Editing Long Beach, Mississippi (section)

== History ==

===The early 1900s===
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.

=== "The Radish Capital of the World" ===
Long Beach's early economy was based largely upon [[radish]]es.  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.<ref name="friendly">[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.</ref>

A productive [[Market garden|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.<ref>Mary Ellen Alexander. ''Rosalie and Radishes: A history of Long Beach, Mississippi''. Hagerstown Bookbinding & Printing Co, 2001 edition</ref><ref>[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.</ref>

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.<ref name="friendly"/>

=== Hurricane Katrina ===
[[Image:Katrina LB.JPG|thumb| The impact of [[Hurricane Katrina]] 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

The city of [[Long Beach, California]], held a fund raiser to help its eponymous relative.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>  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}}