News/Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14 , 2003

Hancock Bank celebrates Handsboro heritage, renames branch

(From left) Hancock Bank President and CEO George Schloegel, Chairman of the Board Joe Boardman, Jr., and Hancock Holding Company President Leo W. Seal, Jr. pause at the doors to Hancock Bank's newly renamed Handsboro Financial Center at Cowan Road.

GULFPORT, MS (November 14, 2003) - With several generations of area residents and Gulf Coast leaders gathered under the lush canopy of an ancient live oak, Hancock Bank executives today dedicated the company's 1014 Cowan Road branch as the Handsboro Financial Center at Cowan Road.

Renaming the facility coincided with the branch's second-anniversary celebration highlighting the heritage of the Handsboro community, an historic area of Gulfport older than the city itself. Built in late 2001, the Hancock Handsboro branch stands near the site of the old Handsboro Public School and, earlier, the Gulf Coast College, one of the many academies located in Handsboro before the twentieth century.

The oak tree, conservatively estimated to be 250-350 years old, stands on the east perimeter of the branch property and has evolved as the unofficial symbol of Hancock's Handsboro-Cowan Road office. During branch construction, Hancock consulted with arborists and invested considerable resources to protect and preserve the oak, affectionately dubbed "The Cowan Oak" by Hancock bankers.

"In the shadow of the Cowan Oak, we at Hancock Bank salute the community we serve and all the people who have made this city and the Coast great. We dedicate this branch to all of you," said Hancock Bank President and Chief Executive Officer George A. Schloegel.

Handsboro branch manager Jason Walker said the Handsboro financial center's location on Cowan Road - one of Coast's busiest north-south conduits - and close proximity to Pass Road and I-10 make the branch accessible for individuals and businesses throughout Gulfport. One of Hancock's 52 South Mississippi locations, the branch offers a comprehensive range of financial services, including traditional banking, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage services, trust, investments, insurance, and drive-up automated teller machine.

"Not only is our branch in a very old and historic section of the city, we're convenient to reach from several different major thoroughfares. We are very proud to be in this location. Many of the Coast's most prominent citizens are alumni of the Handsboro School that stood on this property," said Walker.

During the dedication, Hancock Bank Chairman Leo W. Seal, Jr., acknowledged a new portrait honoring longtime Gulfport resident Joseph F. Boardman, Jr., Hancock Holding Company's chairman of the board since 1987. Boardman, who attended the Handsboro School, joined the Hancock Bank board of directors in 1972. The portrait will hang in the Handsboro financial center.

First established as "Buena Vista" in the early 1800s, the settlement became known as "Handsborough" after the mid-1840s arrival of New York natives and brothers Miles and Sheldon Hand. The Hands established a foundry and sawmill on the north shore of Bayou Bernard and, with other early entrepreneurs, effectively launched an economic evolution of the surrounding area. Well into the early twentieth century, Handsboro prospered as a business, industrial, and agricultural hub peppered with foundries, farms, brickyards, shipyards, numerous mercantile establishments, and over the years, more than 50 mills.

As the Handsboro tax base dwindled, the community became part of Harrison County in 1916. In 1967, the City of Gulfport annexed the Handsboro area. However, Handsboro still retains a strong area identity and well-established historical prominence.

 

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
R. Paul Maxwell, AVP & Corporate Communications Manager
1.800.522.6543 (x. 85252) or
228.214.5252
paul_maxwell@hancockbank.com