NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. Name of Property historic name Moss Point Historic District other names/site number 2. Location Roughly bound by Dantzler, Davis, Griffin, Main, Payne and Weems Streets, street & number and Bellview, Ely, McInnis, Torres and Welch Avenues. _____ not for publication city or town Moss Point _____ vicinity state Mississippi code MS county Jackson code 059 zip code 39563 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property X meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: national statewide X local Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property ____meets ____does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official Date Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: _____ entered in the National Register _____ determined eligible for the National Register _____ determined not eligible for the National Register _____ removed from the National Register _____ other (explain) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service/National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Moss Point Historic District____________________________________ Jackson County, Mississippi____________________________________ Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) (Check only one box.) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing X private building(s) 236 101 buildings X public - Local X district district X public - State site site public - Federal structure structure object object 236 101 Total Name of related multiple property listing Number of contributing resources previously listed in (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) the National Register 2 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) Domestic : Single Dwelling Domestic : Single Dwelling Domestic : Multiple Dwelling Domestic : Multiple Dwelling Domestic : Institutional Housing Commerce/Trade : Restaurant Commerce/Trade : Restaurant Commerce/Trade : Business/Professional Commerce/Trade : Business/Professional Commerce/Trade : Department Store Commerce/Trade : Department Store Education : School Education : School Religion : Religious Facility Religion : Religious Facility Landscape : Natural Feature Landscape : Natural Feature Government : City Hall Government : City Hall Government : Fire Station Government : Fire Station 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) No Style foundation: Brick, Concrete Late Victorian walls: Vinyl, Wood, Asbestos, Fiber Cement, Brick, Late 19 th and Early 20 th Century Revivals Concrete Block, Metal Late 19 th and Early 20 th Century American Movements roof: Asphalt Modern Movement other: Other : Center Hall, L-Plan 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service/National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Moss Point Historic District____________________________________ Jackson County, Mississippi____________________________________ Name of Property County and State Summary The proposed Moss Point Historic District is located on the southern edge of the longleaf yellow pine belt on the banks of the Escatawpa River where it converges with the East Pascagoula River in Jackson County, an area of 710 square miles nestled in the southeastern corner of Mississippi. It consists of most of the City of Moss Point in Jackson County, which includes a range of residential, commercial and institutional buildings that reflect the community’s development from a timber outpost to a wartime hub to a small coastal community still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The district’s buildings were constructed between c.1875 to today, and they represent the gamut of popular styles and types. Most of the houses have been altered to different degrees, but most retain their physical integrity. The scale and placement of these buildings as well as their relationship to each other and to the street has undergone slight changes throughout the years, as smaller houses were built on the newly subdivided lots of larger, older residences. As a result, there is a wide mix of house and lot sizes irregularly distributed throughout the district. Block sizes are also irregular. The streets, which are all paved, maintain their original configuration except for in the commercial area around Main Street (Hwy 613), which have been widened and expanded. Sidewalks line much of the district. Bayous and natural lakes lined with hardwoods, and marshes thick with grasses and cypress stumps, reach fingers into the city, resulting in large swaths of green space. Located in a coastal area given to destructive weather events, Moss Point still retains a high level of integrity and sense of place. Narrative Description The proposed Moss Point Historic District is composed of 236 contributing, 101 non-contributing and 2 previously-listed buildings within approximately 275 acres of land that stretches 1.5 miles along the Escatawpa River and includes much of the old city. Within it, there are no cemeteries, monuments or other types of structures. Highway 613 (Main Street) cuts a wide swath through the eastern third of the district, and the gently meandering Rhodes Bayou, lined with tall grasses and small trees, does much to define its coastal character. The period of significance is 1875-1962. The two individually-listed buildings are the c.1875/c.1906 Cudabec-Gantt House at 4836 Main Street, 1 listed in 1990 and the 1906 A. F. Dantzler House at 5005 Griffin Street, 2 listed in 1987. Most of the district’s commercial buildings are located on Main Street and McInnis Avenue, although many have been removed due to street widening and straightening. However, the presence of the 1926 Moss Point Waterworks and City Hall Building at 4323 McInnis Avenue 3 as well as the eclectically-styled 1917 Blumer Building at 5017 Main Street, 4 the c.1900 Burnham Drugs Building at 5001 Main Street 5 and the 1960 Lennep Hardware Building at 4334 McInnis Avenue 6 provide continuity. There are two historic churches in the district, both west of Main Street. The oldest is Moss Point Presbyterian Church, an eclectically- styled, frame building at 3707 Dantzler Street.7 It was constructed in 1879 and remodeled in 1910; it has also undergone some later additions and renovations. The second is the 1914 Dantzler Memorial First United Methodist Church at 4912 Weems Street, 8 a brick Neo-Classical building designed by architect William Drago of New Orleans. Dantzler Street (originally Foundry Street) and Bellview Avenue are the primary thoroughfares west of Main, providing the only routes across Rhodes Bayou. For many years, the Blumer and Hand Foundry stood at the corner of Dantzler and Main, and many company houses were located on a short stretch of Dantzler between Main and Rhodes Bayou. West of the bayou, Dantzler forks to the left and continues southwest. The right fork becomes Torres Avenue. The district east of Main Street is largely residential, although there are a few commercial buildings on McInnis Avenue and Main, including the Moss Point Waterworks and City Hall Building. The houses in this area date from c.1875 to the present day. Although heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Moss Point’s location several miles inland has protected it from the severe weather many coastal communities experience. There are many extant nineteenth and early twentieth century homes. Historic neighborhoods are primarily located on quiet streets, away from busy highways. Moss Point’s growth reflects its development as a lumber manufacturing town, focusing on the area’s abundant long leaf pines. Companies frequently subdivided and sold land to others who were, more often than not, also involved in the trade. Lumbermen built homes for their families, and frequently conveyed houses to loved ones, which tightened the bonds of their community. In some cases, these homes were built before the sale of the land. Buildings were framed with cheap and abundant virgin yellow pine. Brick was restricted mostly to piers and chimneys until well into the twentieth century. Early homes built by Moss Point’s business class were frequently large and sited on spacious lots with generous setbacks. A common house type in Moss Point is the Porticoed Cottage, a side-gable house with a center hall plan, popular