History of Mobile, Alabama - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

was founded as the capital of colonial French Louisiana

Louisiana (New France)

Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...

in 1702 and remained a part of New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

for over 60 years. During 1720, when France warred with Spain, Mobile was on the battlefront, so the capital moved west to Biloxi. In 1763, Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

took control of the colony following their victory in the Seven Years War

Great Britain in the Seven Years War

The Kingdom of Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1756 and 1763. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the...

. Following the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, Mobile did not become a part of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as it was part of territory captured by Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

from Great Britain in 1780.

Mobile first became a part of the United States in 1813, when it was captured by American forces and added to the Mississippi Territory

Mississippi Territory

The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Mississippi....

, then later re-zoned into the Alabama Territory

Alabama Territory

The Territory of Alabama was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 15, 1817, until December 14, 1819, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alabama.-History:...

in August 1817. Finally on December 14, 1819, Mobile became part of the new 22nd state, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, one of the earlier states of the U.S. Forty-one years later, Alabama left the Union and joined the Confederate States of America

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

in 1861. It returned in 1865 after the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.
Mobile had spent decades as French, then British, then Spanish, then American, spanning 160 years, up to the Civil War

American Civil War

Conquistadors: 1519 to 1559

Spanish explorers were sailing into the area of Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...

as early as 1500, with the bay being marked on early Spanish maps as the Bahía del Espíritu Santo (Bay of the Holy Spirit). The area was explored in more detail in 1516 by Diego de Miruelo and in 1519 by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda

Alonso Álvarez de Pineda

Alonso Álvarez de Pineda was a Spanish explorer and cartographer. His map marks the first document in Texas history.-Expedition:The Spanish thought there must be a sea lane from the Gulf of Mexico to Asia...

. In 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez

Pánfilo de Narváez

Pánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas. He is most remembered as the leader of two expeditions, one to Mexico in 1520 to oppose Hernán Cortés, and the disastrous Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527....

traveled through what was likely the Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay

area, encountering Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

s who fled and burned their towns at the approach of the expedition. This response was a prelude to the journeys of Hernando de Soto

Hernando de Soto (explorer)

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....

, more than eleven years later.

Hernando de Soto explored the area of Mobile Bay and beyond in 1540, finding the area inhabited by a Muskhogean

Muskhogean stock

Muskhogean stock refers to a Native American stock that inhabited the Gulf Coast region of what is today the United States. The name derives from the chief tribe in the Creek confederacy, the Muskogee, but consisted of the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and other tribes...

Native American

Native Americans in the United States

people. During this expedition, his forces destroyed the fortified town of Mauvila, also spelled Maubila, from which the name Mobile was later derived. The battle with Chief Tuscaloosa

Chief Tuscaloosa

Tuskaloosa was a paramount chief of a Mississippian chiefdom in what is now the U.S. state of Alabama. His people were possibly ancestors to the several southern Native American confederacies who later emerged in the region...

and his warriors took place somewhere north of the current site of Mobile. The next large expedition was that of Tristán de Luna y Arellano

Tristán de Luna y Arellano

Tristán de Luna y Arellano was a Spanish Conquistador of the 16th century. Born in Borobia, Spain, he came to New Spain in about 1530, and was sent on an expedition to conquer Florida in 1559...

, in his unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent colony for Spain, nearby at Pensacola

Pensacola

Pensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...

in 1559-1561.

French Louisiana: 1702 to 1763

Although Spain's presence in the area had been sporadic, the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1702 (probable)was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of...

from his base at Fort Maurepas

Fort Maurepas

Not to be confused with the Fort Maurepas built in 1699 by Bienville and Iberville in present-day Ocean Springs, Mississippi.Fort Maurepas was one of the first forts built by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye and his men. In 1733, they traveled from Fort St. Charles, which was...

, established a settlement on the Mobile River

Mobile River

The Mobile River is located in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the approximately river drains an area of of Alabama, with a watershed extending into Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Its drainage basin is the...

in 1702. The settlement, then known as Fort Louis de la Louisiane

Old Mobile Site

The Old Mobile Site was the location of the French settlement La Mobile and the associated Fort Louis de La Louisiane, in the French colony of New France in North America, from 1702 until 1712. The site is located in Le Moyne, Alabama, on the Mobile River in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta...

