About The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920
Pascagoula, Miss. (1878-1920)

The Handsboro Democrat, The Star of Pascagoula, The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, The Pascagoula Chronicle, The Chronicle-Star and The Scranton Chronicle

French, English, and Spanish colonists first settled the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the 1700s. By the mid-nineteenth century, the area was a popular destination for the wealthy from New Orleans and Mobile fleeing summertime heat and yellow fever epidemics. The continued development of tourism helped the coastal counties recover from the Civil War. After 1870, railroads brought affluent northerners to the area's resorts. In Jackson, the easternmost county on the coast, first yellow pine lumbering, then shipbuilding, were major contributors to the economy in the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries.

Named after the local Native American people, Pascagoula, the Jackson County seat, had several Democratic papers, and most eventually merged into one title. On September 14, 1858, the first issue of the Handsboro Democrat announced the transfer of ownership of the Reformer (1854?–58) from Pizarro Kemp Mayers to Robert Fuller and John F. Slade. The new owners declared that the renamed newspaper would support states' rights over centralized federal authority. By 1872, the dogmatic Mayers was in charge again and remained the driving force behind the newspaper when the Democrat and the Star of Pascagoula (1873–78) consolidated to form the Pascagoula Democrat-Star (1878–1920). Mayers chose burgeoning Pascagoula instead of declining Handsboro as his headquarters. The die-hard Confederate used his newspaper to criticize non-Democratic Party views, leading to two attempts on his life. The Democrat-Star, with its masthead image of the Port of Pascagoula, eventually had a competing Democratic paper, the Scranton Chronicle (1897–1905). When older Pascagoula absorbed the smaller town of Scranton, the merger was reflected in the paper's new title, the Pascagoula Chronicle (1905–20); Julius S. Tomasich remained editor. The next merger came in 1920, six years after P. K. Mayers's death, when the Chronicle acquired the declining Democrat-Star to form the Chronicle-Star (1920–41). After several more name changes, the paper exists in 2023 as the daily Mississippi Press.

Published weekly, titles in the Chronicle-Star run had four pages prior to 1900, but often were longer after that date. Staunchly Democratic, they unapologetically reflected southern white attitudes toward race. At some point in its lifespan, each title served as the official journal of Jackson County, and as such, carried legal notices and official county news. Articles in the newspapers reflected coastal concerns and events. From July 1874 through August 1875 the Star of Pascagoula was so committed to the agrarian movement it employed a dedicated grange editor and devoted much space to national, state, and local Patrons of Husbandry proceedings and news. The October 6, 1893 issue of the Pascagoula Democrat-Star was devoted to storm reports after a devastating hurricane hit Pascagoula and Ocean Springs. In 1921, the paper provided extensive coverage of a fire that burned downtown Pascagoula and destroyed the Chronicle-Star printing plant and offices. With the advent of World War I, the Pascagoula Chronicle reported on the development of Pascagoula and adjacent Moss Point as a major shipbuilding center. The Chronicle-Star continued this focus when the Ingalls Shipbuilding Yard began producing a variety of military vessels for World War II.

Provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History