Gulfport, MS (GUF)

Mississippi's second most populous city boasts the Mississippi Aquarium, white sand beaches and one of the busiest seaports on the Gulf Coast.

1419 27th Avenue
Gulfport, MS 39501

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2024): N/A
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2024): N/A

Ownerships
Routes Served
Contact
Local Community Links

Facility Ownership: City of Gulfport
Parking Lot Ownership: City of Gulfport
Platform Ownership: CSX Transportation (CSXT)
Track Ownership: CSX Transportation (CSXT)

Amtrak Mardi Gras Service

Todd Stennis
Regional Contact
governmentaffairsnol@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Located downtown about a half mile north of the Mississippi Sound, the Gulfport station provides access to key attractions in the state’s second most populous city, including the Mississippi Aquarium, white sand beaches and expansive Jones Park. Coast Transit Authority bus routes pass within a few blocks of the station.

The Amtrak station consists of a platform on the north side of the former Union Station, which opened in 1904 to serve the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) and Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SI). Built where the two railroads crossed – the L&N traveling east/west and the G&SI north/south – the one-story red brick depot takes the form of an “L”. The southern wing originally housed a baggage room and space for the Southern Express Company – indicated by the large doors that allowed workers to move carts laden with packages between trains and the depot. The other wing held a lunchroom and storage area.

Where the two wings meet at the crossing, the location of the passenger waiting rooms, the facade curves gently and features a parapet and balustrades – an elegant touch that highlights the entryway at ground level. As built, the depot had platforms serving both tracks; the overhanging roof formed deep eaves supported by large brackets that would have offered travelers protection from the sun and inclement weather.

The depot remained in active use by the L&N through April 30, 1971, when the Pan-American (Cincinnati-New Orleans) made its last run. With the start of Amtrak operations the following day, May 1, the new passenger rail service provider decided not to include this coastal route in its network map. Today, the building houses the Gulfport Museum of History.

Amtrak restored passenger rail service to Gulfport via the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service (New Orleans-Mobile, Ala.) on August 18, 2025. The service name references the long history of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, Mobile and the communities of coastal Mississippi. Amtrak operates this service under contracts with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, financial support by the City of Mobile, and with the long-time backing of the Southern Rail Commission, an interstate compact working on behalf of the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation support operating expenses for this route and are funding improvements for freight and Amtrak trains.

At New Orleans, the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service allows same-day connections in both directions daily to the famed City of New Orleans (New Orleans-Memphis-Chicago), as well as next-day connections to the Crescent  (New Orleans-Atlanta-New York) and Sunset Limited  (New Orleans-Houston-Tucson-Los Angeles).

Amtrak formerly served Gulfport via the Gulf Coast Limited (New Orleans-Mobile) from April 1984 to January 1985. The states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana funded this temporary service to promote regional tourism tied to the Louisiana World Exposition held in New Orleans. This service was later revived from June 1996 through March 1997 using state and federal funds.

The community was also served by the Sunset Limited from March 1993 until August 2005, when this Los Angeles-New Orleans train was extended east to Miami, and subsequently truncated to Orlando. Amtrak halted service east of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, which severely damaged the region’s rail infrastructure.

Mississippi was home to the Choctaw and Chickasaw peoples when the first Europeans – mainly the French – began exploring the area in the mid-17th century. The Choctaw occupied the lower two thirds of present-day Mississippi while the Chickasaw were to the north. Both peoples lived in networks of villages and pursued agriculture as well as hunting to meet their needs.

Rene-Robert, Cavalier de La Salle, claimed present-day Mississippi – and other lands drained by the Mississippi River – for France in 1682. This large territory was referred to as “Louisiana” in honor of King Louis XIV. Initial settlements were limited to areas along the Gulf of America coast and the lower Mississippi River. Fort Maurepas, the first European settlement in Mississippi, and the first capital of French Louisiana, was established at Biloxi Bay in 1699.

Defeated by Great Britain during the French and Indian War, France lost control of Louisiana in 1763. Spain gained possession of the French territory west of the Mississippi River, including New Orleans, while Britain took control of land to the east. The latter region subsequently fell under Spanish and then American control in 1795. That year, the United States and Spain signed a treaty establishing the border of Spanish Florida – which included present-day Florida and the coastal regions of Mississippi and Alabama. The treaty allowed American settlement to proceed in central Mississippi and permitted Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi Territory was organized in 1798. By 1812, when the United States annexed the coastal regions disputed by Spain, the territory had grown to include most of present-day Mississippi and Alabama. The western half became the state of Mississippi in 1817, with the east admitted as the state of Alabama two years later. The continuing dispute with Spain over the coastal areas was eventually settled under the Onís-Adams Treaty of 1819, by which Spain also ceded present-day Florida.

