Ocean Springs Streets

A HISTORY LESSON IN THE STREETS

            If you've got a few minutes come take a stroll down the oak tree-lined avenues and streets of Old Ocean Springs, that area west of Martin Luther King Jr.-Vermont Avenue to Lovers Lane.  The history of this former village is proclaimed in its street nomenclature.  These thoroughfares have been characterized as follows:

Streets Named For  "Presidents, National Leaders, and the Colonial Period"

Washington Avenue - Named for George Washington (1732-1799), first President of the United States of America.            

Jackson Avenue - Named for Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), seventh President of the United States of America, and hero of the Battle of New Orleans (1815).  Jackson Avenue was paved from Porter to Front Beach Drive in February 1927.(The Jackson County Times, February 26, 1927)

Cleveland Avenue - Named for Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States of America.

Calhoun Avenue - Named for John Calhoun (1782-1850), vice President of the United States of America under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson (1825-1832).  Calhoun was a staunch advocate of slavery, States' rights, and nullification.

Dewey Avenue - Named for Rear Admiral George Dewey (1837-1917), hero of the Spanish American War.  Dewey is best remembered for his defeat of the Spanish fleet at Manilla in the Philippines in 1898.  Land for the creation of Dewey Avenue was purchased by the city from Joseph Bellande for $100 in May 1898.  This acquisition consisted of a thirty-five foot wide strip of land from Porter south to the A. G. Tebo property on LaFontaine.  It is believed that George E. Arndt, who was a city alderman at large, in 1895, recommended the name.  Dewey was pejoratively called "tin can alley" during the

Depression years.

General Pershing - Named for General John J. Pershing (1860-1948) who commanded the American Expeditionary Force in World War I (1917-1919).  Prior to this time, this street was known as Goos Avenue (pronounced Goose).  Goos was named for or by Daniel Goos, a merchant, who resided in Ocean Springs during the mid-19th Century.  The Ocean Springs Gazette ran the following advertisement on March 24th, 1855:

     D. Goos - dry goods and produce merchant.  Keep constantly on hand a large and well selected assortment of dry goods, groceries, tin ware, crockery, hardware, cutlery,

medicines, boots, shoes, clothing, corn, oats, flour, bacon, ropes, blocks, iron, carpenter's tools, school and blank books, saddles, bridles, trunks, etc.  The above assortment

will be sold at New Orleans prices.

     Daniel Goos owned land in the present day Alto Park area bounded by General Pershing, Kensington, and Ward.  Since Goos is a name of German origin, it came into disfavor during the days of World War I (1914-1918).  It was only logical to replace this Teutonic name with the American general from Missouri who led our forces in Europe in the Great War, General John Joseph Pershing.

Martin Luther King Junior Avenue - Named for Martin Luther King Junior (1929-1968), US clergyman and civil rights leader.  This street from Bienville Boulevard to Government Street was formerly called Vermont Avenue.  Dedication of M. L. King took place on January 13, 1991.

DeSoto - Named for Hernando DeSoto (1500-1542), Spanish explorer of the southeastern United States.  DeSoto was probably the first European to see the Mississippi River.  Desoto Avenue was built in March 1894, as evidenced by: "Desoto Avenue a new street has been graded and ditched."(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, March 23, 1894, p. 3)

Iberville Drive- Named for Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d'Iberville (1661-1706).  Ibeville was a French Canadian naval officer who established Fort Maurepas (1699-1702) at present day Ocean Springs in April 1699.

Bienville Boulevard- Named for Jean Baptiste LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville (1680-1768).  Bienville was the younger brother of d'Iberville and a French Canadian explorer who founded Mobile (1710), New Orleans (1718), and governed French Colonial Louisiana (1701-12), (1717-26), and (1733-43).

Bois Briant - Named for Pierre Dugue' de Boisbriand, French Canadian military officer, who came to this region on d'Iberville's second voyage (1700).  He served at Mobile

(1716), and at Fort de Chartres (1718) in southern Illinois.

