Live Local: Vieux Marche and the Eistetter Building

December 10, 2020

WXXV Staff,

Lace up your shoes and take a stroll with News 25’s Lorraine Weiskopf in today’s edition of Live Local, a series you can catch here on News 25 on Thursdays.

Today, we take you to stop numbers 13 and 14 of the Biloxi Walking Tour with Biloxi Library Historian Jane Shambra.

Vieux Marche is a segment of Biloxi’s earliest thoroughfare. “It was actually part of a roadway that was on a map in 1855. It was the only east-west roadway along the Biloxi Peninsula.”

The roadway connected Pass Christian and Point Cadet Road. Later named Howard Avenue after a prominent Biloxi family, this was the heart of downtown and featured numerous department stores, banks, theaters, and two-way traffic.

In the early 1970s, the thoroughfare was renamed Vieux Marche, which means ‘Old Market.’ The area was also converted into a walkable mall. “A few years ago, Mayor Gilich decided we needed to make Biloxi the way it used to be so they put bricks back on the street and they have two-way traffic. I can tell you there’s a lot of traffic going through.”

Since Hurricane Katrina, public and private efforts have begun working in concert toward the preservation-based redevelopment of the historic downtown area.

Sitting on the Vieux Marche is another piece of old Biloxi nostalgia, the Eistetter Building. “It looks pretty much the same as it always has, quite a bit of history involved, a little bit of gambling, a big hangout spot in the 50s and 60s.”

One of its most distinguishing features it is cupola. “You can tell from all the pictures in Biloxi what direction you’re looking in and where you’re at on the street because it stands out on the street, it’s very unusual.”

What’s even more interesting is where the staircase besides the building leads to. “Rumor has it that these were the stairs to get into that hidden gambling place in the Eistetter Building.”

Live Local is made possible through the support of the Biloxi Library System. Tune in next Thursday as News 25 continues highlight stops along the walking tour.