History of Mobile, Alabama

History of Alabama
By year Pre-statehood U.S. Civil War Since 1900 Topics: African-Americans - Cities - Politics
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Mobile first became a part of the United States in 1813, when it was captured by American forces and added to the Mississippi Territory, then later re-zoned into the Alabama Territory in August 1817. Finally on December 14, 1819, Mobile became part of the new 22nd state, Alabama, one of the earlier states of the U.S. Forty-one years later, Alabama left the Union and joined the Confederate States of America in 1861. It returned in 1865 after the American Civil War.^[1][2][3] Mobile had spent decades as French, then British, then Spanish, then American, spanning 160 years, up to the Civil War.

Conquistadors: 1519 to 1559

Spanish explorers were sailing into the area of

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

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 became a part of the "14th British colony", British West Florida, in 1763, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the French and Indian War.

The treaty ceded the Mobile area to

The Spanish captured Mobile during the American Revolutionary War during the Battle of Fort Charlotte in 1780, and retained Mobile by the terms of the war-ending Treaty of Paris in 1783. Mobile was then part of the colonial province Florida Occidental for thirty years, controlled from Pensacola until 1813 when it was captured by American forces (during the War of 1812) under James Wilkinson.

Republic of West Florida

The United States and Spain held long, inconclusive negotiations on

Spain retained its control of the Mobile District for a few more years, while the United States seized the former Baton Rouge District in December 1810.

Territorial period

Mississippi Territory

Before the War of 1812, the Spaniards in Mobile allowed British merchants to sell arms and supplies to the Indians defend their lands against encroaching settlers who had begun to build on part of present-day Alabama. During the course of the war, General James Wilkinson took a force of American troops from New Orleans to capture Mobile. The Spanish capitulated in April 1813 and the Stars and Stripes of the United States was raised for the first time over the Mobile area as it was added to the existing Mississippi Territory.^[12]

A British attempt commanded by Captain Henry Percy in September 1814 to take Fort Bowyer on Mobile Bay was repulsed by American forces. A subsequent British attack in February 1815 was successful, resulting in the surrender of the fort. The War of 1812 ended before an attack on the settlement of Mobile, across the bay, could be conducted.

Alabama Territory: 1817 to 1819

Within 4 years, in March 1817, the U.S. state of Mississippi was formed, splitting the Mississippi Territory in half, and leaving Mobile, for the next 2 years, as part of the new Alabama Territory. In 1819, after two years as a territory, the US state of Alabama was formed, converting the Alabama Territory into a full American state.

After statehood

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

In 1860, Clotilda, 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, which became known as Africatown. The inhabitants of this community retained their African 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 heavily fortified it. Union naval forces established a blockade under the command of Admiral David Farragut. The Confederates countered by constructing blockade-runners: fast, shallow-draft, low-slung ships that could either outrun or evade the blockaders, maintaining a trickle of trade in and out of Mobile. Also, the Hunley, 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. It is here that Farragut is alleged to have uttered his famous "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" quote after the USS Tecumseh 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 had dissolved the Confederacy, an ammunition depot explosion, termed the great Mobile magazine explosion, killed some 300 people and destroyed a significant portion of the city.

Reconstruction:1865-1877

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 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.^[20]

Modern period

Early 20th century: 1900 to 1949

Overall, the early 20th century was a time of significant growth and change for Mobile, Alabama, as the city expanded economically, culturally, and socially. The population grew from about 40,000 in 1900 to over 60,000 by 1920. The city becoming a hub for shipping, manufacturing, and commerce. Key industries included lumber, textiles, shipbuilding and steel. The city received $3 million in federal grants for harbor improvements, which drastically deepened the shipping channels in the harbor. The construction of new railroads and the expansion of the port allowed for greater connectivity and facilitated the growth of the city's economy as a hub for the region. New public schools were built especially to meet the soaring demand for a high school education. High society promoted the new Mobile Symphony Orchestra and the Saenger Theatre.^[21]

Racial tensions remained high. In 1902 the city government passed Mobile's first segregation ordinance, one that segregated the city streetcars. Mobile's African American population responded to this with a two-month boycott which was ultimately unsuccessful. After this, Mobile's de facto segregation was increasingly replaced with legislated segregation.^[21] John L. LeFlore emerged as a leader of African Americans in the 1920s.^[22]

The economy flourished in the 1920s, but suffered severely in the Great Depression after 1929. The 1920s and 1930s saw Jazz music achieve wide popularity inside and outside the Black community. Many clubs and venues gave people an opportunity to hear live music. Mardi Gras continued to be an important part of the city's culture, with elaborate parades and celebrations. However, the 1920s and 1930s were also a challenging time for Mobile and the rest of the country. The Great Depression hit the city hard, leading to high levels of unemployment and poverty. The city also experienced racial tensions, with segregation and discrimination affecting many aspects of daily life.^[21]

World War II

Mobile had $522 million in contracts for World War II combat equipment, but not nearly enough residents to do the work. Workers flocked in from rural areas, especially to the shipyards and to the

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 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.[23]^[26]

Late 20th century: 1950 to 1999

By 1956, Mobile's square mileage had tripled to accommodate growth. The Brookley Air Force Base closure in the mid-1960s 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 and International Paper combined to become one of the area's largest workforces.

Legal racial segregation was ended by congressional passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Mobile had been more tolerant and racially accommodating than many other Southern 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 filed a suit against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to Murphy High School. The federal district court ordered that they be admitted for the 1964 school year, as it had been ten years since the US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.^[27] In 1964, the University of South Alabama opened as an integrated college, planned as such from its inception in 1956.

Mobile's city government was changed in 1985 from three city commissioners elected at-large to a mayor and city-council form with seven members elected from single-member districts, following a court challenge by African-American residents. In Bolden v. City of Mobile the federal district court ruled that the city commission form was discriminatory in intent, with the result of substantially diluting the African-American vote. In the years after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African Americans had not been able to elect any candidates of their choice to the city commission.^[28]

Hurricane Frederic, 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, but only one death was recorded. Relief funding following Frederic provided an economic boom in addition to growth in the 1980s, vastly improving Mobile's overall economic picture.

Beginning in the late 1980s, the city council and mayor Mike Dow began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive, urban city.^[29] Numerous new facilities and projects were built around the city; the government encouraged the restoration of hundreds of historic downtown buildings and homes.^[29] Violent crime was reduced by 50%, and the city and county leaders worked to attract new business ventures to the area.^[30] The effort continues into the present with new city government leadership.^[30]

Shipbuilding began to make a major comeback in Mobile with the founding in 1999 of Austal USA, a joint venture of Australian shipbuilder, Austal, and Bender Shipbuilding.^[31]

21st century: 2000 to present

Mobile received moderate damage from

• Timeline of Mobile, Alabama

References

Further reading

• Mobile Directory, Mobile, Alabama: H.M. McGuire and T.C. Fay, 1837,
  OL 22886873M
• Saffold Berney (1878), "Mobile", Handbook of Alabama, Mobile: Mobile Register print.,
  OL 24232267M
• Peter J. Hamilton (1912), The Mobile Bicentennial, Mobile: Commercial Printing Company,
  OL 23365574M

Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of Mobile, Alabama.

• ”Fort Morgan and the Battle of Mobile Bay”, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
• 1905 Magazine Article with historical photos