Harrison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 208,621, making it the second-most populous county in Mississippi. Its county seats are Biloxi and Gulfport. The county is named after U.S. President William Henry Harrison.
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi thirteen miles east of Gulfport along US-90. The adjacent cities are both designated as seats of Harrison County. The population of Biloxi was 49,449 at the 2020 census, making it the state's fourth-largest city. It is a principal city of the Gulfport–Biloxi metropolitan area, home to 416,259 residents in 2020. The area's first European settlers were French colonists.
Gulfport is the second-largest city in U.S. state of Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport–Biloxi metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city of Gulfport had a total population of 72,926, with 416,259 residents in its metro area. The city lies along the Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, taking its name from its port on the Mississippi Sound. It is also home to the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet Seabees.
Long Beach is a city located in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 15,829.
Pass Christian, nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,307 at the 2019 census.
Moss Point is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 12,147 in 2020, a decline from the figure of 13,704 in 2010. The Moss Point Historic District and several individual buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places' Jackson County listings.
Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Biloxi and west of Gautier. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,225 at the 2000 U.S. Census. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city of Ocean Springs had a population of 17,442.
The Beauvoir estate, built in Biloxi, Mississippi, along the Gulf of Mexico, was the post-war home (1876–1889) of the former President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis. The National Park Service designated the house and plantation as a National Historic Landmark.
The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Mississippi in late August 2005, were far-reaching.
Hurricane Katrina's winds and storm surge reached the Mississippi coastline on the morning of August 29, 2005. beginning a two-day path of destruction through central Mississippi; by 10 a.m. CDT on August 29, 2005, the eye of Katrina began traveling up the entire state, only slowing from hurricane-force winds at Meridian near 7 p.m. and entering Tennessee as a tropical storm. Many coastal towns of Mississippi had already been obliterated, in a single night. Hurricane-force winds reached coastal Mississippi by 2 a.m. and lasted over 17 hours, spawning 11 tornadoes and a 28-foot (8.5 m) storm surge flooding 6–12 miles (9.7–19.3 km) inland. Many, unable to evacuate, survived by climbing to attics or rooftops, or swimming to higher buildings and trees. The worst property damage from Katrina occurred in coastal Mississippi, where all towns flooded over 90% in hours, and waves destroyed many historic buildings, with others gutted to the 3rd story. Afterward, 238 people died in Mississippi, and all counties in Mississippi were declared disaster areas, 49 for full federal assistance. Regulations were changed later for emergency centers and casinos. The emergency command centers were moved higher because all 3 coastal centers flooded at 30 ft (9.1 m) above sea level. Casinos were allowed on land rather than limited to floating casino barges as in 2005.
Biloxi Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Biloxi, Mississippi, adjacent to the Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico. The lighthouse has been maintained by female keepers for more years than any other lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1987.
Ship Island Light was a lighthouse in Mississippi near Gulfport.
A Mississippi Landmark is a building officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the state of Mississippi, and designated properties are protected from changes that may alter the property's historic character. Currently there are 890 designated landmarks in the state. Mississippi Landmarks are spread out between eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties; only Issaquena County has no such landmarks.
Antebellum architecture is the neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States, especially the Deep South, from after the birth of the United States with the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War. Antebellum architecture is especially characterized by Georgian, Neo-classical, and Greek Revival style homes and mansions. These plantation houses were built in the southern American states during roughly the thirty years before the American Civil War; approximately between the 1830s to 1860s.
Mississippi City is an unincorporated community in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community was annexed by Gulfport, Mississippi in 1965.
The Old Brick House, also known as Biloxi Garden Center, was built around 1850 as a modest family home by John Henley, a former sheriff and mayor of Biloxi. The house is situated on Back Bay in Biloxi, Mississippi. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1987. Although heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the house was restored and re-dedicated in 2011.
In 1870, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was constructed through the southernmost section of Harrison County, Mississippi, connecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A northern transportation route into south Mississippi was provided by the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad at the turn of the 20th century. These railroads provided an inexpensive means for moving passengers as well as goods, and opened south Mississippi to both industrial and recreational development. Rapidly progressing lumber and seafood industries transformed the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the 1920s, and people arrived from throughout the United States to take advantage of the economic boom. Northern tourists were attracted to the Mississippi Gulf Coast because of mild winters and cool sea breezes in summer, before the introduction of air conditioning. Besides the weather, other tourist attractions included seafood restaurants, swimming, golf, schooner races, sailing to offshore islands, and recreational fishing. During this period of economic expansion, grand hotels were constructed along the Mississippi Gulf Coast to accommodate businessmen, tourists, and transient workers. Most of these grand hotels no longer exist; and of the two structures that were still standing after the first decade of the 21st century, neither served as a lodging establishment. Together, these grand hotels represented an important era in the history of the Mississippi Gulf Coast throughout the 20th century.
The Wiggins Depot was constructed in Wiggins, Mississippi in 1910 by the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SIRR) to serve as a replacement for the company’s original depot that was destroyed by fire in January of the same year. In the later half of the 20th century, the depot was being used only for storage and had fallen into disrepair. In 1999, the depot was acquired by the City of Wiggins and was designated a Mississippi Landmark. During the first decade of the 21st century, the depot was relocated within the city and was renovated for use as office space.
Gulfport Veterans Administration Medical Center Historic District, also known as Centennial Plaza, is a 48-acre (19 ha) compound located in Gulfport, Mississippi. The facility operated as a medical center under the Veterans Administration from the 1920s until 2005, when damage from Hurricane Katrina resulted in its closure. The property was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2010 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Gulfport Army Air Field Hangar, also known as FBO Hangar and Gulfport Municipal Airport Terminal, was constructed in 1944-45 for use in training combat crews to operate the B-29 Superfortress. Located in Gulfport, Mississippi, the hangar was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011, and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2012.
