Timeline of Mobile, Alabama

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Mobile, Alabama, USA.

Prior to 19th century

1702 - Fort Louis de la Mobile founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville of Montreal.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1703 - Mardi Gras begins.{{citation |work=New York Times |title=Mardi Gras Isn't Just in New Orleans |date=March 1, 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/mardi-gras-mobile-alabama-new-orleans.html }}
1722 - French Louisiana capital relocated from Mobile to New Orleans.{{sfn|Owen|1921}}
1723 - Fort Conde built.
1763 - Mobile becomes part of British West Florida per Treaty of Paris (1763).{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1780 - March: Battle of Fort Charlotte; Spanish in power.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1783 - Mobile becomes part of Spanish West Florida per Treaty of Paris (1783).{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}

19th century

1810 - Mobile becomes part of the independent Republic of West Florida.
1813
Spanish West Florida annexed to the United States.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
Mobile Gazette newspaper begins publication.{{cite web |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/results/?state=Alabama&county=Mobile&city=Mobile&rows=50&sort=date |title=US Newspaper Directory |location=Washington DC |work=Chronicling America |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=June 25, 2013 }}
1814 - Town of Mobile incorporated.
1819 - City of Mobile incorporated.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1821 - Mobile Commercial Register begins publication.
1823 - Christ Church Cathedral established.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1827 - Fire.{{sfn|Goodrich|1839}}
1829 - Mobile Female Benevolent Society founded.
1830
Spring Hill College and City Hospital {{sfn|Britannica|1910}} established.
Population: 3,194.{{citation |title=Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990 |year=1998 |url=https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/1998/demo/POP-twps0027.html |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau }}
1835 - Franklin Society Reading Room and Library founded.{{cite web |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~davpro/databases/index.html |title=American Libraries before 1876 |author= Davies Project |publisher=Princeton University |access-date=June 25, 2013}}{{Citation |publisher = U.S. House of Representatives |location = Washington, D.C. |title = Notices of public libraries in the United States of America |author = Charles Coffin Jewett |date = 1851 |oclc = 18394449 |chapter=Alabama |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/noticesofpublicl00jewe#page/158/mode/2up }}
1839
October 2: Fire.{{cite journal |title=Hazard's United States Commercial and Statistical Register |date=November 1839 |volume=1 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000058721?type%5B%5D=all&lookfor%5B%5D=samuel%20hazard%20register&ft=ft |location=Philadelphia }}
Barton Academy construction completed.
1840
St. Francis Street Methodist Church founded.
Population: 12,672.
1842 - United States Marine Hospital completed.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1844 - Shaarai Shomayim congregation formed.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.isjl.org/alabama-encyclopedia.html |title=Mobile, Alabama |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities |publisher= Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life |location=Jackson, Mississippi |access-date=June 25, 2013}}
1845 - Trinity Episcopal Church established.
1850
Mobile Evening News begins publication.
Population: 20,515.
Bienville Square (city park) established.
1852
Public schooling begins in Barton Academy building.{{sfn|Clark|1889}}
Mobile and Ohio Railroad opened.
1854 - Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce chartered.
1855 - Publisher S.H. Goetzel in business (approximate date).{{cite web |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?type%5B%5D=all&lookfor%5B%5D=mobile%20goetzel |title= Hathi Trust |access-date=June 25, 2013}}
1857 - City Hall built.
1860 - Population: 29,258.
1861 - City becomes part of the Confederate States of America.
1864
Wilmer Hall established.
(August 5) Battle of Mobile Bay.
1865 - State colored convention held in city.{{cite web |url= http://coloredconventions.org/conventions?by=year |title=Conventions by Year |work=Colored Conventions |publisher=University of Delaware, Library |others=P. Gabrielle Foreman, director |access-date=June 30, 2015 }}
1868 - Africatown established near Mobile.{{cite book|editor= Toyin Falola and Amanda Warnock |title=Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage |year= 2007|publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-33480-1 |chapter=Chronology |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UjRYKePKrB8C&pg=PR29 }}
1869 - Mobile Bar Association{{cite web |url=http://mccalllibrary.southalabama.edu/ |title= Collections |author=McCall Library |publisher=University of South Alabama |access-date=June 25, 2013}} and Mobile Law Library founded.
1871 - Mobile Cotton Exchange established.
1872 - Mobile Carnival Association established.
1883
Fidelia Club formed.{{cite web |url= http://www.mobilebaymag.com/Mobile-Bay/January-2012/Ask-McGehee-The-former-Higgins-Mortuary/ |title=The Former Higgins Mortuary |date=January 2012 |work=Mobile Bay |author=Tom McGehee |access-date=June 25, 2013}}
Drago Band (musical group) active (approximate date).{{cite web |url=http://www.southalabama.edu/libraries/mccallarchives/online_exhibits.html |title= Online Exhibits |author=McCall Library |publisher=University of South Alabama |access-date= March 24, 2017 }}
1889 - Mobile County Courthouse built.
1890
Mobile Camera Club founded.{{citation |title=International Annual of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin |year=1890 |publisher=E. & H. T. Anthony & Company |location=New York |chapter=American and Western Photographic Societies |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uyoXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA484 }}
Population: 31,076.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1894 - Clara Schumann Club (music group) formed.
1900 - Population: 38,469.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}

