Long Beach Historical Society celebrates Long Beach birthday, launches Facebook page

By Toni Miles

The city of Long Beach hit a historic milestone – celebrating its 120^th birthday on August 10 – while the city’s historic “record-keepers,” the Long Beach Historical Society, arrived on the social media scene, launching its own Facebook page and newsletter.

The Long Beach Historical Society, headed up by former Long Beach Mayor Billy Skellie, who currently serves as president, organized a self-guided tour for locals and visitors alike on Sunday, August 10, exactly one hundred and twenty years from the date Long Beach was officially founded.

Taken in 2024, this photo shows the descendants of W.J. Quarles, one of the founders of Long Beach, standing in front of historic Greenvale, also known as the “Quarles House.” Greenvale was one of several stops on the Long Beach Historical Society’s self-guided tour celebrating Long Beach’s 120th birthday as a City on August 10. (Photo Credit: Special to Long Beach Breeze)

The celebratory tour included historic sites such as the Quarles House (Greenvale), the Bankhouse and the iconic Friendship Oak located on the grounds of the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast campus in Long Beach.

Just before the self-guided tour, local historian Paul Jermyn took residents and history lovers on a journey, sharing accounts of Long Beach’s rich history, featuring rare photos, stories and insights.

The Long Beach Historical Society has launched a new Facebook page. A recent post includes printables for a self-guided walking tour of historical Long Beach.

To get the word out about Germyn’s presentation, the tour and now other upcoming events, the Long Beach Historical Society has turned to technology, launching the Long Beach Historical Society Facebook page to give residents and history enthusiasts a heads up and information about planned events, activities and projects celebrating the city’s rich heritage.

Among these upcoming events is the return of the Cemetery Historical Walk Tour, scheduled for Thursday, September 18, at 5 p.m. at the Long Beach City Cemetery on Girard Avenue. Re-enactors will bring history to life on a guided tour, which will include narratives about notable residents and the city’s past. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

The new Facebook page will also be used to display rare photos, stories and insights, bringing Long Beach’s storied history back to life.

Members of the Long Beach Historical Society encourage everyone to check out and join their new Facebook page, as well as their website – LBHistoricalSoceity.com – to learn more about the city’s history, to view vintage photos and to read stories about the very people who settled the roots of the Friendly City and built the foundation of the community Long Beach has evolved to today.

The Long Beach Historical Society aims to unite individuals interested in the history of Long Beach and coordinate efforts to preserve and document this history for future generations. It also serves to discover, collect and publish materials that help establish or illustrate the history of Long Beach and its surrounding area, as well as has a commitment to preserve these materials and assist in making them accessible to anyone wishing to examine or study them through local libraries and organizations. The Society also works with local officials to ensure the preservation and accessibility of the City’s records and archives.

Furthermore, the Long Beach Historical Society will collaborate with the Mississippi Historical Society and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to collect and preserve materials of statewide significance, ensuring they are accessible for research and study.

Current officers of the Historical Society are President Billy Skellie, Vice President Courtney Welsh, Secretary Allisa Beck and Treasurer Eddie Ware. Board members include Lucius Marks, Bernie Parker, Dannie Hanson and Tina Dahl.

Membership in the Historical Society is available for $15 for an individual, $20 for a family, and $5 for K-12 students. Both printable and digital membership forms are available on the group’s website at LBHistoricalSociety.com.

The group meets on the third Monday of each quarter at 6 p.m. at the Beth Hansen History House at 645 Klondyke Road, except in January, when a lunch meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Membership is not required to attend a meeting.