Biloxi, Mississippi

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Biloxi
Nickname : Seafood Capital of the World
Harrison County Mississippi Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Biloxi Highlighted.svg
Location in Mississippi
Basic data
Foundation : 1699
State : United States
State : Mississippi
County : Harrison County
Coordinates : 30 ° 25 ′  N , 88 ° 56 ′  W Coordinates: 30 ° 25 ′  N , 88 ° 56 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Inhabitants :
-  Metropolitan Area :		 44,054 (status: 2010)
255,383 (status: 2005)
Population density : 2,002.5 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 98.5 km 2  (approx. 38 mi 2 ) of
which 22.0 km 2  (approx. 8 mi 2 ) are land
Height : 6 m
Area code : +1 228
FIPS : 28-06220
GNIS ID : 0667173
Website : www.biloxi.ms.us
Mayor : Andrew Gilich
Mississippi-Coast-towns-NOAA.jpg
Location on the Gulf of Mexico

Biloxi (after the Indian tribe of the same name Biloxi  ) [ bɪˈlɑːksɪ ] is a city in Harrison County in the south of the US state Mississippi with 44,054 inhabitants (according to a census in 2010), who mainly work in casinos , in tourism , in the Keesler Air Force Base (KAFB) and in the fishery have. Biloxi has a size of 120.5 km², of which 98.5 km² is land and 22 km² is water.

90% of the city's 22,115 buildings were shattered by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 , killing 53 residents. Thousands of jobs were lost as a result of the destruction of hotels , motels and casinos. When Mississippi's Governor Haley Barbour came to the disaster area, he said, "Biloxi is not destroyed, Biloxi no longer exists." The city is now being rebuilt, but many properties have not been rebuilt in 2007. As a result, the population fell from 50,644 in 2000 to 44,054 (2010). This is a decrease of 13% and is close to the population of 1960. Six of the casinos have reopened by 2007.

The city of Biloxi

Beauvoir, the home of Southern President Jefferson Davis , built in 1848, before it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Biloxi is located on a peninsula on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico , but the sea is relatively shallow because of a chain of islands in front of it. The city was known for its so-called antebellum houses, which were picturesquely located on the coastal road of US Highway 90 . Beauvoir, the residence of the President of the Confederate Southern States in the American Civil War Jefferson Davis , was built in 1848. It was rebuilt until 2008 after it was destroyed by Hurricane Kathrina and opened on June 3, 2008. The master plan for the National Historic Landmark Beauvoir provides for the reconstruction of the entire historical complex with the presidential library, the military cemetery of the Confederate southern states and the historical garden by 2012. Not far from there, the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, one of the largest museum complexes in the southern states , which is under construction and designed by the architect Frank O. Gehry , was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The George Ohr Gallery Pavilion is currently partially outsourced; the exhibition in the first museum pavilions of the Gehry complex is to begin in November 2010. In addition to the Welcome Center, these are the Gallery of African American Art and the IP Casino Resort Spa Exhibitions Gallery. The remaining museum pavilions will be completed in the following years.

The liberalization of the gambling laws in Mississippi in 1992 had created twelve large casinos in Biloxi by 2005. The city was considered the gambling center of the southern USA and was a popular travel destination especially for day-trippers from neighboring states, especially from the nearby cities of New Orleans and Mobile .

The landmark of Biloxi is the lighthouse built in 1848, which stands on a traffic island in the middle of Highway 90, which was built in the 1970s. It withstood Hurricane Katrina. In neighboring Gulfport is the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport , which also supplies the city of Biloxi. Surrounded by Biloxi and the Back Bay of Biloxi is Keesler Air Force Base (KAFB), a base of the United States Air Force . The Hurricane Hunters , the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron , a unit that flies Lockheed C-130 planes into tropical storms in the Atlantic and the Caribbean and records weather data there, have been stationed here since 1993 .

Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Hurricane Katrina: devastated houses ...
... and destroyed Highway 90

The Hurricane Katrina had on August 29, 2005 h wind speed of 217 km / and caused up to nine meters high tidal wave that flooded the city Biloxi and wreaking great destruction. Only a few larger concrete buildings have remained, and they have also been badly damaged. Some of the floating casinos moored in the harbor were torn loose and thrown up to 500 meters on land by the storm, causing further destruction there.

Thousands of jobs were lost due to the destruction of most of the floating casinos, many hotels and motels, and numerous industrial plants in the city. Meanwhile, the Mississippi State House of Representatives and Senate have amended the Gambling Act to allow coastal casinos to build their buildings up to 800 feet from the water on land and no longer anchor them in the water (early October 2005).

sons and daughters of the town

In culture

Web links

Commons : Biloxi, Mississippi  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files