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    Long Beach
    Long Beach
    Long Beach
    Ebook181 pages57 minutes

    Long Beach

    By Allisa L. Beck

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    About this ebook

    Long Beach, Mississippi, was once known as the "radish capital of America." The famous long reds were grown in the fertile soil of the area and were shipped to all points north to be served alongside drinks in beer halls. From the town's incorporation in 1905 through the 1920s, Long Beach was a hub of the truck farming industry. Along with the famous radishes, growers cultivated pear, citrus, and pecan orchards, fields of strawberries, and other produce. Nurseries that produced lilies and gladiolas also thrived. Although the truck farming boom ended, Long Beach has continued to grow, today relying on the tourists that visit the Gulf Coast for the beautiful sandy beaches and Southern hospitality. The city has been devastated by hurricanes in its long history, from the first documented hurricane of 1909 through Hurricane Katrina, but it has persevered and continues to survive. Long Beach richly deserves its motto as the "Friendly City."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 11, 2015
    ISBN9781439651230
    Long Beach
    Author

    Allisa L. Beck

    Allisa Beck is a native of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and lives in Long Beach. She has an undergraduate degree in history from the University of South Alabama and master's degrees in library science and education from the University of Southern Mississippi. In compiling photographs and stories from citizens, Beck has created an archive for the Long Beach Historical Society.

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      Book preview

      Long Beach - Allisa L. Beck

      College.

      INTRODUCTION

      Known as the Friendly City, Long Beach is situated along the Mississippi Gulf Coast between Gulfport to the east and Pass Christian to the west. Although the city is one of the youngest along the coast, the history of the area can be traced back for hundreds of years before it was incorporated in 1905. The first name given to the area that would become Long Beach was Bear Point, labeled as such on 1774 British maps. At that time, the area was settled by the Choctaw Indians, who made their home along the stream that wound its way through the area. This stream would eventually be called Bear Point Bayou. The Choctaw would have found good soil for farming, the woods full of game, and the waters of the Mississippi Sound plentiful with fish and other seafood. The offshore barrier islands also offered some protection from the damaging storms that would frequently roar in from the Gulf of Mexico.

      Long Beach went through several name changes during its history. After the original Bear Point name, it was known as the Chimneys for a time, named after the house built by the original European settlers, the Ladner family (sometimes written as L’Adner). When the John McCaughan family moved to the area, they called it Rosalie. George Scott was responsible for getting the railroad to come through the area by building the first railroad stop. In appreciation for his generosity, the town was renamed Scott’s Station. When James Thomas platted the town, Scott wanted to name the town after his wife, Harriet. However, a decision was made to name the town Long Beach after the beautiful beaches along the shore.

      As the names for Long Beach changed, so did the town itself. The photographs throughout this book show how the road along the beach went from the unpaved, one-lane, shell Beach Road to a wider Beach Boulevard and then a four-lane Highway 90. Jeff Davis Avenue also grew from a narrow lane with only one or two general stores to a bustling downtown with a center of city government as well as shops and restaurants.

      During the early 1900s, Long Beach became a truck farming center because of the rich soil along the coast. Although the Long Beach Long Red radishes were the most well known, farmers also grew other crops such as lettuce, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, and strawberries. There were also citrus groves and fruit and pecan orchards. When the Great Depression put an end to truck farming as an industry, the town then became known for the beautiful beaches and water sports that brought in tourists and summer residents.

      The threat of hurricanes has always been in the minds of those who live along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and locals accept this risk as just a part of living in the region. Nothing is known about the earliest hurricanes that struck the coast, as little to no records were kept. Later, Mississippi Gulf Coast hurricanes were documented in letters, postcards, diaries, and photographs. Some of these photographs are reprinted here, from the relatively mild 1906 hurricane to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The few photographs of Katrina’s aftermath are the only contemporary images included, because that devastating hurricane has become a major event in the history of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

      This book offers just a sampling of the stories and photographs that help to tell the story of Long Beach, Mississippi. These photographs serve not only to relate these stories, but to also to document the loss of so many historical buildings and landmarks. The photographs are arranged in chronological order when possible, and it is hoped that this book opens a small window into the rich history of Long Beach and will be appreciated and enjoyed by those who read it.

      One

      EARLY SETTLERS

      There were many families who helped settle Long Beach. They moved to the area for the rich soil in which they could grow plentiful crops and the seafood-rich waters of the Mississippi Sound, which would support their families. Some came to the area because their friends and relatives had already settled here and sent encouraging words back home. Not all who moved here were farmers. There were businessmen who helped develop the town, and there were also the summer visitors who sometimes journeyed here for a time and left, but there were many who came to visit and remained.

      Nicholas and Marianne Ladner were the first to settle in the Long Beach area. This is a modern drawing of the Chimneys, the home that they built. When Nicholas died, his widow was given title to the land, which covered much of present-day Long Beach. It became known as the Widow Ladner Claim. The house later burned, leaving only the two tall chimneys. These were used as navigational landmarks for ships entering the Mississippi Sound. The entire area became known as the Chimneys. (Courtesy of Denise Bourg.)

      Harper McCaughan was born in 1856 at the site known as Rosalie. His father, John Johnston McCaughan, had come to the area to build the first railroad. He established nearby Mississippi City before moving to the area that had been part of the original Ladner Claim, which he named Rosalie. The former Rosalie site is now the location of the Gulf Coast Campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Harper later donated much of the family’s land for educational use, and the Harper McCaughan Elementary School is named in his honor. This photograph was taken around 1918 in front of his Jeff Davis Avenue

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