D’Iberville and the community of St. Martin share more than a common origin: from their colonial beginnings they have been one, now separated only by an invisible county line. The first is named after Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d’Iberville, commander of the French fleet who initiated settlement of Louis XIV’s claim to the Mississippi Valley and adjacent coast of the Mexican Gulf in 1699. The latter is named for Raymond St. Martin de Pattier (or Jorquiboey), who married into the pioneer Ladnier family that homesteaded the north side of Biloxi Bay in the late 1700s and were the first landowners when the colonial era ended and the American flag was hoisted in 1811. After statehood in 1817, foreign and American emigrants arrived by ship and covered wagon. Before the Civil War, the families north of the bay included Spanish, Austrian, Italian, and their African chattel. From this frontier beginning, farmers and fishermen spawned ranching, timber, and seafood industries as well as shipbuilding and mercantile enterprises. By World War II, it was a town, and in 1988 it became a city within the core of this old frontier.
