Incorporated in 1898, Gulfport formed the southern terminus for Joseph T. Jones’s Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SI), which needed a deep-water harbor to export lumber from the inland yellow pine forests. Downtown Gulfport was laid out at the head of the railroad-funded mile-long pier and port facilities, and in 1905, Jones built an interurban trolley line, first to Biloxi and then to Pass Christian. Residential neighborhoods for whites developed east, north, and west of downtown, and African American neighborhoods grew in the areas north of the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad tracks. A WPA historian in the 1930s connected Gulfport’s high percentage of African American homeowners with the union wages earned by black stevedores and longshoremen.
In 1902 Gulfport replaced Mississippi City as the seat of Harrison County, and as it grew, it absorbed both Mississippi City and Handsboro and in 1993 annexed the rural Orange Grove and Turkey Creek communities north of the city. Gulfport’s urban core reflected its status as a commercial and industrial rather than a fishing or tourist center. The concentration of early-twentieth-century Venetian Gothic and Italian Renaissance-styled downtown buildings is significant. Hurricane Katrina’s surge of 24.5 feet at Gulfport demolished the port. Shipping containers set adrift battered the historic neighborhoods east and west of downtown, and water swept away almost all the beachfront houses. Much rebuilding has taken place, including the port facilities.
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