr. Jackson leased and managed the Ocean Springs Hotel.
Charles L. Dyer in Along The Gulf (1895), lauded The
Jacksons’ management of this resort as follows:
They have the best accommodations for excursionists, commercial
travelers and families, and, as Ocean Springs is unsurpassed for
healthfulness, being free from epidemics, etc. it makes one of the
prettiest spots on the coast at which to pass a vacation. Guests of
the hotel can be served with mineral water from the famous marble
springs controlled by them...
Dr. Ab
Jackson renewed his lease for another year as indicated by this line
in The Pascagoula Democrat-Star of October 11, 1895:
Dr. A. Jackson has leased that popular hostelry, the Ocean Springs
Hotel, which will continue under his excellent management for
another year.
In
late February 1898, Dr. W.C. Jackson, a prominent medical
practitioner at Montgomery, and a brother of Dr. Ab Jackson, visited
him at the Ocean Springs Hotel. (The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
February 25, 1898, p. 3)
After leaving the Ocean Springs Hotel, probably after the fall season of
1898, Dr. and Mrs. Jackson relocated to the Mobile area operating
the Spring Hotel in 1900.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, February
2, 1900, p. 3) This is corroborated somewhat by the fact that
in November 1898, Dr. Jackson’s son, Ab Jackson III, went to Mobile
employed with the YMCA as a stenographer.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, February 25, 1898, p. 3)
New management arrived at the old hostelry on Biloxi Bay, in May 1899,
when F.M. Allen of Chicago took control of the Ocean Springs Hotel.(The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star, May 26, 1899, p. 3)
Biloxi
In October 1903, Absalom Jackson II located to the
Mexican Gulf, resort town of Biloxi, Mississippi. Initially, the
Jacksons were guest of Colonel Harrison Smith Hyatt (1833-1906), a
New York native and solicitor formerly of Ocean Springs. Here he
practiced dentistry.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, November 6,
1903, p. 3)
The Election
In July 1910, Dr. Ab Jackson entered the political
arena at Biloxi. He ran to represent the people of the 2nd
Ward, as their city alderman. A local journal related the following
about Ab Jackson’s political advent:
Dr. A. Jackson is well known to the voters of Biloxi. For the
past nine years he has been a resident of the city, engaged in the
practice of his profession-dentistry. Prior to coming to Biloxi he
successfully conducted for eight years the Ocean Springs Hotel,
since destroyed by fire, and during its existence one of the largest
institutions of its kind on the Coast. Should Dr. Jackson be
elected he will no doubt prove a valuable member of that body.(The
Ocean Springs News, July 23, 1910, p. 1)
The Biloxi Democratic Party held its first primary
elections on August 22, 1910. Dr. Jackson faced E.H. Benedict and
Frank B. Castanera (1870-1934). He placed second receiving 28% of
the ballots cast, but qualified for the second primary race against
Mr. Castanera.(The Daily Herald, August 23, 1910, p. 1)
Dr. Jackson withdrew from the race, only days before the second
Democratic primary was held on August 29, 1910. He gave no
explanation for his quitting the contest against Mr. Castanera who
was declared the winner. Age could have been a factor, as Dr.
Jackson was approaching seventy years.(The Daily Herald, August
30, 1910, p. 1)
Death
Dr. Jackson and his wife both died at Biloxi in the care of their son,
Ab Jackson III (1879-1959), who resided at 124 West Beach. Laura
Scott Jackson expired on January 5, 1922. After funeral services at
her son’s residence, her corporal remains were sent via the L&N
Railroad to Auburn, Alabama for perpetual internment. At Biloxi,
Mrs. Jackson was a dedicated Methodist and attended services and
worked diligently at the Main Street Methodist Church. In addition,
she commenced the first chapter of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy at Biloxi. At the time of her demise, Dr. Jackson was
residing at Bayou La Batre, Alabama.(The Daily Herald, January 5,
1922, p. 4)
Dr. Ab Jackson followed his spouse in death on October 28, 1925. Like
his spouse, his corporal remains were sent by the L&N Railroad to
Auburn, Alabama for internment.(Bradford-O’Keefe Burial Bk. 14, p. 3
and The Daily Herald, October 28, 1925, p. 1)
His great grandson, Glenn Andrews II of Anniston,
Alabama, relates that Ab Jackson II was buried in his Confederate
States of America military uniform. Dr. Jackson vowed that if the
South lost the Civil War that he would never shave his face.
Needless to say, he died with a very long beard!(Glenn Andrews II,
August 3, 2001)
Schmidt
& Ziegler revisited
An
indication that Schmidt & Ziegler were losing interest in their
hotel property occurred in June 1896, when they sold the venerable
Marble Springs to the City of Ocean Springs for $1.00.(JXCO, Ms.
Land Deed Bk. Book 17, pp. 431-432)
The
waters of the springs analyzed prior to 1854 by Dr. J.L. Smith were
described by Dr. E.R. Bragg in 1893 as:
a mild saline-chalybeate, containing also sulphuretted hydrogen.