Cherokee - Named for the second largest tribe of North American Indians, and members of the great Iroquoian language family.  The Cherokee sided with the British during

the Revolution, and as a result were forced to move west over the tragic "Trail of Tears".

Father Davion - Named for a French missionary priest (Seminary of Quebec) who worked with the Tensas and Tunica Indians.  He served as an interpreter for early French and Canadian adventurers in the gulf coast.

La Badine -Named for the La Badine, d'Iberville's flagship on his first voyage to discover the mouth of the Mississippi River (1698-1699).  The La Badine had a crew of 150 men and carried 30 guns.

La Salle - Probably named for Nicolas de La Salle who came to America on Iberville's third voyage (1701-1702) as acting commissary.  He died at La Mobile in 1710.

Le Marin - Named for the Le Marin, the companion frigate of d'Iberville's La Badine.  It was armed with approximately 30 guns and sailed with a crew of 130 men.

Le Voyageur - Named for French Canadian fur trappers and traders who explored and developed North America in their quest for fur.

Ponchartrain - Named for Louis Phelypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, who was the French Minister of Marine during d'Iberville's exploration of the Mexican Gulf Coast.  Lake Ponchartrain is named in his honor.

Ruskin - Named for John Ruskin (1819-1900) who was an English art and social critic and fine artist.  Anecdotal history says he came to Ocean Springs in 1885 after the Cotton Exposition in New Orleans to visit his friends, the Arnolds.  They honored him with a tea party beneath an oak tree, which now bears his name as well as the street.  This is a hoax, as Ruskin never visited North America during his lifetime.

Lagniappe - For you folks across Old Fort Bayou, I am including a few roads in your area:

Rose Farm Road - named for Joseph Benson Rose (died 1902), a wealthy New Yorker, who was president of the Royal Baking Powder Company.  Rose had a home called "Elk Lodge" at East Beach in Ocean Springs from 1895 to 1901.  Rose bought the 835-acre Earle Farm in March 1897.  The Rose Farm was one of the leading agricultural enterprises in the South.  Under the management of F.M. Dick (born 1857) of Ocean Springs, it featured orchards of Satsuma oranges.  The farm also grew pecans, grapefruit, grapes, figs, vegetables, cotton, oats, and hay.  There was a large fishpond and Jersey dairy herd.  George Rose of New Orleans sold the Rose farm to Colonel H.D. Money in December 1909.

Money Farm Road - named for Colonel Herman Deveaux Money.  Money was the son of Hernando Desoto Money (1839-1912) who was a lawyer, planter, soldier, Congressman (1874-1885, and 1893-1897) and U.S. Senator (1897-1911).  Colonel Money fought in Cuba (Spanish American War) with the 5th Immune Regiment.  He served as his father's secretary in Washington for ten years before settling at Biloxi circa 1905.  He later moved to the Rose Farm, which he purchased in 1909.  Money ran unsuccessfully for the 6th District Congressional seat in 1928.

Streets Named For  “Old Families and Local People”

Ames Avenue - Named for the John Ames (b. 1797), an Irish immigrant, who in 1848, homesteaded 120 acres in the SE/4 of Section 19, T7S-R8W extending south of the Evergreen Cemetery to Government.  The children of John Ames worked courageously during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878.  Eliza Ames (1851-1917), a daughter, sold land to the Catholic Church for a cemetery adjacent to the City Cemetery in 1884.  The two cemeteries were collectively called "Evergreen".

Bechtel - Named for Theodore Bechtel Sr. (1863-1931) a horticulturist from Staunton, Illinois.  Bechtel came to Ocean Springs in 1899 to work in the pecan industry.  He

purchased Mrs. Mattie Holcomb's land in east Ocean Springs  and commenced his own orchard and nursery there.  Bechtel developed the Success Pecan.

Beuhler - Family of German heritage who settled at Ocean Springs in the 1850s.

Bellande - Named for Joseph Bellande (1813-1907), French immigrant from Marseille, who married Roseline LaFauce, the granddaughter of the Widow LaFontaine, in 1842.  She inherited a 20 acre tract of land from the Front Beach to Government Street in Claim Section 37 T7S-R8W.  The present day City Hall, Public Library, Police Station, portion of Little Childrens' Park, Dewey Avenue, Bellande Cemetery, and Bellande Avenue are

located on the Bellande Strip.

