The 100 Men D.B.A. Hall, built in 1922 by the One Hundred Members’ Debating Benevolent Association, became a longtime center of African American social life and entertainment in Bay St. Louis. The association, incorporated there in 1894, was part of the fraternal and benevolent organizations African Americans formed across the South after the Civil War to strengthen social, economic, and political power. Its charter said it existed to assist members when sick, bury its dead in a respectable manner, knit friendship, and give entertainments to replenish its treasury. Though its name suggested one hundred members, it was founded by twelve men, and the nature of its debates is unknown. Over the years the association sponsored many events and rented the hall to promoters who brought in blues, rhythm and blues, and jazz acts, including performers remembered by local residents such as Etta James, Big Joe Turner, Guitar Slim, Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, Ernie K-Doe, Deacon John, and Earl King. As Bay St. Louis developed as a resort community in the early decades of the twentieth century, it hosted New Orleans jazz and dance bands and local groups including the Supreme Band and bands led by Paul Maurice, August Saucier, and Harry Fairconnetue, while other local musicians and residents also contributed to the area’s musical life. After World War Two the hall became a stop on the chitlin circuit, with many acts booked out of New Orleans, and Mississippi coast bands also played there. By the 1950s many benevolent organizations’ functions had been supplanted by insurance companies, though similar groups survived in New Orleans as social aid and pleasure clubs. The Disabled American Veterans acquired the hall in the mid-1970s, and after Hurricane Katrina it was slated for demolition until Jesse and Kerrie Loya bought it in 2006, restored it, and continued its use as a nonprofit community center, venue, and live blues locale.