Soria City

Soria City was a Black town of its own before Gulfport absorbed it. Margaret Soria incorporated it in 1903, and Gulfport annexed it three years later; it ran from 18th Avenue to Bullis Avenue between 22nd Street and East Railroad Street. Residents recall stores, libraries, theaters, Masonic temples, churches, a fish house, a cosmetology school, barbershops and hotels, all within walking distance. Eric Cooper, president of the Soria City Civic Organization, says the village looked after itself and was walkable before walkable communities existed. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Biloxi Beach Wade-In Marker — 11 mi
  The beachfront parking lot beside the Biloxi Lighthouse where state markers recall the 1959 and 1960 wade-ins that opened Mississippi's public beaches to Black residents.
• Biloxi Lighthouse — 11 mi
  A cast-iron tower lit in 1848 on the Biloxi beachfront, kept by women for most of its first century and still in service after Camille and Katrina.
• Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art — 12 mi
  Frank Gehry's pavilions on the Biloxi waterfront, built around the pottery of George Ohr, the self-styled Mad Potter, and the rebuilt Pleasant Reed House.
• Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts — 13 mi
  A barrier island twelve miles off the Mississippi coast with a brick fort burned half-built in 1861, a Union prison camp, and the garrison post of the 2nd Louisiana Native Guard.

More markers nearby

• Gulfport Civil Rights Wade-In — 0.4 mi
• Old Gulfport High School — 0.6 mi
• Gulfport-Harrison County Library — 0.7 mi
• Grass Lawn — 0.9 mi