, was first established at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff as the first capital of the French colony

French colonial empires

The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...

of Louisiana

Louisiana (New France)

. It was founded under the direction of d'Iberville by his brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienvillepronounce] was a colonizer, born in Montreal, Quebec and an early, repeated governor of French Louisiana, appointed 4 separate times during 1701-1743. He was a younger brother of explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville...

, to establish control over France's Louisiana claims with Bienville having been made governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile’s Roman Catholic parish was established on 20 July 1703, by Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier

Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier

Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrière de St. Vallier was appointed to the see of Quebec as bishop in 1685 by Louis XIV. But, Blessed Pope Innocent XI was not granting any more bulls of investiture....

, Bishop of Quebec

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec

The Archdiocese of Québec is the oldest Catholic see in the New World north of Mexico. The archdiocese was founded as the Apostolic Vicariate of New France in 1658 and was elevated to a Diocese in 1674 and an Archdiocese in 1819...

. The parish was the first established on the Gulf Coast of the United States

Gulf Coast of the United States

The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...

. The year 1704 saw the arrival of 23 women, known to history as "casquette girls" to the colony aboard the Pélican, along with yellow fever

Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

introduced to the ship in Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

. Though most of the "casquette girls" recovered, a large number of the existing colonists and the neighboring Native Americans died from the illness. This early period also saw the arrival of the first African slaves aboard a French supply ship from Saint-Domingue

Saint-Domingue

The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...

. The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708 yet descending to 178 persons two years later due to disease.

These additional outbreaks of disease and a series of floods caused Bienville to order the town relocated several miles downriver to its present location at the confluence of the Mobile River

Mobile River

and Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay

in 1711. This site had previously been settled five years prior by Charles Rochon

Charles Rochon

Charles Rochon was a French colonist and was one of the four founders of modern-day Mobile, Alabama.-Life and career:Rochon was born in 1673 in Quebec. He became a fur trapper and was associated with Henri de Tonti, accompanying him on many of his expeditions...

, Gilbert Dardenne, Pierre LeBœuf and Claude Parant. A new earth and palisade Fort Louis was constructed at the new site during this time. The colony was an economic loss, so in 1712, Antoine Crozat

Antoine Crozat

Antoine Crozat, marquis du Châtel , French founder of an immense fortune, was the first private proprietary owner of French Louisiana from 1712 to 1717....

took over administration of the colony by royal charter for 15 years, pledging a share of profits to the King. The colony boasted a population of 400 persons. In 1713 a new governor was appointed by Crozat, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac

Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac

Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac was a French explorer and adventurer in New France, now an area of North America stretching from Eastern Canada in the north to Louisiana in the south. Rising from a modest beginning in Acadia in 1683 as an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol...

, founder of Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

. He did not last long, due to allegations of mismanagement and a lack of growth in the colony, and he was recalled to France in 1716. Bienville again took the helm as governor, serving the office for less than a year until the new governor, Jean-Michel de Lepinay

Jean-Michel de Lepinay

Jean-Michel de Lepinay was the governor of the French colony of Louisiana from 1717 to 1718. Before serving as governor, Lepinay had been a naval officer and served over twenty years in Canada. He was appointed governor by Antoine Crozat, the royally appointed administrator of the colony...

, arrived from France. Lepinay, however, did not last long either, due to Crozat's relinquishing control of the colony in 1717 (after just 5 of the 15 years). The administration shifted to John Law

John Law (economist)

John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade...

and his Company of the Indies. Bienville found himself once again governor of Louisiana. In 1719, France warred with Spain, and Mobile was on the battlefront, so Bienville decided to move the capital to Old Biloxi, further west.

The capital of Louisiana

Louisiana (New France)

was moved to Biloxi, (now in Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

) in 1720, leaving Mobile relegated to the role of military and trading outpost. In 1723 the construction of a new brick fort with a stone foundation began and it was renamed Fort Condé

Fort Conde

Fort Conde, located in Mobile, Alabama, is a reconstruction, at 4/5 scale, as a third of the original 1720s French Fort Condé at the site...

in honor of Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon

Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon

Louis Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Condé was head of the cadet Bourbon-Condé branch of the French royal House of Bourbon from 1710 to his death, and served as prime minister to his kinsman Louis XV from 1723 to 1726.Despite...

and prince of Condé. Mobile would maintain the role of major trade center with the Native Americans throughout the French period, leading to the almost universal use of Mobilian Jargon

Mobilian Jargon

Mobilian Jargon was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlement of the region...

as the simplified trade language with the Native Americans from present-day Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

to Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

British West Florida: 1763 to 1780

Mobile became a part of the "14th British colony," West Florida

West Florida

West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...