Advancing American settlement following the War of 1812 also led to conflict with the Choctaw and Chickasaw, who were pressured to cede their lands in central and northern Mississippi. In the 1820s, a new state law cancelled American Indian land claims and gave the state jurisdiction over those lands. This was followed by the signing of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by President Andrew Jackson. It allowed the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi River to American Indian peoples in exchange for lands within state borders.

These federal and state actions culminated in the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, in which the Choctaw gave up their remaining lands and agreed to move to what is now Oklahoma; the Chickasaw ceded their northern Mississippi lands two years later.

Development of coastal Mississippi was boosted during this time by the construction of early roads between Louisiana and Mississippi, followed by steamboat service that connected Gulf ports to one another and New Orleans. These new transportation routes spurred local industries along the coast, including timber harvesting – primarily yellow pine – and turpentine production.

On November 21, 1870, coastal communities gained regular passenger and freight rail service with the arrival of the New Orleans, Mobile & Chattanooga Railroad (NOM&C). Planned to connect New Orleans and Mobile via the coast, the railroad would be 140 miles long. Construction got underway in 1869 and took 20 months; although relatively short, the line presented the builders with a number of obstacles, including marshy terrain and rivers and bays that needed to be bridged.

Another problem was shipworms, which bored into and weakened the wood pilings that supported the track in marshy areas, requiring the NOM&C to rebuild sections of the railroad. The company soon found a solution to better preserve their wood – infusing it with creosote, which waterproofed the pilings and repelled shipworms and insects.

Once the railroad had reached New Orleans, the company signaled its intention for further westward expansion by changing its name to the New Orleans, Mobile & Texas Railway Company, but that ambition was never realized in part due to the cost of the rebuilding efforts. The railroad was purchased and subsumed into the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) in 1881.

What had once been an 18-hour trip by steamboat from New Orleans to Mobile now took just five hours by rail – making the region more accessible for travelers and business. The railroad allowed seafood such as shrimp and oysters to be canned or iced for shipment to larger cities, along with agricultural products including vegetables and pecans.

Although the railroad opened the region to further development, this part of the coast largely remained wilderness, as the soil was too sandy for large scale agriculture. To the northeast of what’s now downtown Gulfport, the small communities of Mississippi City and Handsboro were established at mid-century, primarily to take advantage of the timber trade.

Gulfport’s story unfolded due to the ambitions of two men who wanted to create a major railroad and port on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after the Civil War. William Harris Hardy first aimed to build a railroad from Meridian, Mississippi, to New Orleans. While surveying this line, he came up with the idea of another north-south railroad from the Gulf Coast up to Jackson, Mississippi, to connect with the rail network to the Midwest.

Where these two proposed railroads intersected, he founded the town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, named after his second wife. The planned north-south enterprise became the G&SI, originally chartered by the state in 1854 but abandoned during the Civil War. In 1887 Hardy made an agreement with the revived company to build the railroad from Hattiesburg to a terminus on the Gulf that he would help determine. He eventually settled on a marshy, wooded spot halfway between New Orleans and Mobile, opposite Ship Island.

The choice was strategic, as Ship Island, part of a chain of barrier islands along the coastline, then offered the only deep-water port on the Mississippi coast. Deep-water meant that larger ocean-going vessels could directly access this part of the coast. Hardy believed that the natural channel between Ship and Cat Islands could be dredged and deepened to take ships to his new port. Hardy proceeded to purchase 5,000 acres along the shoreline. In 1888, the new community took its current name – Gulfport – which well describes the reason it was established.

As the town was laid out, work continued to build the railroad northward. Young Gulfport soon boasted several sawmills, stores and a hotel – but this progress came to a halt as the G&SI faced several lawsuits that chilled investment, with railroad operations ceasing in 1892. Things worsened with a national depression the following year, and the future of the rail line – and Gulfport – remained uncertain.