20th century

1902 - Mobile Public Library established.
1906 - (27 September) Mobile swept by a hurricane.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1907 - Union Depot built.
1910 - Population: 51,521.{{sfn|Owen|1921}}{{sfn|Britannica|1910}}
1914 - Rotary Club of Mobile organized.
1918 - Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company in business.
1925 - Lincoln Theatre built.{{cite web |url=http://www.lhat.org/historictheatres/theatre_inventory.aspx |title=Historic Theatre Inventory |location=Maryland, USA |publisher=League of Historic American Theatres |access-date=June 25, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721130121/http://www.lhat.org/historictheatres/theatre_inventory.aspx |archive-date=July 21, 2013 }}
1927 - Saenger Theatre built.
1928 - Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks founded.
1929
Mobile Press newspaper begins publication.
Woman's Clubhouse Association founded.
1930 - WALA radio begins broadcasting.{{citation |title=Radio Annual |oclc=2459636 |year=1939 |editor= Jack Alicoate |publisher= Radio Daily |location=New York |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/radioannual193900radi#page/183/mode/1up |chapter= Alabama }}
1936 - American Association of University Women of Mobile organized.
1937
Foreign trade zone established.{{cite web |url=http://enforcement.trade.gov/ftzpage/orders/ftzorder.html |title=U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board Order Summary |publisher= U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration |location=Washington DC |access-date=September 16, 2016 }}{{Citation |author=Susan Tiefenbrun | title = Tax Free Trade Zones Of The World And In The United States | publisher = Edward Elgar| year = 2012 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bdz5eG3b2nwC&pg=PA360 | isbn = 978-1-84980-243-7 |page=360 }}{{citation |title=Annual Report of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to the Congress of the United States |year=2016 |chapter-url=http://enforcement.trade.gov/ftzpage/annual-report.html |chapter=FTZ Activity by State, 2015: Alabama }}
Aluminum Ore Company refining plant constructed.
1940 - Population: 78,720.
1950 - Population: 129,009.
1953
WALA-TV (television) begins broadcasting.{{citation |title=Radio Annual and Television Year Book |oclc=10512206 |year=1960 |editor=Charles A. Alicoate |publisher= Radio Daily Corp. |location=New York |chapter=Television Stations: Alabama |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/radio00radi#page/782/mode/2up }}
Consular Corps of Mobile organized (approximate date).
1955 - WKRG-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
1960
Sister city agreement established with Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.{{citation |date=September 1, 1993 |work= Mobile Register |title=Sister Cities: Program Links Mobile with its International Counterparts }}
Population: 202,779.
1962 - Mobile Genealogical Society founded.{{cite web |url=http://sites.google.com/site/rootsmgs/ |title=Mobile Genealogical Society |access-date=June 25, 2013}}
1964 - Mobile British Women's Club active (approximate date).
1965 - Sister city agreement established with Málaga, Spain.
1966 - Neighborhood Organized Workers established.
1974
Azalea City News begins publication.{{cite web |url= http://www.southalabama.edu/archives/html/printedguide.htm |title= Guide to Printed Material at The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library |publisher=University of South Alabama |access-date=June 25, 2013}}
Sister city agreement established with Pau, France.
1975 - Springhill Medical Center (then called Springhill Memorial Hospital) opens.
1976 - City twins with Worms, Germany.{{cite web |url=http://ncsmobile.org/sister_cities.php |title=Mobile's Sister Cities |publisher=City of Mobile |access-date= March 2, 2017 }}
1980
U.S. Supreme Court decides Mobile v. Bolden redistricting-related lawsuit.
Sister city agreement established with Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
1982 - Sister city agreement established with Zakynthos, Greece (approximate date).{{citation |date= December 19, 1982 |work= Mobile Press Register |title=Mobile's Sister Cities }}
1983 - Mobile Municipal Archives founded.{{cite web |url=http://www.cityofmobile.org/archives/ |title= Municipal Archives |publisher=City of Mobile |access-date= March 2, 2017 }}
1985 - U.S. Naval Station Mobile opens.
1987 - Providence (hospital) built.
1988 - Sister city agreement established with Rostov on Don, Russia.
1989
Sister city agreement established with Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
Mike Dow becomes mayor.