, in 1763, and was 13 years under British rule when joining the fight for American independence in 1776, the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

had been signed, ending the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

. The treaty ceded the Mobile area to Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, and under British rule the colony flourished as West Florida

West Florida

. The British renamed Fort Condé

Fort Conde

Fort Conde, located in Mobile, Alabama, is a reconstruction, at 4/5 scale, as a third of the original 1720s French Fort Condé at the site...

as Fort Charlotte, after the English Queen, and re-energized the port. Major exports included timber, naval stores, indigo, hides, rice, pecans and cattle.

Spanish West Florida: 1780 to 1812

The Spanish captured Mobile during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

during the Battle of Fort Charlotte

Battle of Fort Charlotte

The Battle of Fort Charlotte or the Siege of Fort Charlotte was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez against the British fortifications guarding the port of Mobile during the American Revolutionary War...

in 1780, and retained Mobile by the terms of the war-ending Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

in 1783. Mobile was then a part of the colony of Spanish West Florida

West Florida

, for over 30 years, controlled from Pensacola

Pensacola

until 1813 when it was captured by American forces.

Republic of West Florida

The United States and Spain had held long, inconclusive negotiations on the status of West Florida. In the meantime, American settlers established a foothold in the area and resisted Spanish control. British settlers, who had remained, also resented Spanish rule, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for 3 months of the so-called Republic of West Florida: on September 23, 1810, after meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge, and unfurled the flag of the new republic, the Bonnie Blue Flag

Bonnie Blue Flag

The Bonnie Blue Flag, a single white star on a blue field, was the flag of the short-lived Republic of West Florida. Decades later, during the Civil War, it became an unofficial banner of the Confederacy, inspiring the song "The Bonnie Blue Flag," which was often sung by Southern troops.The flag...

. The Republic of West Florida claimed boundaries that included all territory south of the 31st parallel, west of the Perdido River

Perdido River

The Perdido River is a river in the U.S. states of Alabama and Florida. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along nearly its entire length and drains into the Gulf of Mexico...

, and east of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

, not including any territory that had been part of the Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...

. Spain still retained control of the town of Mobile itself.

Mississippi Territory: 1813 to 1817

Before the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

, the Spaniards in Mobile allowed British merchants to sell arms and supplies to the Indians to harass Americans who had begun to settle parts of present-day Alabama. During the course of the war, General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

James Wilkinson

James Wilkinson was an American soldier and statesman, who was associated with several scandals and controversies. He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, but was twice compelled to resign...

took a force of American troops from New Orleans to capture Mobile. The Spanish capitulated in April of 1813 and the Stars and Stripes

Flag of the United States

The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...

of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

was raised for the first time over the Mobile area as it was added to the existing Mississippi Territory

Mississippi Territory

.

A British attempt commanded by Captain Henry Percy

William Henry Percy

William Henry Percy was a Royal Navy officer.-Family:...

in September 1814 to take Fort Bowyer

Fort Bowyer

Fort Bowyer was a short-lived earthen and stockade fortification erected by the United States Army on Mobile Point, near the mouth of Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, Alabama. Built during the War of 1812, the fort was the site of two attacks by the British. The first, unsuccessful, attack led to the...

on Mobile Bay was repulsed by American forces.

Alabama Territory: 1817 to 1819

Within 4 years, in March 1817, the U.S. state of Mississippi

Mississippi

was formed, splitting the Mississippi Territory

Mississippi Territory

in half, and leaving Mobile, for the next 2 years, as part of the new Alabama Territory

Alabama Territory

. In 1819, after two years as a territory, the U.S. state of Alabama

Alabama

was formed, converting the Alabama Territory

Alabama Territory

into a full American state. So, Mobile became a voting region of the United States in 1819.

Antebellum:1820 to 1860

The cotton boom of the early 19th century brought an explosion of commerce to what had been a sleepy frontier town. For almost the next half century, Mobile enjoyed prosperity as the second largest international seaport on the Gulf Coast, after New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

. Progress was based upon cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

, shipped downriver by flatboat

Flatboat

Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...

or steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

from cotton growing centers in Mississippi

Mississippi

and Alabama

Alabama

. A fire in October 1827 destroyed most of the old city from the Mobile River

Mobile River

to Saint Emanuel Street and from Saint Francis to Government Street

Government Street (Mobile, Alabama)

Government Street is the name given to U.S. Route 90 and portions of U.S. Route 98 within the city limits of Mobile, Alabama. It is known as Government Street east of Pinehill Drive and as Government Boulevard west of Pinehill Drive...

