Historical home in the Turkey Creek community to be restored

A piece of history in Gulfport’s Turkey Creek community is in the process of being restored back to its original form.

Named one of Mississippi’s 10 most Endangered Historical Places in 2015 and an official Mississippi landmark in 2018, the Yaryan Paymasters Office, also known as Phoenix Navel Stores Office, is being restored to memorialize Turkey Creek’s industrial workers and their significant contributions to the economic, labor and civil rights history of our community, city, state and nation.

Today, crews lifted the house in order to begin restoring it. Rip Daniels with JZ 94.5 said, “So it is an interesting history thanks to National Parks Service and Landtrust as well as many other people. It is now going to rise like the phoenix from the ground in this case. It is called the Phoenix Naval Store and so it is an incredible task to get up and it’s our hope we can do it in tact and then restore it to its grace it had prior to the explosion.”

The home will become a museum and an archive of this historic time.