Blount - Named for Johanna Smith-Blount (1830-1902), a black slave woman, who was given 40 acres of land (SW/4 of SW/4, Section 21, T7S-R8W) to use by a Virginia family called James (probably Lee Anna James) since slaves couldn't own land.  In later years, she received title to the land and legated it to her children of which she had twenty.  One

son, George W. Washington Smith, Jr. (1857-1953), became a Methodist minister.

Bowen - Probably named for the Reverend P.P. Bowen (1799-1871), a Baptist minister from South Carolina, who is credited with discovering and developing the mineral springs near Fort Bayou in 1852.  He served the Tidewater Baptist Church from 1847-1859.  Bowen died in Clarke County, Mississippi.

Cash Alley - Originally named E Ca Na Cha Hah (Holy Ground in Indian) on the Culmseig Map of 1853.  The origin of Cash Alley is obscured by the following:  It could have taken its name from Augustus Cash, an immigrant from France in the 1850s;  There was a Cadmus H. Alley (b. 1836), who lived at Ocean Springs prior to 1860.  He was a bookkeeper from Virginia who served as Clerk of Court for Jackson County and

postmaster at Scranton;  An anecdote states that the merchants who resided on the street would take only "cash" for their produce and goods.

Catchot Place - Named for Captain Antonio J. Catchot (1864-1954) who served the City of Ocean Springs as Mayor from 1917 to 1933.  Catchot was also the Superintendent of

Bridges and Buildings for the L&N Railroad.  He retired in 1947 with sixty four years of service.  Captain Catchot also served as fire chief in Ocean Springs for nearly sixty

years.  Catchot Place was formerly called Beauregard Avenue for Beauregard Ryan (1861- 1928) who once resided and owned property in the area.  A.J. Catchot lived for many years on the northeast corner of Porter and Catchot Place.

Cox Avenue - Named for George A. Cox (1812-1887) who was born at Tennessee.  Cox was an early pioneer of Ocean Springs who came here from the Delta in about 1852.  He was a merchant, large landholder, and proprietor of an early newspaper, The Ocean Springs Gazette (circa 1854).  R.A. VanCleave married Cox's stepdaughter, Eliza R. Sheppard, and moved to Ocean Springs in 1867 to join him in his business ventures.

Denny - Probably named for Walter Denny of Moss Point. Denny served as the Jackson County Clerk of Court in 1892.  The Denny Family was active in the timber, saw mill, and railroad industry in Jackson and George Counties in the 19th and

early 20th Century.

Ethel Circle - Named for Ethel Russell (1899-1957), daughter of H.F. Russell (1858-1940) and Mary Virginia Minor (1866-1910).  Ethel was the wife of A.P. "Fred" Moran (1897-1967).

Girot - Henry L. Girot, a tailor from New Orleans, who came to Ocean Springs in 1923.  Girot was an entrepreneur in the real estate and poultry industries.  He initiated land development in the Cherokee Glen area of Ocean Springs in 1926.

Halstead - named for David Wileder Halstead (1876-1933) an Iowan who settled at East Beach in the 19th Century.  Hal-stead and his sons were successful horticulturists and or-

chardists known for their fine pecans, satsumas, and grapefruit. 

Handy - I do not know the origin of this name.  Handy is a very old street.  It was here as early as 1891 as demonstrated by a plat in the Jackson County Courthouse.  It was

not named for Captain Ellis Handy (1891-1963), a native of New Orleans who settled in Ocean Springs after WW I.  Handy served in the Canadian armed forces in Europe during the Great War.  His wife, Jean More (1891-1961), was Canadian.  Handy wrote an excellent column for The Gulf Coast Times called “Know Your Neighbor” in the late 1940s.