. The city experienced another fire in 1839 that burned part of city between Conti and Government Street from Royal to Saint Emanuel Street and also both sides of Dauphin to Franklin Street. Despite these setbacks, Mobile was one of the four busiest ports in the US by the 1850s

1850s

- Wars :* Crimean war fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance consisting of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire...

. The wealth created by this trade brought the city to a cultural high point. Mobile became known throughout the country and the world.

In another note of differentiation between the somewhat cosmopolitan port and the hinterlands of predominantly Protestant Alabama, Mobile was declared a diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

in this same period. What would become known as McGill-Toolen Catholic High School

McGill-Toolen Catholic High School

McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, located in Mobile, Alabama, is a private co-educational high school operated by the educational system of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile.-History:...

was also established during this time. In 1830, Bishop Michael Portier

Michael Portier

Bishop Michael Portier was a Roman Catholic bishop and the firstBishop of Mobile. He immigrated to the United States in 1817....

founded Spring Hill College

Spring Hill College

Spring Hill College is a private, Roman Catholic Jesuit liberal arts college in the United States. It was founded in 1830 on the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama, by Most Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile, Alabama...

, one of the oldest Catholic schools in the country. Control of the college was assumed by the Jesuit Order

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

in 1847.

In 1860, the Clotilde
Clotilde (slave ship)
The schooner Clotilde was the last known U.S. slave ship to bring slaves from Africa to the United States, arriving at Mobile Bay in autumn 1859 , with 110-160 slaves. The ship was a two-masted schooner, 86 ft long by 23 ft , and it was burned and scuttled at Mobile Bay, soon after...

, the last known ship to arrive in the Americas with a cargo of slaves, was abandoned by its captain near Mobile. A number of these slaves later formed their own community on the banks of the Mobile River after the American Civil War

American Civil War

, which became known as Africatown

Africatown

Africatown, also known as AfricaTown USA and Africa Town, is a community in Mobile County, Alabama, located three miles north of the city of Mobile. It was formed by West Africans who were among the last known illegal shipment of slaves to the United States...

. The inhabitants of this community retained their Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n customs and language well into the 20th century.

Civil War: 1861 to 1865

Mobile grew substantially in the period leading up to the Civil War, when the Confederates

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

heavily fortified it. Union naval forces established a blockade

Blockade

A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...

under the command of Admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

David Farragut

David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...

. The Confederates countered by constructing blockade-runners: fast, shallow-draft, low-slung ships that could either out-run or evade the blockaders, maintaining a trickle of trade in and out of Mobile. Also, the Hunley

H. L. Hunley (submarine)

H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War, but a large role in the history of naval warfare. The Hunley demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare...

, the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel in combat, was built and tested in Mobile.

In August, 1864 Farragut's ships fought their way past Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan guarding the mouth of Mobile Bay and defeated a small force of wooden Confederate gunboats and the ironclad CSS Tennessee, in the famous Battle of Mobile Bay

Battle of Mobile Bay

The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Adm...

. It is here that Farragut is alleged to have uttered his famous "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" quote after the USS Tecumseh

USS Tecumseh (1863)

The first USS Tecumseh was an iron-hulled, single-turret monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.Tecumseh was launched on 12 September 1863 at Jersey City, New Jersey, by Secor and Company,of New York City; and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 19 April 1864,...

hit a Confederate mine and sank. The Tecumseh rests in Mobile Bay to this day. The city of Mobile later surrendered to the Union army in order to avoid destruction. Ironically, on May 25, 1865, weeks after Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...

had dissolved the Confederacy, an ammunition depot explosion, termed the great Mobile magazine explosion

Mobile magazine explosion

On May 25, 1865, in Mobile, Alabama, in the Southern United States, an ordnance depot or "magazine" exploded, killing some 300 persons. This event occurred just after the end of the American Civil War, during the occupation of the city by victorious Federal troops....

, killed some 300 people and destroyed a significant portion of the city.

