Kiln (pronounced "The Kill") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States.

In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a French explorer, claimed the region for France and named it "Louisiana", in honor of King Louis XIV, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast became part of the Lower Louisiana District.

There is a record of marriage on May 11, 1745, of Jean Baptiste Nicaize to Marie Cathering Miot (Meaut) in the Wolf River area.

By the turn of the 19th century, the last full-blooded Choctaw Indians left the area for land grants in Oklahoma.

[5] In 1763, France ceded Louisiana east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris.

Tensions between the United States and Spain grew as many Americans began to move into the area.

On February 12, 1813, the United States Congress passed a statute giving President James Madison authority to occupy the area.

Tar kilns had operated in the Hancock County area to produce naval stores since the days when it was part of British West Florida.

By the 1880s, some inhabitants began referring to the community as "Kiln", and by 1913 the town's name was firmly established.

Later, this house was moved to its present location near Annunciation Catholic Church and is currently owned by one of his descendants.

Francois Haas from New Orleans built a sawmill on Bayou Talla in the Kiln area.

These family names are familiar in the area, and descendants of these men live in Hancock County today.

On December 7, 1908, the W. W. Carre Company, Ltd., from New Orleans purchased the Herlihy and Haas Mill and built a railroad track to the northern end of Hancock County to facilitate the flow of raw lumber.

[5] The sawmill burned in 1912, and in December of that year the logging railroad and equipment were sold to the Stern Foundry & Machinery Company of New Orleans.

According to historian Samuel Grady Thigpen, for a time the Kiln was the busiest town between Hattiesburg and New Orleans.

[11] The Great Depression hit the Kiln hard, combined with the depletion of the lumber supply in the area, eventually causing the loss of many of the local businesses.

The production of whiskey became a big business in the Kiln after Mississippi passed a state-wide prohibition act in 1908.

[9]: 24–27  Despite the depression and mass emigration from the town, a few older structures remain to this day, including Annunciation Catholic Church and the original post office (later Curet's Grocery), which has since been turned into a lawnmower repair shop.

One of the main reasons for the population increase in not only Kiln but the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast was the growth of the casino industry in the area.

This growth led to the establishment of several new businesses, a new post office, two new schools, and a new library in the town.

Before and during landfall, water poured into the Bay of Saint Louis, and the initial flooding occurred in low-lying areas along the Jourdan River and its tributary bayous.

Kiln was spared the worst of the damage and served as a major point for reconstruction of Bay Saint Louis and Waveland afterwards.