Hanley Road-Named for Frank G. Hanley (1874-1915) and Juliet Lowe Hanley (1875-1930+), born at Key West, Florida, who acquired about 56-acres in Section 21, T7S-R8W, part of the Johanna Blount Subdivision in 1912 and 1914.  Mr. Hanley was born at New Orleans of Irish immigrant parents.  He made his livelihood in the lumber business at St. Louis.  The old Hanley Place was acquired in July 2005 by the Mississippi Coastal Plain Land Trust, when owned by Julliette Hand Vos and spouse.

Hazle - Named for Hazel May Russell, daughter of H.F. Russell.  She married Pomeroy Robinson and died during childbirth in Connecticut.

Hellmers Lane - Named for Johann Heinrich Hellmers (1841-1934), a German immigrant, who settled at New Orleans and made his fortune in commerce.  It is believed he retired to Ocean Springs in the 1920s.

Holcomb - Named for Thomas A. E. Holcomb (1831-1897) and Martha A. Holcomb (1833-1906).  Thomas Holcomb may have been a pharmacist.  He retired from business at Chicago circa 1887 and came to Ocean Springs.  The Holcombs lived on the northeast corner of Porter and Rayburn at "Hollywood", their Victorian home.  Their nursery and orchards were in the vicinity of present day Holcomb Boulevard.  Theodore Bechtel

Sr. bought the Holcomb properties in the early 1900s.

Howard - Probably named for Frank Howard of Meridian, Mississippi who bought land from Martha E. Austin in this area of Ocean Springs in August 1875. (Jackson County Deed Book 1, pp. 310-311).

     Possibly named for the philanthropic Howard Family of Biloxi and New Orleans.  Harry T. Howard (1858-1930) and Frank T. Howard (1855-1911), brothers, were born in New Orleans.  Harry was a three term Mayor of Biloxi (1889-1897).  They were both in business and gave land, parks, water wells, and schools to the people of Biloxi.

Iola Road - Named for Iola F. Davidson (1883-1963), wife of Judge O.D. Davidson (1872-1938) who served Ocean Springs as a Justice of the Peace from 1916-1938.  Mrs. Davidson was very active in the cultural and social affairs of the city.

Joseph - Named for Joseph Wieder, city plumber, by Sadie Catchot Hodges, City Clerk (1947-1954).  Formerly called Middle Avenue and Wausau.

Kotzum - Named for Joseph Kotzum (1842-1915), Czechoslovakian immigrant blacksmith and land developer, who was the first elected alderman from Ward 1 (1893-1894).  Kotzum also served on the first Evergreen Cemetery Commission and oper-

ated the city water works in 1900.

LaFontaine - Named for Louis Auguste LaFontaine (1762-c. 1817) of the French Colonial LaFontaine Family.  He owned 237 acres of land known as Claim Section 37 (T7S-R8W), which would become the developing village of Ocean Springs.  His widow, Catherine Bourgeois, was known as the Widow LaFontaine.  The Bellande Cemetery on Dewey Avenue may have been the burial ground for the LaFontaine family.

Martin – Possibly, but not probably, named for a land broker and attorney named Warwick Martin (1810-1854+) who arrived in Ocean Springs about 1845 from Pennsylvania.  His Ohio born wife, Rachel Harbaugh (1813-1850+), had three sons all born in Pennsylvania.  The Martins probably lived on the Front Beach west of the Ocean Springs Harbor (called Bayou Bauzage at this time).  Martin may have owned the Ocean Springs Hotel on Jackson Avenue in 1854.  In 1896, Mrs. Martha E. Austin proposed to the City of Ocean Springs to sell sufficient land to extend Martin Avenue to the beach.

Maginnis - Named for Arthur Ambrose Maginnis (died 1901), a textile manufacturer and entrepreneur, from New Orleans.  He built a large home on Front Beach west of the W.B. Schmidt Estate in about 1898.

McNamee - Named for Herbert McNamee (1873-1930+) and Nina Royce McNamee (1875-1930+) were residents of Chicago who acquired property at Ocean Springs in 1921.  The land they owned from 1921 to 1925 was once the W.B. Schmidt Estate, which they conveyed to David M. Davis of New Orleans.

