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Feb. 24, 2010
City to honor Capt. Jones
GULFPORT — City and county leaders will honor original Gulfport’s major benefactor on Friday.
The statue of Capt. Joseph T. Jones has been refurbished and replaced on its original site, overlooking the Bert Jones Yacht Basin. The site was once the front lawn of the Jones residence which served as the USO and Gulfport Community Center during World War II.
“This will be a great day for our city,” said Mayor George Schloegel. “Capt. Jones is coming back home, right where he belongs, overlooking the yacht basin named for his son.”
Doug Stewart, Captain Jones’ great-grandson, will join city and county leaders and other family descendants on Friday for a rededication ceremony at 2 p.m.
The Harrison County Board of Supervisors appropriated more than $32,000 to have the Jones statue refurbished.
“As a former Gulfport city councilman, I have a strong appreciation for the proud heritage that Capt. Jones gave our city with his vision, leadership and generosity,” said Harrison County Supervisor Kim Savant. “Following Katrina, it was an honor to safeguard and salvage the statue and to bring about its restoration.”
Capt. Jones was a pioneer oil producer in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
He was born in Philadelphia in 1842. Later, he enlisted in Company “H”, Ninety-first Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. His regiment fought its first major battle at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. Charging the infamous Stone Wall, Capt. Jones lived through the attack on a day when the Union Army lost 12,650 men. Jones later fought in at Gettysburg.
On June 2, 1864, Capt. Jones was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor. He was sent home to Philadelphia to recuperate and later be honorably discharged in September 1864.
Capt. Jones, whose summer home was on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, funded the rebirth of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad following its early bankruptcy.
He then built the Great Southern Hotel, the Great Southern Golf Course, and personally paid for the dredging of the first deep-water channel from Ship Island to the Port of Gulfport. Capt. Jones died in December 1916.
Don’t miss the Jones dedication
What: Rededication of Capt. Jones monument
Where: on the beach in front of the old library building
When: Friday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m.
Office of Public Information - rlafontaine@gulfport-ms.gov - Phone: 228-868-5782
P.O. Box 1780 Gulfport, MS 39502-1780 - FAX: 868-5800
