Z 1962.000 Olop (Stephen) Papers

Stephen Olop served as the senior construction engineer of the United States Public Health Service, and from 1926 to 1933, he periodically oversaw the repair and maintenance of the United States Gulf Quarantine Station located on Ship Island, Mississippi.

This facility was the first national quarantine station. It was built after a severe yellow fever epidemic that caused thousands of deaths in the Mississippi Valley in 1878. Construction on the station began in 1879, and in March of 1881, it was activated. The station had three goals:

1. To diminish the danger of importation of infectious and epidemic diseases by detaining and disinfecting contaminated vessels at a distance sufficiently remote from the coast to prevent communication of diseases from those under quarantine.
2. To provide for passengers and crews of infected vessels good hospital accommodations and treatment for the sick and comfortable and isolated housing for the healthy who may have been detained for observation.
3. To provide a suitable warehouse for storing cargo while vessels were being cleaned and suitable disinfecting rooms and appliances to insure that goods, clothing, etc., were promptly and thoroughly disinfected. (Bearss, 7)

The station was originally composed of two wharves, a warehouse, a hospital, a lazaretto, and small quarters for the chief medical officer. Ships that had infectious diseases aboard; ships that had come into contact with such diseases; and ships subject to the quarantine regulations of Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi were required to dock at the station.

The facility operated on Ship Island from 1881 until 1888, at which time the United States Surgeon General transferred the Gulf Quarantine Station to North Chandeleur Island, Louisiana. The state of Mississippi took control of the Ship Island facility and continued to operate the station from 1889 until 1894. The Gulf Quarantine Station returned to Ship Island in 1894, after an October 1893 hurricane demolished the station at North Chandeleur Island and nearly destroyed the island itself. The Ship Island facility remained operational from 1894 until 1916, when the quarantine inspection of vessels was transferred to a recently constructed station in Gulfport, Mississippi. The Ship Island facility would be maintained by caretakers and would only be used when necessary for the detention and treatment of infected vessels.

In an effort to gain permanent title to the Gulf Quarantine Station property, the Public Health Service had an engineering survey made of the grounds in 1927. This survey was carried out by inspection engineer Stephen Olop. He surveyed the area and identified structures in need of repair. The improvements he suggested included painting the remaining buildings, replacing some of the pilings and decking of the wharf, and installing timber cribbing to check erosion. The necessary repairs were completed by late 1932, but Olop discovered another problem--a shoal had made the approach to the wharf so shallow that it was almost impossible to bring even a light-draft boat alongside. The United States Corps of Engineers was sent to Ship Island in June of 1933, and they dredged a channel to make the wharf more accessible.

From 1938 to 1941, the station was converted into a summer resort for officers and nurses of the Public Health Service and VIPs who wanted to vacation on the island. The practice ended with the outbreak of World War II, at which time the use of the station was given to the United States Coast Guard for patrol duty in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard occupied Ship Island until 1944, when it eliminated some beach-patrol stations. The island became a recreation area for the enlisted personnel of Keesler Air Force Base after the departure of the Coast Guard. In spite of a 1947 hurricane that almost totally destroyed ten of the remaining thirteen quarantine station buildings on the island, the military continued to use the facilities as a recreation area. The station was abandoned by Keesler Air Force Base in an effort to cut costs in 1960. Hurricane Camille destroyed all of the structures related to the quarantine station and the use of the island by the military in 1969.

This collection contains the correspondence, photographs, and maps of Stephen Olop, senior construction engineer of the United States Public Health Service, related to the repair and maintenance of the federal quarantine station located on Ship Island, Mississippi. Also included are plans for quarters for personnel at the federal quarantine station in Miami, Florida, and a 1942 letter from Olop to the Secretary of the Navy outlining Olops plan for a sound-making decoy to confuse enemy sonar.

1. Correspondence. 1916-1942; n.d. 1 folder.
2. Photographs. 1926-1933; n.d. 1 folder.
3. Maps. 1936-1939; n.d. 6 folders.