Soria City became eastern Gulfport’s African American neighborhood after developer J. R. Pratt bought and subdivided the old Soria estate in 1901. The neighborhood benefited from Gulfport’s 1920s economic boom, which lined its streets with middle-class bungalows. Most of these follow a similar plan, three bays wide and front-gabled with a full porch, which may indicate the work of a single developer. Some are finished with Craftsman details (for example 1406, 1433, and 1600 20th Street), and oral tradition indicates that these were the work of African American builder Tom White. A few one- and two-story detached commercial buildings dot 20th Street.
In 1950, the neighborhood’s 1921 school was replaced by a modernist four-classroom concrete-block structure (Milton B. E. Hill; 1823 Thornton Street), built during Mississippi’s first school Equalization effort. A larger twelve-classroom building (1959; 1906 17th Avenue) followed in a more central location during the second and longer period of the Equalization program. The Soria City Lodge (affiliated with the Prince Hall Masonic Order; pictured) was organized in 1936, and member Sam Payne built the wooden two-story gable-fronted headquarters at 1438 20th Street.