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
Mississippi Air National Guard as the
Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center. In 1965, the city annexed the original Mississippi City and Handsboro area. The most heavily damaged part of Gulfport was the waterfront areas: storm waters in Gulfport reached 21 feet, and the port of Gulfport was nearly completely destroyed. Otherwise, the downtown and inland areas received small amounts of structural damage. In 1976, the
Armed Forces Retirement Home relocated from Philadelphia to Gulfport on the land of the former
Gulf Coast Military Academy. The facility was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina but rebuilt as a much larger facility in 2010. A new county courthouse was built in 1977. In 1993, the city opened its first two casinos, and later that year in December, the city annexed north of Gulfport. This annexed land included
Turkey Creek, a historic community founded by emancipated slaves before the founding of Gulfport. In 2003, the
Dan M. Russell Jr. United States Courthouse was completed. 9,571 houses were damaged or destroyed, and the town was left with a $3 million deficit. The city received over $300 million in federal aid which it used to repair infrastructure and facilities for essential services. In 2020, on the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the
Mississippi Aquarium opened, replacing a dolphin-oriented facility destroyed by the hurricane. ==Geography==