Long Beach, Mississippi

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.4 square miles (26.9 km²), of which 0.39 square miles (1.0 km²), or 3.74% is covered by water.^[4]

 

As of the 2020 United States census, 16,780 people, 6,545 households, and 4,243 families were residing in the city.

The city of Long Beach is served by the Long Beach School District, which operates five campuses and has an enrollment around 2,700 students. These campuses are Long Beach High School, Long Beach Middle School, Reeves Elementary School, Quarles Elementary School, and Harper McCaughan Elementary School, rebuilt in a new location after the previous school was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast campus is located in Long Beach on East Beach Boulevard. Through the 52-acre beachfront campus in Long Beach, Mississippi, USM serves as the only four-year public institution located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 50 distinct academic fields. The Gulf Park campus is also home to the state’s only bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering and the only film studies pathway offered at a public institution in the state.

Long Beach began as an agricultural town, based around its radish industry, but on August 10, 1905, Long Beach incorporated and became another city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As the years went on, the city moved from its agricultural heritage and moved toward tourism with the beach becoming increasingly popular.

Long Beach's early economy was based largely upon radishes. Logging initially drove the local economy, but when the area's virgin yellow pine forests became depleted, row crops were planted on the newly cleared land.^[7]

A productive truck farming town in the early 20th century, citizens of Long Beach proclaimed the city to be the "Radish Capital of the World". The city was especially known for its cultivation of the Long Red radish variety, a favorite beer hall staple in the northern US at the time. In 1921, a bumper crop resulted in the shipment of over 300 trainloads of Long Beach's Long Red radishes to northern states.^[8][9]

Eventually, the Long Red radishes for which Long Beach was known fell into disfavor, and the rise of the common button radish caused a dramatic decline in the cultivation of this crop in the area.^[7]

 

Hurricane Katrina struck the city on August 29, 2005, destroying almost all buildings within 500 m (1,600 ft) of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline. ^{[failed verification]} Many Long Beach residents were left homeless or living in water- and or wind-damaged houses. At least one person was confirmed dead.^[10]

The city of Long Beach, California, held a fund raiser to help its eponymous relative.^[11] The city of Peoria, Arizona, adopted Long Beach and provided both public and private resources. This resulted in a close relationship between the two communities.^{[citation needed]}

Today, the city is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Residents are returning as beaches and condominiums in the area are being repaired, but the city has not seen a return of business to pre-Katrina levels due in part to building codes on the beach established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and to the economic downturn.

• Richard Bennett, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives^[12]
• Hale Boggs, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and House majority leader and a member of the Warren Commission^[13]
• Ted N. Branch, retired vice admiral in the United States Navy and former Director of Naval Intelligence^[14]
• Myles Brennan, quarterback for the LSU Tigers^[15]
• Richie Brown, NFL player
• Nick James, former professional defensive tackle^[16]
• Shea Kerry, writer/producer
• Gerald McRaney, film and television actor

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Long Beach, Mississippi.

• City of Long Beach official website