Post war: 1866 to 1899

The aftermath of the war left Mobile with a spirit of governmental and economic caution that would limit it for a large part of the next century. The last quarter of the 19th century in Mobile was a time of turmoil. The government was controlled by Republicans

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

after Reconstruction was instituted by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

in May 1867. Many of these politicians instituted policies that caused the disenfranchised Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

to become embittered. In 1874, Democrats around the state used violence and extreme measures to keep African Americans and non-Democratic voters from participating in the November election. Election day in Mobile saw armed gangs roaming the streets and mobs of people surrounding the polling places to scare any non-Democrats away.

The decline of the city continued under the Democrats. By 1875 the city was more than $5 million in debt and could not even pay the interest on the loans. This debt had been accruing since the 1830s. A game of political maneuvering continued to be played between rival factions as the city bordered on bankruptcy. In 1879 the city charter was repealed by the state legislature, abolishing the "City of Mobile" and replacing it with three city commissioners appointed by the Alabama governor. The commissioners were charged with governing the new "Port of Mobile" and reducing the city's debt. The debt problem would not be settled until the last note was paid in 1906.

Early 20th century: 1900 to 1949

The turn of the century saw Mobile's population increase from around 40,000 in 1900 to 60,000 by 1920. During this time the city received $3 million in federal grants for harbor improvements, which drastically deepened the shipping channels in the harbor. During and after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

manufacturing became increasingly vital to Mobile's economic health with shipbuilding and steel production being two of the most important. In 1902 the city government passed Mobile's first segregation

Racial segregation

Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

ordinance, one that segregated the city streetcars. Mobile's African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

population responded to this with a two-month boycott which was ultimately unsuccessful. After this, Mobile's de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

segregation would increasingly be replaced with legislated segregation.

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

led to a massive military effort causing a considerable increase in Mobile's population, largely due to the huge influx of workers coming into Mobile to work in the shipyards and at the Brookley Army Air Field

Mobile Downtown Airport

Mobile Downtown Airport is a public use airport located three nautical miles south of the central business district of Mobile, a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is also known as Brookley Field. The airport is part of the Brookley Complex, an industrial complex which lies on the...

. Between 1940 and 1943, over 89,000 people moved into Mobile to work for war effort industries. Mobile was one of eighteen U.S. cities producing Liberty ships at its Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company

Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company

The Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company located in Mobile, Alabama, was one of the largest marine production facilities in the United States of America during the 20th century. Beginning operation in 1917, the shipyard is presently owned by The Lehman Group The Alabama Drydock and...

to support the war effort by producing ships faster than the Axis powers could sink them. Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, a subsidiary

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

of Waterman Steamship Corporation

Waterman Steamship Corporation

Waterman Steamship Corporation is an American deep sea ocean carrier, specializing in liner services and time charter contracts. It is owned by International Shipholding Corporation, based in Mobile, Alabama....

, focused on building freighters

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

, Fletcher class destroyer

Fletcher class destroyer

The Fletcher class were a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939 as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types...

s, and minesweeper

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

s. The US Army bought the municipal airport,Bates Field, and there developed the Brookley Army Air Field, later to become the Brookley Air Force Base. Brookley quickly became the area's largest employer. In the mid-1960s the Air Force Base was closed due to a Department of Defense "base realignment" and the airport returned to the city. Today, it is an aerospace and industrial site known as the Brookley Complex

Mobile Downtown Airport

.

During the war, the phenomenal influx of workers created a huge housing shortage. Citizens rented out extra rooms and also converted porches, garages and even chicken coops into rentals. Several federal housing projects were quickly built to house the new maritime and Air Force workers. Several of these are still to be found, notably the community of Birdville. "Thomas James Place" was the proper name for Birdville which was built just outside of Brookley Air Force base to provide relief for the housing shortage. The development consisted of a series of interwoven curving concrete streets named after various birds, hence the nickname Birdville.

Late 20th century: 1950 to 1999

By 1956, Mobile's square mileage had tripled to accommodate growth. Brookley's closure in the mid-1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

sent economic tremors through the area which took many years to absorb. Also, in the post-war period, the pulp and paper industry became a major industry in Mobile. Scott Paper Company

Scott Paper Company

The Scott Paper Company is a USA-based corporation which manufactures mostly paper based consumer products.Scott Paper was founded in 1879 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by brothers E. Irvin and Clarence Scott, and is often credited as being the first to market toilet paper sold on a roll...

and International Paper

International Paper

International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 59,500 employees, and it is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:...

combined to become one of the area's largest workforces. This period saw the end of racial segregation with the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...

