National Register of Historic Places listings in Mobile, Alabama

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Mobile, Alabama.

This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Mobile, Alabama, United States. Latitude and longitude coordinates are provided for many National Register properties and districts; these locations may be seen together in an online map.

There are 138 properties and districts listed on the National Register in Mobile County, including four National Historic Landmarks. 114 of these sites, including all of the National Historic Landmarks, are located within the city limits of Mobile, and are listed here; the remaining 24 sites are listed separately.

History

Located at the junction of the Mobile River and Mobile Bay on the northern Gulf of Mexico, Mobile began as the first capital of colonial French Louisiana in 1702 and remained a part of New France for over 60 years. The city was ceded to Great Britain in 1763, and under British rule the colony continued as part of West Florida. Spain captured Mobile during the American Revolutionary War in 1780, with the Battle of Fort Charlotte.

The city first became a part of the United States in 1813, following the U.S. seizure of Spanish West Florida during the War of 1812. The city and surrounding territory was first added to the Mississippi Territory. It was included in the Alabama Territory in 1817, after Mississippi gained statehood. A fire in October 1827 destroyed most of the old colonial buildings in the city, but from the 1830s onward Mobile expanded with a primary focus on the cotton trade. The city experienced another major fire in 1839 that burned a large central portion of the city and destroyed many of its finest new buildings. On May 25, 1865, an ammunition depot explosion, termed the great Mobile magazine explosion, killed some 300 people and destroyed the northern portion of the city.

Mobile's population had increased from around 40,000 people in 1900 to 60,000 by 1920. Between 1940 and 1943, over 89,000 people moved into Mobile to work for war effort industries. By 1956 the city limits had tripled to accommodate growth. The city lost many of its historic buildings during urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s. This led to the establishment of the Mobile Historic Development Commission, charged with protecting and enhancing the city's historic resources. Beginning in the late 1980s, the city began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive, urban city. This effort would see numerous projects around the city, including the restoration of hundreds of historic buildings and homes.

Architecture Mobile has antebellum architectural examples of the Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate styles. Additionally, the Creole cottage and Gulf Coast cottage are building types that are indigenous to the area, and are among the earliest surviving house types. Mobile's downtown townhouses, primarily built between the 1840s and 1860s, typically combine Late Federal style architecture with Greek Revival or Italianate elements and cast iron galleries.

Mobile has antebellum architectural examples of Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Creole cottage. Later architectural styles found in the city include the various Victorian types, shotgun types, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Beaux-Arts and many others. The city currently has nine major historic districts: Old Dauphin Way, Oakleigh Garden, Lower Dauphin Street, Leinkauf, De Tonti Square, Church Street East, Ashland Place, Campground, and Midtown.

Mobile has a number of historic structures in the city, including numerous churches and private homes. Mobile's historic churches include Christ Church Cathedral, the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Emanuel AME Church, Government Street Presbyterian Church, St. Louis Street Missionary Baptist Church, State Street AME Zion Church, Stone Street Baptist Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Francis Street Methodist Church, Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Saint Matthew's Catholic Church, Saint Paul's Episcopal Chapel, and Saint Vincent de Paul. The Sodality Chapel and St. Joseph's Chapel at Spring Hill College are two historic churches on that campus. Two historic Roman Catholic convents survive, the Convent and Academy of the Visitation and the Convent of Mercy.

Barton Academy is a historic Greek Revival school building and local landmark on Government Street. The Bishop Portier House and the Carlen House are two of the many surviving examples of Creole cottages in the city. The Mobile City Hospital and the United States Marine Hospital are both restored Greek Revival hospital buildings that predate the Civil War. The Washington Firehouse No. 5 is a Greek Revival fire station, built in 1851. The Hunter House is an example of the Italianate style and was built by a successful 19th-century African American businesswoman. The Shepard House is a good example of the Queen Anne style. The Scottish Rite Temple is the only surviving example of Egyptian Revival architecture in the city. The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Passenger Terminal is an example of the Mission Revival style.

The city has several historic cemeteries that were established shortly after the colonial era. They replaced the colonial Campo Santo, of which no trace remains. The Church Street Graveyard contains above-ground tombs and monuments spread over and was founded in 1819, during the height of yellow fever epidemics. The nearby Magnolia Cemetery was established in 1836 and served as Mobile's primary burial site during the 19th and early 20th centuries, with approximately 80,000 burials. It features tombs and many intricately carved monuments and statues.

The Catholic Cemetery was established in 1848 by the Archdiocese of Mobile and covers more than . It contains plots for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of Charity, and Sisters of Mercy, in addition to many other historically significant burials. Mobile's Jewish community dates back to the 1820s and the city has two historic Jewish cemeteries, Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery and Ahavas Chesed Cemetery. Sha'arai Shomayim is the older of the two.

Current listings

See also

List of National Historic Landmarks in Alabama National Register of Historic Places listings in Alabama

References