Gulfport

History

Two villages predated the founding of Gulfport: Mississippi City, located along the gulf, and Handsboro, founded in the 1800s along the northern bayous. Mississippi City was born out of the Mississippi City Company that was formed in 1837 to build a town to serve as the terminus for the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad. The purpose of the railroad was to transfer yellow pine for ship-based trade. While a depression led to the abandonment of the railroad, the town was nevertheless built and later made the county seat upon the creation of Harrison County in 1841. The Gulf and Ship Island Railroad company was later reorganized and selected William H. Hardy as its president. Desiring to connect the railroad from the town of Hattiesburg, which he founded, to the coast, he steered away from Mississippi City because of its lack of proximity to deep water. Because of the cost of the project, Hardy went bankrupt in 1893, and the town became a ghost town. At the time, the Gulfport port had greater ease of access than comparable ports like Mobile or New Orleans. and in March 1916, the construction of a Carnegie Library was announced by the mayor. Other impressive developments include the building of the Great Southern Hotel, the construction of an electric plant (later managed by Mississippi Power), and a streetcar line. The 1920s saw a construction boom with buildings like the Hotel Markham and the Bank of Gulfport being completed. After the war, the base was declared excess, and the city purchased most of the facilities for a new Gulfport Municipal Airport (the first airport was dedicated in 1930). In 1954, the U.S. Air Force resumed use of the facilities they still owned as Gulfport Air Force Base to train Air National Guard units. when the facilities were transferred to the…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of , of which is land and (11.40%) is water. The Gulfport Formation in Harrison County is described as barrier ridge composed of white, medium- to fine-grained sand, yellow-orange near surface. Thickness ranges from 5.0 to 9.5 m. It overlies Biloxi Formation. Age is late Pleistocene. Gulfport Formation is limited to a 1- to 3-km-wide discontinuous barrier ridge belt that borders the Gulf mainland shore. It commonly overlies Prairie Formation (alluvium) landward and Biloxi Formation (shelf deposits) near shore. The formation grades upward from poorly to moderately sorted shoreface sands to foreshore sand and dunes. The unit extends from Gulfport, MS, eastward to the mouth of the Ochlockonee River, Franklin County, Florida and was deposited during the Sangamonian. These include: * Lyman * Orange Grove * Biloxi River * Lorraine * The Reserve * Pine Hills * Bayou Bernard Industrial District * Bayou View North * The Island * Fernwood * Handsboro * College Park * Silver Ridge * Great Southern * Mississippi City * Gooden * East Park * Bayou View South * Magnolia Grove * East Beach * Broadmoor * Soria City * CBD * State Port & Jones Park * West Beach * Gaston Point * Fairgrounds * Central Gulfport * 25th Avenue Commercial * Original Gulfport * Mid-City * Brickyard Bayou * North Gulfport Industrial Center * Turkey Creek * North Gulfport * CB Base * Gulfport Heights * Forest Heights * Sports Super Complex Gulfport has a humid subtropical climate, which is strongly moderated by the Gulf of Mexico. Winters are short and generally mild; cold spells do occur, but seldom last long. Snow flurries are rare in the city, with no notable accumulation occurring most years. Summers are generally long, hot and…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Laughing Gull

  Leucophaeus atricilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,958
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,078
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,674
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,489
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,146
• Great Blue/Cocoi Heron

  Ardea herodias Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,880
• Osprey

  Pandion haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,786
• Brown Pelican

  Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  4,711

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2012-11-10
  16 km S of Dauphin Island, Alabama