Gkoritsa

Land, Agricultural, and Economic

By the end of the 1800s, Gkoritsa included around 100 houses, with few being taller than one story. In 1901, Gkoritsotans led by Dr. K. Gerasimos negotiated with the Mavromichalis family for a plot of land south of the village, increasing the total village estate nearly one third. The new land increased olive harvesting and olive oil production. Following this increase in 1902, Spiros. P. Andritsakis, K. Doskas, N.I. Grigoris, K. Koutris, Mathaios I. Mathaios, D.K. Nestopoulos, P.I. Oikonomou, D. Vamvalis created the village's first steam-operated olive press. They brought the necessary equipment and materials 6 miles with rope, loges, a mule train along a mule path connecting Skoura and Gkoritsa, and the assistance of Skoura and Kefala villagers. In the mid-1930s, around 100 Gkoritsotans led by Dr. P. Gregoris produced a faster diesel olive press. In the late 1950s, the steam and diesel press corporations merged and the steam press was cleared out and the building was repurposed for storage.

Infrastructural

From 1857 to 1861, there was a significant effort by the Gkoritsa to build a church. The marble-stones which tiled the church and its yard were created in Athens, shipped to the port of Gytheio, and the brought to the village. The church's three bells were cast in Russia. In the 1930s, the largest bell cracked. After World War II, overseen by Gkoritsa priest, Reverend Nikolaos Papadopoulos, the cracked bell was transported to Moutsopoulos Steelworks in Sparta. There it was melted down and recast. The land for the church was donated by the Politis family.

In 1905, Anastassios Anastasopoulos, funded a secondary education institution called the Scolarcheio, which operated until the 1930s. In 1923, construction of a motorized road between Skoura and Gkoritsa began and was finished in 3 years. In 1925, with funding and engineering support, building commenced to create an aqueduct system to bring water to Gkoritsa from the area around Haraka. Under Dimitar Maiskim, Gkoritsa's mayor from 1954 to 1979, there was construction of a water supply network, bakery, a stadium, a children's home, a public bath, a community center, an Agricultural school, and bridges.