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History of D'Iberville
In February, 1699, Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d'Iberville anchored off the Mississippi Coast in three large ships, with 200 French, Canadian, and West Indies settlers and a contingent of 50 French marines, at what they called "Ship Island."
A Canadian naval hero, Iberville had been charged by France's King Louis XIV with completing the failed final mission of the explorer LaSalle to find the Gulf outlet of the Mississippi River and to establish French footholds-colonial settlements and outposts-throughout the lower Mississippi Valley.
Tides and weather permitting, Iberville took a small landing party onto the coastal mainland and made fast friends with the natives. They assisted him in finding the mouth of the river. This first task completed, he built a small fortress, which he named "Maurepas" for the family name of Count Ponchartrian, the French Minister of Marine. At the fort, he then laid plans for settlement and ultimate French colonization of the region as part of "New France." He named the vast areas he sought to colonize "Louisiana" after the "Sun King" Louis.
While it is now generally agreed that Ft. Maurepas was located in nearby Ocean Springs, scholars dispute where the original French settlements named "Biloxey" after the local indian tribe, was located in Biloxi, Ocean Springs or D'Iberville. Regardless, anthropological evidence indicates that some form of settlement or outpost was established to some extent in all three areas. "Old Biloxey" served as the first capital and base of colonization of the entire Gulf South, including the subsequent establishment of settlements which became Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Jackson, Natchez, Montgomery, and what is now much of the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
While the legendary Iberville was generally credited as a founder and thus, is the namesake of the community, his brother Sauvoie and Bienville and their french followers were unable to sustain a continuous settlement here. It was the Spanish who had the most influence on D'Iberville's early development and permanence as a settlement. French colonists, used to a more civilized environment, found the harsh wilderness here difficult to endure. By the mid 18th century, with disease, pestilence, and skirmishes with the English, Spanish, and hostile Indians, few French families remained.
As a result of its losses to the English in the French and Indian wars, France ceded most of its North American holdings to England, with one notable exception-The Louisiana parishes east of the Mississippi, the coastal regions of Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle were given to Spain.
Collectively known as West Florida, the territory was ruled by a Spanish governor in Pensacola. By 1770, only five of the original French families had remained in the present day Biloxi-D'Iberville-Ocean Springs area. Some of these relocated to the now larger communities of Mobile or New Orleans. Concerned about their holdings in the central part of West Florida, Spanish authorities sent a small contingent here to occupy and govern the area. Led by a garrison soldier named Juan de la Cuevas, the area began to flourish, attracting quite a few Spanish families over the next several decades. This Spanish occupation explains the preponderance of Spanish surnames found among some of the oldest surviving families in D'Iberville: Diaz, Rodriguez, Guiterrez, and Santa Cruz.
By the early 1800's, Spain had lost most of its claims east of the Mississippi, but its influence continued. Many Americans moved into the Gulf Coast territory. By the 1840's Biloxi and Pass Christian and other coastal towns were touting themselves as a welcome refuge from the disease and urban ills of the larger cities. The D'Iberville enclave of small communities, with vast natural resources, saw opportunities for providing the materials needed to support the growth of these resorts. Timber and its by-products, vegetable farms, fruit and nut orchards, sawmills, brickyards, and boat builders brought prosperity to the area. By 1860, the D'Iberville area had a population of around 500.
Progress was cut short by the War Between the States when most of the men went off to war. The entire Gulf Coast was suppressed for two decades until conditions improved in the 1880's. By the turn of the century, D'Iberville had grown into a town of over 1,000 people. The town's economic and agricultural base continued to sustain the community even through World War I and the Great Depression. Seafood, lumber, and produce continued to be the town's mainstay.
World War II brought the construction of Keesler Air Force Base. With base expansion, D'Iberville experienced tremendous growth with new subdivisions and shopping centers well into the 1970's.
D'Iberville has always maintained their own independent pioneer spirit, viewing their community as having its own strong identity. In 1988, D'Iberville officially became a city-an incorporated municipality of the State of Mississippi. It is fitting that this momentous occasion occurred on February 13th, almost three centuries to the day that Iberville landed in the area.
*story submitted by Boy Scout Troop 212
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