This rather unusual combination renders it effective in the
treatment of persistent skin and scrofulous diseases.
(Twentieth Century Coast Edition of The Daily Herald).
F.M.
Allen
New management arrived at the old hostelry in May 1899,
when F.M. Allen of Chicago took control. Allen immediately began
improvements to open the business for the summer of 1899. By early
June, the work was completed and The Pascagoula Democrat-Star
reported that "the famous hostelry has been thoroughly
renovated and presents a most inviting appearance both out and
inside."(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, May 26, 1899, p. 3
and June 2, 1899, p. 3)
In
late late June 1899, Mr. Allen ran the following advertisement:
|
OCEAN SPRINGS HOTEL
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
The largest, best, and most liberally managed hotel on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast. Accommodations unequalled.(The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star, June 30, 1899, p. 3)
|
Sale
The
sale of the Ocean Springs Hotel took place on March 19, 1901, when
the firm of Schmidt & Ziegler conveyed it to the entrepreneurial
Lundy brothers of Ocean Springs for
$6000.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 23, pp. 231-233)
The
Lundy Brothers
Franklin Jefferson Lundy (1863-1912) and Louis A. Lundy (1876-1941)
were born at Mobile, Alabama. They came to Ocean Springs with their
widowed mother in 1889. F.J. Lundy owned a mercantile store at the
southeast corner of Washington Avenue and Government. L.A. Lundy
was a pioneer in the ice and shrimp industry at Ocean Springs in the
early years of the 20th Century.
In
1901, the Lundys leased the Ocean Springs Hotel to Dr. Henry
Bradford Powell (1867-1949) of Chicago. Dr. Powell later owned a
sanitarium, the old Franco home, on Washington Avenue at Fort Bayou
where the Indian Springs were located.
Bridget E. White
By
1904, Mrs. B.E. White (1860-1943), nee Bridget Shanahan, as reported
by was in control of the venerable hostelry:
H.F. Russell (as agent) leased the Ocean Springs Hotel to Mrs. B.E.
White for the summer season, who has already taken charge. Mrs.
White needs no introduction from us, as she has been connected with
the Shanahan House for many years. She is a lady thoroughly
familiar with all the business pertaining to a hotel and will
undoubtedly do a successful business. Mrs. White thinks as we do
that the exodus from the Crescent City will be a record breaker.
(The
Progress of January 18, 1904 or June 4, 1904, p. 4)
Conflagration
Mrs.
White had a successful season and was negotiating for another lease
in May 1905, when disaster struck the Ocean Springs Hotel. After
the smoke had cleared on Jackson Avenue in the early morning of May
25, 1905, what hurricanes (1860, 1888, 1893, and 1901), the Civil
War (1861-1865), Reconstruction (1865-1877), yellow fever epidemics,
quarantines, and economic depressions had failed to do, i.e. destroy
the Ocean Springs Hotel, was accomplished by fire in a few hours.
Some tables and a piano were salvaged from the ashes and ruins.
The
old hostelry was valued at $12,000, but the Lundys only carried
$5000 worth of insurance on the structure. Dr. Powell was more
fortunate as he had fire protection valued up to $2000 for his
furniture.
About
a year after the conflagration, the Ocean Springs News beseeched
some enterprising capitalist to erect a modern hotel at Ocean
Springs. The summer of 1906 was particularly busy as all cottages
were occupied and the hotels were renting annexes. In fact, some
people contemplated pitching tents for their guests.
Owner
F.J. Lundy must not have been enthused by the newspapers suggestions
or potential for the hotel business in the town as he made plans in
early 1910 to have the Ocean Springs Hotel land platted into
fifty-foot lots and put on the market.
For
fifty two years, the Ocean Springs Hotel had been the social and
cultural focus of the city. Its management had cheerfully provided
guests and visitors from throughout the South and Midwest with such
diverse physical activities as: tenpins, croquet, billiards,
fishing, sailing, and saltwater bathing. Socially and culturally,
the hostelry provided: dances, plays, music, regattas, balls,
suppers, lounges, and newspapers, The Naiad and The
Tattler. For those guests who desired the curative properties
advertised of the sulphur and chalybeate (iron salts) spring waters,
transportation was provided to the Fort Bayou Marble Springs site by
carriage three times daily.
The
Ocean Springs Hotel was the salient catalyst in the growth and
development of Ocean Springs in its early years. Although the site
of the former structure is now long covered by cultural developments
along Jackson Avenue, its place in the history of Ocean Springs is
permanently established.
REFERENCES:
Charles L. Dyer, Along The Gulf, "Ocean Springs",
(Dixie Press: Gulfport, Mississippi-1972) Originally published 1895
by the L&N Railroad.
Regina
Hines Ellison, Ocean Springs, 1892 (2nd Edition),
(Lewis Printing Services: Pascagoula, Mississippi-1991), pp. 22, 23,
and 93.
H.
Grady Howell, To Live and Die in
Dixie,
A History of the Third Mississippi Infantry, CSA,
(Chickasaw Bayou Press: Jackson, Mississippi-1991), p. 104.
