It was founded to provide spiritual, educational and recreational facilities to African Americans who were denied access elsewhere because of segregation.
In the early part of the 20th century, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was strictly segregated along racial lines, mirroring American society.
Since most hotels, restaurants, beaches and other public facilities were established for Whites only, African Americans had few, if any, places where they could go for recreation.
Robert E. Jones, the first African American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was speaking at Lakeside Assembly, a White Methodist campground in Ohio, when he came up with the idea to establish a similar place for African Americans to congregate in a relaxed atmosphere.
Waveland, Mississippi was a resort town, centrally located on the Gulf Coast, 55 miles (89 km) from Bishop Jones’ main office in New Orleans.
Bishop Jones marshaled his force of 14 preachers and local craft workers and set about putting the deteriorated structure into a livable condition.
But when it rained, the road flooded and turned to mud., so most people walked the three miles (5 km) through the woods from the train station to the Jackson House.
In the first two decades, under the leadership of Bishop Jones, Gulfside blossomed into a pivotal point of the New Orleans area and the surrounding region.
Some of the activities included the Young Men's Christian Association, Conference Summer School for Town and Country Pastors, Summer School of Theology for aspiring ministers, Boys' Camp and Girls' Reserves, 4-H, and Scouting events, and picnics sponsored by groups throughout the region.
Dr. J. H. Graham puts it in his book, Black United Methodist Retrospect and Prospect: "This school enables deprived functional illiterates to develop salable skills.
The boys had to work from 9 to 12 and after [lunch] would go to class until 4 p.m. Bishop Jones’ tenure at Gulfside, which spanned the Great Depression, was speckled with threats of foreclosure.
Over a period of eight years, Brooks Chapel, Gulfside Inn, Harry Hoosier Auditorium, and the Bishop's house were built.
Bishop Ernest T. Dixon, and laymen Wayne Calbert, Henry Harper, and others came together in an effort to revitalize Gulfside.
With the support of the General Board of Global Ministries’ National Division, included in the complex was the construction of the cottages for adults known as Dixon Village.
These buildings were made possible by the Harry E. Kendall Fund (from the Health and Welfare Ministries Program Department of the United Methodist Church.
The history of Gulfside is recounted in the book, The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South, by Andrew W. Kahrl.