The 100 Men D.B.A. Hall was once the electric center of social life and entertainment for the Black community of Bay St. Louis.
Mardi Gras balls, dances, and live music were once the lifeblood of this venue on Union Street.
“Everybody has a story about that place,” said 70-year-old Golden “Goldie” Fairconnetue, a longtime Bay St. Louis resident who practically grew up at the hall with her mother and grandmother.
Fairconnetue remembers singing, dancing, and performing skits for the parents of the community at Mardi Gras balls held at the hall.
Bay St. Louis writer Maurice Singleton, 70, also grew up in the coastal city and has strong ties to the hall.
“It was a big part of my life. I always looked forward to going there. And when we were little kids, we always wanted to be part of the Mardi Gras balls at the hall,” Singleton said.
It was a big part of my life. I always looked forward to going there. And when we were little kids, we always wanted to be part of the Mardi Gras balls at the hall.
With a history that dates to 1894, the hall has transformed from an archaic building that once sustained a community’s celebrations and milestones to a living and breathing landmark that preserves culture, interprets history, and gathers the current community.
At least that’s the aim of current owner Rachel Dangermond, who bought the building in 2018 and operates it today as a nonprofit music venue, multipurpose hall, and community space. The venue is known today as 100 Men Hall.
“At its foundation the hall is tasked with telling its story to a wider audience — a more nuanced story than you will hear about Mississippi outside of this state — it commissions mostly Black artists in performing, spoken word, written and visual arts to help tell the story of the hall to this community and beyond,” Dangermond said.
Origins
The hall was founded in 1894 by 12 civic-minded Black Bay Saint Louis residents whose goal was to “assist its members when sick, bury its dead in a respectable manner, and knit friendship.” According to the hall’s Mississippi Blues Trail marker, the group behind it dubbed their organization, The One Hundred Members’ Debating Benevolent Association. By the 1950s, the function of many benevolent organizations was supplanted by insurance companies, but some survived as social aid and pleasure clubs connected to Mardi Gras parades and balls.
Over the years, the 100 Men Hall grew to become a robust performance venue included on “the Chitlin’ Circuit,” an historic nationwide network of performance spaces that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for Black musicians, comedians, and other entertainers during the era of racial segregation, Dangermond said. Just a smattering of the musicians who stopped in Bay St. Louis to play at the hall include Irma Thomas, Fats Domino, Howlin Wolf, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Chuck Berry, and Ray Charles.
As the 50s and 60s turned into the 70s and 80s, the 100 Men Hall became less of a community gathering spot for live events. During that time, there were different owners of the building, including the Disabled American Veterans. After Hurricane Katrina, the hall was going to be razed until a couple — Jesse and Kerrie Loya — stepped in and bought it to transform it into nonprofit community center.
Just before 2018, Dangermond was a writer and investigative reporter for a Wall Street research firm.
“Things were changing and I had a young son, so I was looking for a place to live where I could also host my writer’s workshops and continue my race and equity work that I had been doing with the mayor’s office in New Orleans and the Winter Institute in Oxford,” Dangermond said.
When she first visited the hall, Dangermond she had no idea about its history or background.
“Only after moving in did I realize what this place was — and every day that story is added to — and I no longer consider myself an owner, but more the custodian of this rich history,” she said.
Support, Events, and the Arts
One of the ways the 100 Men Hall uplifts the Black community is through its membership organization, 100 WOMEN DBA. Women with a history with the hall are offered a legacy membership, and the members provide a network of support for women of color in business and awards five scholarships to young women of color who graduate from Hancock County high schools, Dangermond said.
The hall is also a cultural center where community events are held that help celebrate and elevate cultural differences, and it provides art workshops for kids.
During a summer art program that was funded by a Coast Electric Operation Round Up grant, participants made puppets, wrote a script, and filmed a production that gave the history of the area and 100 Men Hall.
Coast Electric awards the grants to charitable organizations serving Hancock, Harrison, and Pearl River counties. The grants are made possible through the cooperative’s Operation Round Up program, funded by Coast Electric members who round up their electric bills each month, said Janell Nolan, Coast Electric’s director of community development.
Donations are put into a community trust with 65% going toward grants for local charitable organizations, 25% going toward energy assistance for those in need and another 10% going to an endowment for future projects. The trust is administered by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
The 100 Men Hall also offers artist residencies for adults. Behind the hall is a small, separate living area known as The Tin Shed.
The 100 Men Hall also hosts a writer’s workshop once a month that is free to the community and lead by author Ellen Morris Prewitt. The Lava Lounge is hosted every Thursday and serves as a happy hour with a DJ for Bay Saint Louis community members and visitors.
The hall also hosts various live music events including a blues brunch, a spring reggae festival, a Day of the Dead Latin festival on Nov. 2, a Soulful Christmas event on the second Saturday in December, and BookerFest on Labor Day weekend. BookerFest is dedicated to legendary New Orleans piano player James Booker, who was raised in Bay St. Louis by his aunt.
A New Life
Dangermond said the 100 Men Hall is a living museum that tells the story of the Black community of Hancock County.
Both Fairconnetue and Singleton said they have been blown away by what Dangermond has been able to accomplish.
“It’s great what she has done here. She is teaching people about the past and reviving the place with new life and a broader mission now,” Singleton said.
“She has done a marvelous job bringing this place back to life. This is our story to tell, and nobody can tell our story better than us,” Fairconnetue said.
For more information about The 100 Men Hall, visit 100menhall.com.