Bettie
J. Marsh, The Neaves Story, (Marsh: 1979), p. 5.
C.E.
Schmidt, Ocean Springs French Beachhead, (Lewis
Printing Services: Pascagoula, Mississippi-1972), pp. 20. 72, and
73.
Charles Sullivan, The
Mississippi Gulf Coast: Portrait of a People,
(Windsor Publications: Northridge, California-1985), pp. 41, 62,
and 63.
Charles Sullivan, Hurricanes of the Mississippi Gulf
Coast-1717 to Present, (Gulf Publishing Company-1986), p.
135.
E.M.
and Ema L. Tipton, Marriages & Obituaries From The New Orleans
Christian Advocate (1851-1860), (Tipton
Printing & Publishing Company: Bossier City, Louisiana-1980). p.
89.
Ocean Springs, Mississippi: A Look At The Beautiful Past of a
Beautiful City,
"The Winklejohn House", (Ocean Springs Junior High School 8th Grade
Enrichment Class-1983).
Patricia Ann Fenerty and Patricia White Fernandez, 1880 Census
of
New
Orleans
(Volume 1), (Padraigeen Publishing Company: New Orleans-1991), p.
132.
Journals
The
Biloxi Herald,
“Ocean
Springs”,
July 4, 1891.
The
Biloxi Herald,
“Local
Happenings”,
January 9, 1892.
The
Biloxi Herald,
"Ocean Springs", November 8, 1890.
The
Biloxi Herald,
“Frederick Frye”,
April 23, 1892.
The
Biloxi Daily Herald,
"Fire at Ocean Springs", May 25, 1905, p. 5.
The
Daily Herald,
"Laura S. Jackson Obit", January 5, 1922, p.4.
The
Daily Herald,
"Dr. A. Jackson Obit", October 28, 1925, p. 1.
The
Gulf Coast Times,
"Know Your Neighbor-Joe Lewis Schrieber", August 26, 1949.
The
New Orleans Christian Advocate,
“Ocean
Springs Hotel”,
June 29, 1859.
The
New Orleans Daily Crescent,
“Ocean Springs”, June 2, 1857, p. 1.
The
New Orleans Daily Crescent,
“Ocean Springs Hotel”, July 1, 1859.
The
New Orleans Daily Crescent,
“Ocean Springs Hotel”, May 12, 1866, p. 1, c. 2.
The
New Orleans Daily Delta,
“Sea
Shore Divertissements”,
September 21, 1853, p. 2, c. 1.
The
New Orleans Daily Delta,
“Sea
Shore Correspondence”,
August 23, 1856, p. 2, c. 3.
The
New Orleans Daily Picayune,
“Letter From Ocean Springs”, July 29, 1853, p. 1, c. 5.
The
New Orleans Daily Picayune,
“Letter From Ocean Springs”, p. 1, c. 4.
The
New Orleans Daily Picayune,
“Ocean
Springs Wharf”,
September 21, 1855, p. 2.
The
New Orleans Daily Picayune,
“Advertisements”, September 21, 1855, p. 2.
The
New Orleans Daily Picayune,
“Letter From Ocean Springs”, May 7, 1892.
The
New Orleans Daily Picayune,
"W.G. Austin, M.D. Recently Appointed Quarantine Physician at
Mississippi Station",
February 24, 1889.
The
New Orleans Times,
“Interesting Letter From the
Lake
Shore”,
May 19, 1866, p. 1, c. 1 (Auctioneer's Supplement).
The
New Orleans Times,
“Miscellaneous”,
August 6, 1867.
The
New York Herald,
March 25, 1862.
The
Ocean Springs Gazette,
March 24, 1855, p. 3, c. 6.
The
Ocean Springs News,
July 27, 1906.
The
Ocean Springs News,
August 3, 1906.
The
Ocean Springs News,
September 11, 1909, p. 1.
The
Ocean Springs News,
January 22, 1910, p. 2, c. 2.
The
Ocean Springs Record,
"Tombstone
Back Where It Belongs",
July 24, 1986, p. 1.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
June 14, 1878, p. 3, c. 3.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
August 23, 1878, p. 3, c. 3.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
September 13, 1878, p. 2, c. 6
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
November 12, 1879, p. 3, c. 4.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean
Springs Items”,
May 21, 1880.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Local
Paragraphs”,
June 18, 1880.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean
Springs Items”,
July 2, 1880.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Items”,
July 16, 1880.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“New
Advertisements”,
July 23, 1880.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Harvey Cree’s Saloon”,
August 27, 1886.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Items”
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
October 23, 1891, p. 3, c. 2.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Local News”, October 20, 1893.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Local News”, October 27, 1893.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star, August 23, 1895.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Locals”, May 26, 1899.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Locals”, June 2, 1899.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Locals”, February 2, 1900.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean
Springs Locals”,
November 6, 1903.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
May 5, 1905, p. 3, c. 5.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
May 26, 1905, p. 3, c. 5.
The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star |
By
Ray L. Bellande
