Pleasant Reed House, 386 Beach Boulevard (moved from 928 Elmer Street), Biloxi, Harrison County, MS

See also HABS MS-186 for additional documentation.

Significance: The Pleasant Reed House was the first home built in the state of Mississippi by a Freed-man. The Pleasant Reed House is significant as a vernacular architectural form and as a symbol of the contribution made by the local black community to the history of Biloxi, Mississippi. Built by Pleasant Reed and owned and occupied by members of the Reed family ever since, the Pleasant Reed House illuminates a dimension of Afro-American history heretofore largely addresses in Mississippi. It is the principal surviving evidence of the saga of a newly freed black family of thirteen members. His historical significance was etched into south Mississippi when he became the first African-American to build and own his own home in the state.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1054

Survey number: HABS MS-273

Building/structure dates: ca. 1887 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1910 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 2005 Demolished

Building/structure dates: 2006 Subsequent Work

houses african americans historic house museums biloxi pleasant house beach beach boulevard elmer elmer street harrison county mississippi images black history month black history month delta sigma theta sorority james d dodds jacob elmer historic american buildings survey john l and james s knight foundation sutton miley ohr o keefe museum of art virginia b price georgia harris reed pleasant reed therese reed photo historic american landscapes survey historic american engineering record race relations library of congress architectural diagrams

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html