Editing Kiln, Mississippi (section)

===Timber industry boom and bust===
[[File:Jordan River Lumber Company Sawmill, Kiln.jpg|thumb|right|Jourdan River Lumber Company sawmill]]
[[File:JordanRiverLumberCompanyHotel,Kiln.jpg|thumb|right|Jourdan River Lumber Company hotel]] 
[[File:AnnunciationKilnMS.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Annunciation Catholic Church, 1919]]

Kiln takes its name from the many [[kiln]]s once found in the area. These kilns served the [[timber industry]]; they produced [[naval stores]] such as [[tar]], which were shipped by schooner to New Orleans and used for caulking ships. Tar kilns had operated in the Hancock County area to produce naval stores since the days when it was part of [[British West Florida]]. During the 1840s, the Jourdan Community had a prosperous business in the production of [[charcoal]], which it also sold on the New Orleans market. By the 1880s, some inhabitants began referring to the community as "Kiln", and by 1913 the town's name was firmly established. Today, the area is referred to by locals as "the Kiln", with the "n" silent.<ref name="Early History"/>

The [[sawmill]] era began around the time of the [[American Civil War]], when a sawmill was built on the Jourdan River by Samuel L. Favre from Mobile. He also built a home on the Jourdan River in 1859. Later, this house was moved to its present location near Annunciation Catholic Church and is currently owned by one of his descendants. It is considered the oldest house in the Kiln. Francois Haas from New Orleans built a sawmill on Bayou Talla in the Kiln area. After the Civil War, Favre moved to the [[Logtown, Mississippi|Logtown]] and [[Napoleon, Mississippi|Napoleon]] areas, and the Francois Haas sawmill was operated by Elisha Haas and Timothy Herlihy. Later, the mill became known as the Herlihy and Haas Mill.<ref name="Early History"/> In the late 19th century, the Jourdan River had [[shipyard]]s, and the river provided water transportation access to the nearby [[Mississippi Gulf Coast]] ports that served the then-booming [[yellow pine]] timber industry. One shipyard on the Jourdan was operated by a man named Willie Curet, another shipyard on Bayou Talla was operated by a man named Jeremiah Haas, and Savadore Necaise operated a [[wood shingle|shingle mill]]. These family names are familiar in the area, and descendants of these men live in Hancock County today.<ref name="Kiln Kountry">{{cite book|last1=Ellis|first1=Dan|title=Kiln Kountry: Home of Brett Favre|date=August 22, 2000|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform}}</ref>{{rp|14–16}}

During the boom years, the Kiln was home to many timber mills. On December 7, 1908, the W. W. Carre Company, Ltd., from New Orleans purchased the Herlihy and Haas Mill and built a [[Track (rail transport)|railroad track]] to the northern end of Hancock County to facilitate the flow of raw lumber.<ref name="Kiln Annunciation"/> The sawmill burned in 1912, and in December of that year the logging railroad and equipment were sold to the Stern Foundry & Machinery Company of New Orleans. In January 1913, the remaining property at Kiln was sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company of [[Chicago]], and the operation was reorganized as the Jourdan River Lumber Company. The original mill was replaced in 1914 with a new mill with a cutting capacity of {{convert|150000|ft|m}} per day.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jordan River Lumber Co. |url=http://www.msrailroads.com/Jordan_River.htm |website=Mississippi Rails: Mississippi's Railroad History & Heritage |access-date=July 21, 2017}}</ref> To accommodate all of the workers at the mill, around 200 mill houses were built. A school building was also built in the area. To support the number of workers coming into the area, other businesses began to establish themselves. These local businesses included a [[company store]], a 50-room hotel with a restaurant, a small hospital with round-the-clock physician and nurse, a movie theater, and a [[Pharmacy (shop)|drug store]]. In addition, there was a [[secondary school]], several churches, and a semi-pro baseball team. According to historian Samuel Grady Thigpen, for a time the Kiln was the busiest town between [[Hattiesburg, Mississippi|Hattiesburg]] and New Orleans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thigpen |first1=Samuel Grady |title=Pearl River: Highway to Glory Land |date=1965 |publisher=Kingsport Press}}</ref>

The [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] hit the Kiln hard, combined with the depletion of the lumber supply in the area, eventually causing the loss of many of the local businesses. In February 1930, the mill cut out and was dismantled. The Kiln also lost its hotel, hospital, and railroad. The source of electricity for the town was cut off. By the mid-1930s, the Kiln had become a [[ghost town]] with no major industry. Much of the land that had been cleared for logging was grown over and once again became a forest wilderness. Many of the residents who stayed in the Kiln managed a living by [[distillation|distilling]] illegal [[whiskey]]. The production of whiskey became a big business in the Kiln after Mississippi passed a state-wide [[prohibition]] act in 1908. Being a source of sought-after [[moonshine]] during the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition Era]] and also because of its high quality and ready availability, Kiln became known as the "Moonshine Capital of the World". At the height of moonshine popularity in the late 1920s, there were at least 50 moonshine stills operating in the Kiln. Mississippi's state-wide prohibition act was not repealed until 1966.<ref name="Kiln Kountry"/>{{rp|24–27}} Despite the depression and mass emigration from the town, a few older structures remain to this day, including Annunciation Catholic Church and the original post office (later Curet's Grocery), which has since been turned into a lawnmower repair shop.