Today’s post sheds light on a construction company that was fairly active on the Coast during the 1920s and early 1930s. The projects the company was bidding on and constructing were and are landmarks in the communities of Gulfport and Biloxi.
A.C. Samford Building Contractor Advert from Biloxi Daily Herald, February 21, 1925
Amos Carl Samford was born in Rome, Georgia on Aug. 13, 1886. In the 1900 census, he was a young cotton weaver, while his father was a house carpenter. He claimed exemption from the draft in 1917 because he had a wife and baby to support. On the draft registration form, he listed he was a farmer who also did work for the postal service. By the 1920 census, he was living in Macon, Georgia, employed as a construction superintendent working for a wage. That experience he gained in a few years as a construction superintendent must have been valuable because, by the early 1920s, A.C. Samford began working on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the A.C. Samford Construction Company. Although the firm and its owner was busy on the Coast, it was headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. In the 1930 census, Samford was living in Montgomery, Alabama was employed as a “Contractor of Government Buildings,” and owned his own business.
fmr Gulfport High School, Gulfport, Harrison County c.1993 from MDAH HRI database accessed 11-7-2017
Cumberland Telephone Building, 24th Ave. Gulfport, Harrison County. JRosenberg, MDAH 5-16-2007 from MDAH HRI accessed 11-7-2017
fmr National Bank of Gulfport. Gulfport, Harrison County 2011 David Preziosi, MHT from MDAH HRI accessed 11-17-2017
Elks Home Gulfport, Harrison County from Biloxi Daily Herald, February 21, 1925
Below is a list I’ve crafted from newspaper clippings about places associated with the A.C. Samford Company. It is possible there are many more structures associated with the company.
Possibly due to the effects of the Great Depression on the Mississippi Coast, after 1930 Samford was spending less and less time on the Coast and more time in Montgomery, AL bidding on and building structures all over Alabama, and as far north as Pennsylvania. The company was involved with work, albeit unknowingly, on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, TN during the early 1940s. By the end of the 1950s, the company would be located in Albany, Georgia, but was still bidding on and building projects on the Mississippi Coast. A.C. Samford passed away in 1962, but I believe the company he founded continued to operate into the 1980s. Are you familiar with A.C. Samford Company’s work in Mississippi?
Standard Block Company, Gulfport, Mississippi Advert. Biloxi Daily Herald, June 19, 1959
Categories: Architectural Research, Banks, Biloxi, Building Types, Gulf Coast, Gulfport, Historic Preservation, Hospitals/Medical, Schools
Preservation in Mississippi 
I just realized that the contractor we had in the Historic Resources Database as Sandford, A.C. and connected only to Jackson’s Central High School, was in fact, A.C. Samford. So you can add that beautiful building to this list, and I’m also in the process of making sure we have his name connected to all these other buildings you’ve uncovered. Thanks!
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You’re welcome! Glad this research has been helpful. When researching Samford, I was given the impression that they did quite a bit of work across Mississippi. I did come across an article that ambiguously references a school project in Jackson, but is not clear what type of school or if it was in Jackson, MS; Jackson County, MS; or Jackson, AL. If only MissPres had a resident Alabama expert to do more research on Samford.
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Hi! I was just watching a Sci-Fi flick from 1960 called “Dinosaurus” and saw the credit rolling in the beginning of the movie thanking the A.C. Samford Inc. company for its part for the location construction shots and was curious since this was supposedly filmed in St Croix, Virgin Islands and just wondered what the connection was along with the A.C. Samford name!
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Wow, I have no idea–that’s fascinating, to quote one of my favorite sci-fi characters of the 1960s :-)
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Thank you for this interesting information.
I was doing some research in my office on one of our federally owned buildings. I came across a construction photograph dated 1928 with the AC Samford General Contracting, Montgomery– Alabama sign at the US Federal Courthouse in Des Moines Iowa. Just thought you might like to know that AC Samford General Contracting constructed a Federal Courthouse located in the Des Moines Civic Center Historic District.
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