Long Beach, Mississippi

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of {{convert|26.9|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|1.0|km2|order=flip}}, or 3.74% is covered by water.{{Cite web| url=https://www.census.gov| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Long Beach city, Mississippi| publisher=United States Census Bureau| access-date=May 15, 2012}}

Image:Mississippi-Coast-towns-NOAA.jpg and west of Gulfport, along the Gulf of Mexico|alt=|left]]

{{US Census population

|1910= 1026

|1920= 980

|1930= 1346

|1940= 1495

|1950= 2703

|1960= 4770

|1970= 6170

|1980= 14199

|1990= 15804

|2000= 17320

|2010= 14792

|2020= 16780

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}

}}

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.[http://www.sunherald.com/181/v-print/story/100052.html Long Beach is a friendly city] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328011108/http://www.sunherald.com/181/v-print/story/100052.html |date=2008-03-28 }} The Sun-Herald. Retrieved October 17, 2007.

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.Mary Ellen Alexander. Rosalie and Radishes: A history of Long Beach, Mississippi. Hagerstown Bookbinding & Printing Co, 2001 edition[http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/mhn/may02index.html Mississippi History Newsletter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807133105/http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/mhn/may02index.html |date=2007-08-07 }} Volume 44 No. 5. May 2002. Retrieved October 17, 2007.

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.

Image:Katrina LB.JPG on the Long Beach shoreline]]

Hurricane Katrina struck the city on August 29, 2005, destroying almost all buildings within {{convert|500|m|ft|abbr=on}} of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline. {{failed verification|date=February 2017}} Many Long Beach residents were left homeless or living in water- and or wind-damaged houses. At least one person was confirmed dead.{{cite web|url=http://www.wunderground.com/education/Katrinas_surge_part11.asp|title=Katrina's Surge, Part 11|access-date=12 May 2015|publisher=The Weather Channel, LLC}}

The city of Long Beach, California, held a fund raiser to help its eponymous relative.{{cite web|url=http://www.longbeach.gov/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1381|title= Long Beach CARES: Long Beach, CA Helping Long Beach, MS|publisher= City of Long Beach, CA|access-date=12 May 2015 }} 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|date= May 2015}}

{{multiple issues|section=yes|

{{more citations needed section|date=June 2014}}

{{update section|date=October 2024}}}}

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{{cite web |title=Richard Bennett's Biography |url=https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/69948/richard-bennett |website=Project Vote Smart |access-date=14 March 2021}}
• Hale Boggs, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and House majority leader and a member of the Warren Commission{{cite book|author=United States. Congress. Memorial Addresses and Services|title=Memorial Services...: In Eulogy of Hale Boggs, Late a Representative from Louisiana. 1973|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ah8ta1SLfWAC&pg=PA25|year=1973|pages=25}}
• Ted N. Branch, retired vice admiral in the United States Navy and former Director of Naval Intelligence{{cite news |title=Rear Admiral in South Mississippi to celebrate Naval history |url=https://www.wlox.com/story/14281729/rear-admiral-comes-to-south-mississippi-to-celebrate-naval-history/ |access-date=14 March 2021 |work=WLOX |date=19 March 2011}}
• Myles Brennan, quarterback for the LSU Tigers{{cite news |title=Myles Brennan |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/image_f3e3b086-a09d-11e8-aeea-17373af5e183.html |access-date=14 March 2021 |work=The Advocate |date=7 August 2018}}
• Richie Brown, NFL player
• Nick James, former professional defensive tackle{{cite news |last1=Stephenson |first1=Creg |title=Long Beach's Nick James also enrolled at Mississippi State |url=https://www.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-sports/2012/06/long_beachs_nick_james_also_en.html |access-date=14 March 2021 |work=Gulf Live |date=2 January 2019}}
• Shea Kerry, writer/producer
• Gerald McRaney, film and television actor

{{portal|Mississippi}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.cityoflongbeachms.info/ City of Long Beach official website]

{{Harrison County, Mississippi}}

{{Mississippi}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Cities in Mississippi

Category:Cities in Harrison County, Mississippi

Category:Gulfport–Biloxi metropolitan area

Category:Populated coastal places in Mississippi