Middle Avenue - Middle Avenue was in the "middle of the village".  It was projected on the Culmseig Map of 1854 to connect Washington Avenue and Goos Avenue (Pershing).  For some unknown reason, homes were built in its proposed path. Its eastern segment is known today as Middle while the western terminus is called Joseph Street.

Mill Circle - named for the site of a former sawmill, which operated on Fort Bayou in the 19th Century.  Parker Earle  (1831-1917), a horticulturist and entrepreneur from Vermont, owned the sawmill in 1893 when it was called the Ocean Springs Lumber Company.

Minor - Named for Hiram Minor Russell (1892-1940), son of H.F. Russell.

Moseley - Named for the Charles J. Moseley family of New Orleans who were friends and neighbors of Eula Catchot Simpson, the sister of City Clerk, Sadie Catchot Hodges .

Porter - named for a Tennessee family who resided at Ocean Springs in the 1850s.  William L. Porter and Thomas C. Porter owned Lots 2 and 3 of Claim Section 37 in 1851.  Their sister was Martha E. Austin (1818-1898), the wife of New Orleans physician, Dr. William G. Austin.  The Austins and Porters built the Ocean Springs Hotel at Jackson and Cleveland in 1853.  Porter Street appears as early as 1853 on the survey of the Lynchburg Tract by Palmer, a New Orleans surveyor. 

Ray - named for Ray Allen, a Kentucky lawyer, who settled at Ocean Springs in the 1940s.  His son, W.R. Allen, was an architect and developer.

Rayburn - Probably named for John K. Rayburn of New Orleans who owned a home and property west of the Ocean Springs Hotel from 1852 to 1866.

Rehage - named for a family of German ancestry who settled at Ocean Springs from New Orleans in the early 1900s.  The Rehages were dairy farmers in Ocean Springs for many years.  George Rehage took over the Success Dairy in 1914.

Robinson - This street appears on the Sanborn Insurance maps as early as 1893.  Probably named for D.B. Robinson, superintendent of the NO&M RR in 1878.  A black sawmill worker, Thomas Robinson (1857), lived in the area.  His family could have given the street its name.

Russell - Named for Hiram Fisher Russell (1858-1940) who served as City Alderman from Ward 1 (1895-1902).  Russell was a prominent merchant, realtor, insurance agent, and developed the Russell, a paper-shell pecan.

Schmidt - Named for W.B. Schmidt (1823-1900), a wealthy New Orleans merchant who founded Schimdt & Ziegler, Limited (1845).  The company was a wholesale grocer and importer of coffee, wines, and liquors.  Schimdt owned an estate of Front Beach (708 feet on the Front Beach and north to Cleveland).  One of his homes was the Alabama pavilion at the Cotton Exposition (1885) in New Orleans.  Schmidt dismantled the building and shipped it down the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs on a barge.  He built one of the

finest, most elaborate, and expensive estates on the entire Gulf Coast on the high bluff at Ocean Springs in the 1890s.  The Schmidt and Zeigler families owned the Ocean Springs

Hotel from about 1866 to 1901.  They sold to F.J. Lundy (1863-1912) who owned it until it burned in May 1905.

Turner - Named for Hiram A. Turner (1885-1968), who was an agent for the L&N Railroad.  Turner served as Ward 1 Alderman in the years from 1949-1953 and from 1957-1961.  He was a native of Mt. Union, Alabama.

Van Cleave - Named for Robert Adrian Van Cleave (1840-1908) first appointed Mayor of Ocean Springs (1892).  Van Cleave was a native of Hinds County.  He came to Ocean Springs in 1867 from Yazoo City with his wife, Eliza R. Sheppard (1842-1912).  Van Cleave was a merchant and opened a store on Bluff Creek, which became the town of Vancleave, Mississippi.  In the 1880s and 1890s, Van Cleave and his sons operated a large mercantile store on the east side of Washington Avenue between Robinson and Desoto.  He built the Van Cleave Hotel (1880-1920) on the southeast corner of Washington and Robinson, which became known as the Commercial Hotel in later years.  Mr. Van Cleave was also postmaster at Ocean Springs from 1872-1882.