A turnaround only became possible in 1895 with the arrival of Joseph Thomas Jones. A Philadelphia investor who had made his money in oil, Jones was fascinated by Hardy’s rail project. He took over the bankrupt G&SI and completed it to Jackson five years later. Before arriving on the Gulf Coast, Jones petitioned Congress to authorize a study on dredging a channel from the coast to Ship Island, with a railroad pier at Gulfport. The study concluded that the enormous cost could not be justified. Arriving on the coast on February 14, 1897, Jones began to dredge and build the port and channel himself, at great cost.

Gulfport was incorporated as a town in 1898, and in 1902 its harbor was finished and put into operation. The seaport quickly became a major player in the lumber trade. By 1906, 293 million feet of lumber was shipped from Gulfport – making it the largest lumber export city in the country. As Mississippi’s yellow pine forests were depleted over the next two decades, port operations expanded into other sectors, including cotton exports and the importation of perishable fruits like bananas.

From 1900 to 1910, Gulfport’s population exploded from 1,000 residents to 6,000 as people came in search of economic opportunity. New buildings, in a variety of architectural styles, went up. Standing north of the port area is one of downtown’s most prominent early landmarks, the G&SI Office Building. Opened in 1903, the Italian Renaissance Revival stone and stucco building housed railroad offices, the U.S. Customs collector, a post office and a telegraph company.

Like other coastal communities, Gulfport also began to attract tourists who came to enjoy the sea breezes and recreational opportunities. The year was divided into two “seasons” – during the summer, regional visitors from inland areas and as far as New Orleans came to escape the heat, while in the winter, visitors from the Northeast and Midwest flocked south to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine.

To accommodate early visitors, Jones financed the Great Southern Hotel on the downtown waterfront. Opened in summer 1903, the large structure shared the block with the G&SI Office Building and featured abundant balconies, porches and terraces where guests could enjoy the sun and catch the breeze. The hotel stood until 1951, after having suffered hurricane damage a few years earlier.

Today, within view of the old hotel, is the 60-acre Jones Park. This recreational area and harbor facility has a marina, promenade, amphitheater, splash pad and playground. It’s also the site of the annual Gulfport Harbor Lights Festival; this event, held during the winter holiday season, features 1.5 million sparkling lights, carnival rides, Santa’s Village and other entertainment.

The Port of Gulfport remains a major economic driver for the city and the region: it’s the third largest container port on the Gulf of America. It was largely rebuilt and modernized following the devastating blow from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 when the city faced hurricane-force winds for more than 16 hours and storm surges in excess of 28 feet in some places.

Along coastal Interstate 90, the port’s towering cranes are beacons for drivers. Now controlled by the state, the port functions as a bulk, break-bulk and container seaport. It encompasses approximately 300 acres and annually handles more than two million tons of cargo and over 200,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent container Units). Direct rail service with connections across North America is also available. Items passing through the facility include bananas, pineapples and other fresh produce, apparel, paper, cotton, electrical equipment and automobiles.

Gulfport is also home to the Naval Construction Battalion Center, home base to the Atlantic Fleet Seabees. This famed group has deployed to both fight and build in every military conflict since World War II, when it was created. The Seabees have built airstrips in Korea, Special Forces camps in Vietnam, scientific bases in Antarctica and camps and galleys in Saudi Arabia capable of housing and feeding more than 42,000 personnel.

Following Hurricane Katrina, Gulfport worked to rebuild and has rebounded as a major tourist destination. Visitors flock to the Mississippi Aquarium where they can experience a dozen fresh and salt water habitats and over 200 species of aquatic animals. At Union Station, now the Gulfport Museum of History, visitors can view artifacts and documents that trace the city’s development and people.

Since 1948, the city has hosted the “Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo” around July 4th. The sport fishing tournament also includes musical performances, a fireworks display and other activities. On the same theme, the city and the Gulfport Main Street Association launched Gumbo Fest in 2022. It’s a celebration of the flavorful dish so strongly associated with the coastal region and includes cook-offs and tastings.

For those searching for a quieter getaway, a trip to Ship Island – only accessible by boat – may be the answer. Part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Ship Island offers a swimming area and beaches. One may also visit Fort Massachusetts, completed in 1866 as part of a system of seacoast defenses meant to protect coastal harbors.

The Amtrak Mardi Gras Service is financed in part through funds made available by the states of Louisiana and Mississippi and the City of Mobile, Alabama.