. Mobile had been more tolerant and racially accommodating than many other Southern

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

cities, with the police force and one local college becoming integrated in the 1950s and the voluntary desegregation of buses and lunchcounters by 1963, but schools and many other institutions had remained segregated. In 1963 three African American students brought a case against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to Murphy High School, and the court ordered that they be admitted for the 1964 school year. In 1964, the University of South Alabama

University of South Alabama

The University of South Alabama is a public, doctoral-level university in Mobile, Alabama, USA. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. No other areas of the state were willing to support such a...

opened as an integrated college, planned as such from its inception in 1956. Mobile's city government was changed to a mayor and city-council form in 1975, after the previous form, having three city commissioners elected at-large, was ruled to substantially dilute the African American vote in the case Bolden v. City of Mobile.

Racial equality

Racial equality

Racial equality means different things in different contexts. It mostly deals with an equal regard to all races.It can refer to a belief in biological equality of all human races....

continued to be an issue in Mobile into the 1980s. The most notable instance was the 1981 random lynching

Lynching

Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...

of Michael Donald

Michael Donald

Michael Donald was a young African American man who was murdered by two Ku Klux Klan members in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981. The murder is sometimes referred to as the last recorded lynching in the United States.-Lynching:...

by Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

members on Herndon Avenue. The perpetrators of the lynching were both convicted of murder, with one receiving life in prison and the other being executed in 1997. A subsequent wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...

on behalf of Michael Donald's mother against the United Klans of America

United Klans of America

United Klans of America Inc. was one of the largest Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s, and was the most violent Klan organization of its time. Its headquarters were the Anglo-Saxon Club outside...

. The seven million dollar decision against the Klans - returned, notably, by an all-white jury - effectively put the Ku Klux Klan out of business in Alabama. A fatal police shooting of an African American man in 1992 sparked violence and unrest in Mobile, leading to the formation of a Human Relations Commission by the city in 1994.

Hurricane Frederic

Hurricane Frederic

Hurricane Frederic was the sixth tropical cyclone, third hurricane and second major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season. Frederic was the costliest hurricane to ever hit the U.S. Gulf Coast at that particular time...

, which struck the area on September 12, 1979, caused severe damage in Mobile. Many residents were without power, water, telephone and basic necessities for weeks. Fortunately, only one death was recorded. The economic boom that followed Frederic, in addition to the economic growth of the 1980s, vastly improved Mobile's overall economic picture. Beginning in the late 1980s, the city council and former mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

, Mike Dow, began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive, urban city. This effort would see the building of numerous new facilities and projects around the city and the restoration of hundreds of other historic downtown buildings and homes. This period also saw a 50% reduction in the rate of violent crime and a concerted effort by city and county leaders to attract new business ventures to the area. The effort continues into the present with new city government leadership. Shipbuilding began to make a major comeback in Mobile with the founding in 1999 of Austal USA

Austal USA

Austal USA is the American branch of operations for Australia-based shipbuilder Austal. The facility is based in Mobile, Alabama and employs more than 1000 workers with expansions currently underway.-History:...

, a joint venture of Australian shipbuilder, Austal, and Bender Shipbuilding.

21st century: 2000 to present

Mobile received moderate damage from Hurricane Ivan

Hurricane Ivan

Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season...

on 16 September 2004. Mobile received damage again from Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

on 29 August 2005. A storm surge of 11.45 feet (3.49 m) damaged eastern sections of Mobile and caused extensive flooding in downtown. Mobilians elected their first African American mayor, Sam Jones

Sam Jones (mayor)

Samuel Leon Jones is serving his first term as mayor of his hometown, Mobile, Alabama. He is Mobile's first African American mayor. He ran on a platform of safety, efficient government, historic preservation and bringing employers to the city....

, in September 2005. Another landmark was added to Mobile's skyline in 2007 with the completion of the RSA Battle House Tower

RSA Battle House Tower

The RSA Battle House Tower is located in Mobile, Alabama and is Alabama's tallest building. The building is owned by the Retirement Systems of Alabama . It is the tallest on the Gulf Coast of the United States outside of Houston. It replaces the Wells Fargo Tower in Birmingham as the tallest...

, the tallest skyscraper in the state. In January 2008, the city hired EDSA, an urban design

Urban design

Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...

firm, to create a new comprehensive master plan for the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. The planning area is bordered on the east by the Mobile River, to the south by Interstate 10 and Duval Street, to the west by Houston Street and to the north by Three Mile Creek and the neighborhoods north of Martin Luther King Avenue.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.