William H. Hardy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William H. Hardy was the founder of Hattiesburg, Mississippi and co-founder of Gulfport.
Born in Lowndes County, Alabama, entered Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee at the age of 16. He withdrew before graduating due to illness. Hardy taught school in Scott and Jasper counties in Mississippi for two terms while studying law at night. He passed the bar in 1858 and opened his own law practice in Raleigh, Mississippi. In 1860 he married Sallie Johnson who had six children for him and died in 1872.
In 1868 he became involved in a plan to build a railroad from Meridian to New Orleans. In 1870 the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad was incorporated. He later became General Counsel for the company.
Hardy moved to Meridian in 1873 to expand his practice and push the railroad, but because of he depression the railroad company folded. In the meantime he built up his practice and married Hattie Lott of Mobile, Alabama.
In 1880 he revived the railroad project and arranged financing through London bankers. While surveying the right-of-way for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad he came up with the idea of a north-south railroad from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to Jackson, Tennessee to connect with the railroad to the northwest and midwest. Where the railroads intersected, Hardy founded the town of Hattiesburg named after his wife.
Hardy assumed the presidency of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad in 1886. In January 1887 he signed a contract with the G & SI Company to build and equip a railroad from a place on the coast to Hattiesburg. A commission was formed to select the southern terminus of the railroad. On May 3, 1887 the G & SI Board of Directors approved the commissions Section "G" for the new railroad line.
The site Hardy selected for his port on the Gulf was the most neglected area on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was perfectly situated to fulfill his dream of laying the foundation of a great commercial city that would rival New Orleans and Mobile.
