The Masonic Hall in

Long Beach, Mississippi Long Beach is a city located in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 15,829. Geography According to the United States Census Burea ...

, also the former home of Southern Star Lodge No. 500, F&AM and the Hancock County Bank Building, is a historic building that was designated a

Mississippi Landmark The following is a list of Mississippi Landmarks officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestow ...

in 2008. The building was built in approximately 1926 as the second branch of

Hancock Bank Hancock Whitney Corp. is a bank holding company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. It operates 237 branches in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. The bank is the official bank of the New Orleans Saints and issues the offici ...

. The building was designed by architect William T. Nolan. The bank catered to local red radish exporters. The area's red radishes became popular bar snacks in the northeastern United States and earned Long Beach the nickname as the "Radish Capital of the World." In 1931, the bank was robbed by three bandits, drawing press attention from as far away as ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The bank closed its Long Beach branch in the 1930s. In 1942, the building was purchased by members of the Southern Star Lodge No. 500 Free and Accepted Masons. The Masonic lodge used the building's second floor as a meeting hall until 1960 (when it moved to a new location) and leased the first floor as post office. The building also was used for a time as Long Beach's public library. In November 1998, the Long Beach Historical Society placed its first historical marker in front of the building, which was identified at the time as the oldest commercial building on the city's main street, Jeff Davis Avenue. In the late 1990s, the renovated building reopened as a coffee and pastry shop known as "The Old Bank," with the old built-in safe still intact. In 2001, the shop was renamed "Bankhouse Coffee" and has been operated under that name since that time by Shawn Montella. The proprietors of the coffee shop also roast their own coffees in a 1906 Royal Roaster at the shop. The coffees roasted at the site are sold commercially under the brand name "Coast Roast."

References

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External links

Photograph of the building taken March 6, 2011

Facebook page for Bankhouse Coffee including a photograph of the historic building in which Bankhouse Coffee operates
Masonic buildings completed in 1926 Former Masonic buildings in Mississippi Buildings and structures in Harrison County, Mississippi Mississippi Landmarks