Bay St. Louis City Hall is located at 688 Highway 90, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520.
Phone: 228-466-8951.
Bay St. Louis [†] lies fifteen miles west of Gulfport and fifty-two miles east of New Orleans. Situated at the junction of St. Louis Bay and the Mississippi Sound, the city is bounded on three sides by water. Lying within the coastal-meadows section of the state, the soil surface in Bay St. Louis is sandy and relatively flat (altitude 21 feet), with a slight slope upward toward the interior. The climate is temperate but the area is subject to hurricanes between June and November.
Particularly noteworthy are its large beach residences articulated in a variety of styles and its outstanding collection of vernacular Creole and straight-thru cottages.
The town's discovery date of 1699 ranks Bay St. Louis with Biloxi and Ocean Springs as one of the earliest towns on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and indeed in the United States. The Spanish Customs House, ca. 1790, is one of the few examples of architecture representing the short period between 1779 and 1798 when the area was under Spanish control. A naval battle of some military importance was fought off the shore of the town in December, 1814, providing valuable time for Gen. Andrew Jackson to prepare forces for the defense of New Orleans.
† Adele Gramer, Architectural Historian, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Bay St. Louis Multiple Resource Area, nomination document, 1980, Narional Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.