Editing Grand Bay, Alabama (section)

== History ==

According to local accounts, George Cassibry was the first person to settle in Grand Bay. He came to the area in 1853, establishing a home site near the headwaters of Franklin Creek located today near the intersection of Highway 90 and Ramsey Road.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxIbAAAAYAAJ&dq=cassibry+grand+bay+alabama&pg=RA8-PA329 |title=Southern Farm and Home: A Magazine of Agriculture, Manufactures and Domestic Economy |date=1871 |publisher=J.W. Burke |language=en}}</ref> Exploration and settlement of the area was well underway by the mid-nineteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alabama |first=Geological Survey of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GTPAAAAMAAJ&dq=grand+bay+land+company+alabama&pg=PA148 |title=Biennial Report on the Geology of Alabama |date=1858 |publisher=M.D.J. Slade |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kicoAAAAYAAJ&dq=grand+bay+lumber+alabama&pg=PA595 |title=De Bow's Review |date=1859 |publisher=J.D.B. De Bow |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the town saw brief military action as a column of troops under U.S. General [[Gordon Granger]] reached the town as a preliminary move in the siege of [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Christopher Columbus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOSHxLOy-8QC&dq=granger+grand+bay+alabama&pg=PA19 |title=History of the Campaign of Mobile: Including the Coöperative Operations of Gen. Wilson's Cavalry in Alabama |date=1889 |publisher=Van Nostrand |isbn=978-0-608-43455-1 |language=en}}</ref> In 1870 the U.S. Postal Service established a post office at a location near the center of the current community.<ref name="grandbay.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.grandbay.org/History.htm |title=Have you ever wondered how Grand Bay got its name |access-date=December 3, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007073042/http://www.grandbay.org/History.htm |archive-date=October 7, 2008 }}</ref>

Settlement began in earnest when the Grand Bay Land Company began offering ten-acre lots for sale in the early 1900s. The lots were marketed to people living in and around [[Chicago]] and other northern cities as a way to live self-sufficiently in a mild climate.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kUPAQAAIAAJ&dq=turpentine+grand+bay+alabama&pg=PA432 |title=National Magazine |date=1911 |language=en}}</ref> Supposedly, ten acres planted in pecan and [[citrus unshiu|satsuma]] trees would be enough to supply the needs of anyone.<ref name="grandbay.org"/> The timber industry also attracted many to the area. Much of the region south of Grand Bay to the coast along the [[Mississippi Sound]] was clearcut.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Roland McMillan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKTPAAAAMAAJ&dq=grand+bay+land+company+alabama&pg=PA170 |title=Economic Botany of Alabama |date=1913 |publisher=University of Alabama |language=en}}</ref>

For a time, the town flourished.<ref>{{Cite book |last=South |first=North & |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0k1t1w5vXQAC&dq=turpentine+grand+bay+alabama&pg=RA1-PA10 |title=North & South Vol. IV. No. 1. May, 1905 |date=1905 |language=en}}</ref> A weekly newspaper was published there, and telegraph service was offered to the region through an operator at Grand Bay.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Freeman |first=Abraham Clark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xg8AAAAIAAJ&dq=western+union+v.+henderson&pg=PA148 |title=The American State Reports: Containing the Cases of General Value and Authority Subsequent to Those Contained in the "American Decisions" [1760-1869] and the "American Reports" [1869-1887] Decided in the Courts of Last Resort of the Several States [1886-1911] |date=1891 |publisher=Bancroft-Whitney Company |language=en}}</ref> The town had a number of businesses including a hotel, drug store,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mILAAAAYAAJ&dq=drug+store+grand+bay+alabama&pg=PA189 |title=The Southern Reporter |date=1916 |publisher=West Publishing Company |language=en}}</ref> several general merchandise stores and a bank.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Business Entity Records {{!}} Alabama Secretary of State |url=https://arc-sos.state.al.us/cgi/corpdetail.mbr/detail?corp=749211&page=name&file= |access-date=August 23, 2023 |website=arc-sos.state.al.us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Department |first=Alabama Banking |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uwYSAAAAYAAJ&dq=statement+state+bank+of+grand+bay+alabama&pg=RA6-PA64 |title=Annual Report of the Superintendent of Banks of the State of Alabama for the Fiscal Year Ending ... |date=1912 |publisher=Brown Printing Company, state printers and binders |language=en}}</ref> However, hurricanes in 1906 and 1910, along with a severe freeze, sent many scurrying back north.<ref>Ballard, Gussie Alexander, ''Remember Our Yesterdays'', Pelican Publishing Company, New Orleans, (1960)</ref> Their efforts, however, have not gone unnoticed even today. [[Cogon grass]], a highly-invasive rhizome, first introduced to the area as packing material in satsuma trees imported from Asia, has now become a serious Southeastern agricultural problem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cogongrass.org/conference07/miller1.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=December 3, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725134115/http://www.cogongrass.org/conference07/miller1.pdf |archive-date=July 25, 2011 }}</ref>

In 1993, the old Grand Bay State Bank building became the temporary site of the El Cazador Museum, and held treasure from the ''[[El Cazador (ship)|El Cazador]]''. The area in and around the old bank building now forms the [[Grand Bay Historic District]] and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places - Alabama (AL), Mobile County |url=https://nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/al/mobile/districts.html |access-date=August 23, 2023 |website=nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com}}</ref>