Page 33 - Hancock County Tourism ~ 2021 History

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Waveland, Mississippi
Waveland is the former western end of old Shieldsboro. It was once known as Montgomery Station and had two stops along the L&N railroad line. The first post office was built in 1875. A charter in 1888 established Waveland as a new municipality with a mayor and board of aldermen. Waveland was a haven for people from New Orleans, Natchez, and places farther north who spent weekends and summers at the “Land of the Waves.”
Wealthy New Orleans businessman Peter Hellwege loved the Gulf Coast and made his home in Waveland, choosing to commute daily by train
to his cotton and stock brokerage firm at the Cotton Exchange Building on Carondelet Street in New Orleans. He was one of the founders and the first president of Hancock Bank in Bay St. Louis,
and was instrumental in promoting Waveland by encouraging friends and associates to buy in the area and improve
Coleman Avenue, Waveland
their properties. With the booming economy from the timber, seafood, and tourism industries, he opened a branch
of Hancock Bank at Pearlington, the first branch bank on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Coleman Avenue was the town’s main business district. It was destroyed by Hurricane Camille
in 1969, rebuilt, and destroyed again in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck. A new City Hall was rebuilt on its former site, and a school built in 1930 is now home
to the Waveland Civic
Center and Ground Zero Museum. A memorial
at the foot of Coleman Avenue honors America’s veterans.
Waveland was incorporated as a city
Waveland Veterans Memorial
in 1970, and Buccaneer State Park was dedicated in 1976. Waveland is
the only city on the
Gulf Coast prohibiting commercial development on the beach.
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