Ward - I do not have a high degree of certitude for the origin of Ward Avenue.  The 1860 US Census for Jackson County lists a teacher, L.A. Ward (b. 1848) and Henry Ward

(b. 1800).  In the 1870s, there was a prominent Irish woman at Ocean Springs, Julia Ward (1830-1994+), who owned property on the front beach and ran a boarding house there called the Oak Cottage.  The Oak Cottage advertised as a "Family Boarding House" and was described as "a perfect gem of a place, delightfully situated, and elegant surroundings".  Mrs. Ward's daughter, Ida (1864-1906), married John Franco.  Charles W. Zeigler of New Orleans bought the Oak Cottage grounds in 1894.  He built a residence there called "Lake View".  The Mississippi Sound was often referred to as "the lake".

Weed - Named for Major F.M. Weed (1850-1926), a native of Hinesburg, Vermont. Weed was the station master and an agent for the L&N Railroad at Ocean Springs.  He served as Mayor from 1899-1910.  With Dr. O.L. Bailey, Weed was a founder of the Ocean Springs State bank in 1905.  He was its first vice-President and later served as cashier.  The Weeds formerly lived at present day 1007 Iberville.

Wulff - Named for the Wulff Family who came to Ocean Springs from New Orleans in 1928.  They purchased land on the Front Beach at the west end of the former W.B. Schmidt Estate.  The Wulff daughters, Vera Cook (1906-1992) and Bernadine (1899-1992), were nationally recognized singers and media personalities.  They performed on Broadway and worked in radio at New York City, Chicago, and New Orleans.

Street names  “originating from place names”

Church - In 1878, the Ocean Springs Baptist Church was located on the corner of Desoto and Church, thus the name, Church Street.  The church was destroyed in the Hurricane of

September 1906, and relocated to a lot donated by George W. Davis (1842-1914) at Bellande and Porter.  In the spring of 1909, Burr and Bradford built the new sanctuary for $2500.

Cove - Named for the small inlet or bay at the mouth of Fort Bayou on which it is located.

Fort - Probably named for Fort Maurepas (1699-1702), which appears to have been located on this peninsula, but on the Biloxi Bay side, not the Fort Bayou side.

Harbor - Named for the Ocean Springs Harbor, which lies east of the road.  The harbor was constructed by the Jackson County Board of Supervisors in 1934.

Lovers Lane - Formerly called Plummer Avenue for Joseph R. Plummer (1808-1872+), New England land speculator and planter, who settled on the Back Bay of Biloxi in Section 24, T7S-R9W and built a brick home there in the 1850s.  Due to its isolation and romantic setting it became known as Lover's Lane in the late 1920s.

Shearwater - Was originally called Mill Dam Road because of the tidewater operated, grain mill and dam which were located near the present site of the Ocean Springs Harbor

Bridge.  The mill was probably built by William G. Kendall (1812-1872), a lawyer and entrepreneur from Kentucky, who also owned the Biloxi Steam Brick Works at Back Bay, present day D'Iberville, Mississippi where he produced 10,000,000 bricks annually for construction at Biloxi and New Orleans in the 1850s.  The Toledano-Tullos Manor at Biloxi was built with Kendall brick.  Kendall later named the road Anola for his daughter born in 1843.  The Kendalls settled on the Front Beach east of present day Shearwater Pottery and built a home at the present site of the Hansen-Dickey Home (1905).  In the 1930s, the name was changed to Shearwater to acknowledge the Anderson Family and their contribution to the art and culture of Ocean Springs.

Vermont - Named for the native state of Frederick Mason Weed (1850-1926) and Alice Lyon Weed (1853-1928).  F.M. Weed was Mayor of Ocean Springs from 1899-1910.  The Weeds would receive maple syrup from their Vermont relatives.  They are buried at Milton, Vermont.

 Marshall Park - Freedom Field - The Little Children's Park-Ruskin Oak-Gay-Lemon Park-Seamen's Memorial