The Original 1912 Bandstand Moved Back Home To Marshall Park In 1989

The Original 1912 Bandstand Moved Back Home To Marshall Park In 1989. . , At the center of Marshall Park is the original 1912 covered wooden bandstand, where in early years The Ocean Springs Brass Band would perform Sunday afternoon public concerts under the leadership of Director Theodore J. Ames. , Sometime in the late 1920s the bandstand was relocated to a spot on Old Fort Bayou at the Bayou Inn, which is now Aunt Jenny's Restaurant on North Washington Avenue. During a critical housing shortage along the Coast during World War II, the octagon-shaped enclosed bandstand became home to a young naval aviator named Harry Arnold, his wife and four year old son. Arnold paid about $28 a month in rent. , In 1974, well-known Ocean Springs resident Eleanor Bradford Lemon purchased the Marshall Park property. In 1989, the original bandstand was donated and moved down Washington Avenue, back into its place at the heart of the Park. Restoration of the bandstand and the Park began. In 1998, the Lemon Family generously donated Marshall Park to the City, naming the Historic Ocean Springs Association as stewards of the picturesque public greenspace for 40 years. , This informational sign is part of a community project led by the Historic Ocean Springs Association, and is made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area. , We thank the City of Ocean Springs for their support of this project.