Marble Springs

Marble Springs. . , Marble Springs Park History , Sawmill Operators, James Lynch and Reverend P.P. Bowen (Tidewater Baptist Church) first discovered the mineral springs on the south bank of Old Fort Bayou in 1852 after noticing a small stream which left some mineral deposits. A sample of water was sent to New Orleans and analysis confirmed iron, sulfur and magnesia. The mineral water was believed to be therapeutic and medicinal. The tourist industry was born and the demand for hotels, inns, boarding houses and tourist homes began in the sleepy, coastal village now called Ocean Springs. Reverend Bowen constructed marble baths at the Iberville Street site, and visitors began to arrive for treatments in the medicinal waters that were known to the local Indians as "E Ca Na Cha Ha" meaning "Holy Springs". , Ocean Springs Hotel Connection , What is between Marble Springs and the Ocean Springs Hotel? , The history of the Ocean Springs Hotel commences with the discovery of the mineral springs. As commercial activity grew, it was centered about lower Jackson Avenue where the steam packets of the Morgan steamboat line began to land with frequency. And as the mineral springs grew in popularity because of their proximity 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 property, 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. Austin and the Porter family of Tennessee built the celebrated Ocean Springs Hotel in 1853 which gave its name to the newly developing resort in 1854 after previously being known as Old Biloxi, then Lynchburg Springs for only one year. Dr. Henry Bradford Powell established Powell's sanitarium-Bayou Inn on Washington Avenue at Fort Bayou. , For fifty-two years, the Ocean Springs Hotel was the social and cultural focus of the city. Its management 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 Najad and The Tattler. For those guests who desired the curative properties advertised of the sulfur and chalybeate (iron salts) spring waters, transportation was provided to the Fort Bayou Marble Springs site by carriage three times daily. , Historic Jail Cell , The old Jackson County Jail building, constructed in 1899, may have the recognition of having been in service the longest - from January 1900 to c.1949 - and was at least the third iteration on the courthouse grounds. The second jail was constructed just west of the courthouse in 1883 with cells that were eight feet square, seven feet high, and built of 4 inch chilled iron. Following several escapes blamed on the bad conditions of the building, the new jail was constructed in 1899. In March 1900, demolition of the old jail was approved. The Ocean Springs Mayor and Aldermen appealed to and received from the Jackson County Board of Supervisors the iron cage formerly used in the old county jail. While there is no documentation that the cells ended up in Ocean Springs, there is a report that the 1984-85 term of the 1699 Historical Society approved a project to reassembly the "old city jail" then located behind the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce. It is believed that the jail cells located in Marble Springs are the same one donated from the 1883 Jackson County Jail. , Historical Data Provided by Ray L. Bellande , -MS Gulf Coast National Heritage Area circa 2022, Support and funding provided by the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area.