The Coast Beacon Archive

During the 1830s, the small Mississippi coastal village of Pass Christian became a resort attracting wealthy New Orleanians escaping summer heat and yellow fever epidemics. By the late 19th century, the town also had oyster canning factories, and sheep and cattle raising and truck-farming were carried out in nearby rural parts of Harrison County.

The Coast Beacon, also known as the Beacon, was a four-page, Democratic weekly published in Pass Christian each Saturday. According to George P. Rowell and Company's American Newspaper Directory, the Beacon was established in 1881. Throughout its run, it proclaimed itself to be either the official paper of Harrison County, of Pass Christian, or of both. By 1895, the motto "The Press, the Mightiest of Means, on which the Arms of Progress Leans" appeared on the masthead. Emile J. Adam was associated with the Beacon for many years; he was editor and co-publisher by May 1895 and continued with the paper until at least 1912.

Early issues of the Beacon focused on general interest items; later issues on national news. There was good local coverage throughout, including county politics, town council meeting minutes, legal notices, some marriages and obituaries, advertisements, and social news for Pass Christian and sometimes the surrounding communities. Early issues also included county and city business directories.

It is not clear when the Coast Beacon ceased to exist. A successor, the Pass Christian Tarpon and Coast Beacon in 1936 credited two papers in its masthead: "Beacon est 1881" and "Tarpon est 1926." In 1938, its name was shortened to the Pass Christian Tarpon-Beacon which was still being published as late as 1990.