{{cite web

| url = http://www.cityofmobile.org/html/cityofficials/dow.php

| title = Mayor

| publisher = City of Mobile

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010803142458/http://www.cityofmobile.org/html/cityofficials/dow.php

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = August 3, 2001

}}

1990 - Sister city agreement established with Katowice, Poland.
1992 - Sister city agreement established with Košice, Slovakia.
1993
September 22: 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck.
Sister city agreement established with Havana, Cuba, and Ichihara, Japan.
1995
City website online (approximate date).{{cite web |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19961222085059/http://www.ci.mobile.al.us/ |url= http://www.ci.mobile.al.us/ |archive-date=1996-12-22 |title= City of Mobile Home Page |via= Internet Archive, Wayback Machine }}
Bayfest (Mobile) (music festival) begins.
1998 - Sammy’s v. City of Mobile strip club-related lawsuit decided.{{citation |editor= M.F. Mikula |display-editors=etal |title= Great American Court Cases |publisher= Gale |year=1999 }}

21st century

2002 - Tricentennial of founding of Mobile.
2005
Sam Jones becomes first African-American in city elected mayor.{{cite web |title=Meet the Mayors |publisher=United States Conference of Mayors |location=Washington, DC |url=http://usmayors.org/meetmayors/mayorsatglance.asp |access-date=June 25, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627104834/http://www.usmayors.org/meetmayors/mayorsatglance.asp |archive-date=June 27, 2008 }}
City twins with Cockburn, Australia, and establishes sister city agreement with Bolinao, Philippines.{{citation |date=November 3, 2005 |work= Mobile Register |title=Sister City }}
2010 - Population: 195,111.{{cite web |url= https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/0150000 |title= Mobile city, Alabama |work=State & County QuickFacts |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date= March 2, 2017 }}
2012 - Christmas tornado outbreak.
2015 - Bayfest is cancelled.

References

Bibliography

=Published in the 19th century=

{{Citation |publisher = S. Converse |location = New Haven |author1 = Jedidiah Morse |author-link1=Jedidiah Morse |author2=Richard C. Morse |title = A New Universal Gazetteer |date = 1823 |edition= 4th |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/newuniversalgaze00morsrich#page/476/mode/2up |chapter= Mobile }}
{{citation |year=1824 |title=An Act to alter and amend the Charter of Incorporation of the City of Mobile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T603AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA68 |work= Acts of Alabama

|author1=Alabama }}

{{Citation |publisher = H.M. McGuire and T.C. Fay |location = Mobile, Alabama |title = Mobile Directory |date = 1837

|ol = 22886873M }}

{{Citation |publisher = A.T. Goodrich |location = New York |title = The North American Tourist |date = 1839 |chapter=Mobile |chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/northamericantou00newy#page/458/mode/2up

| ref = {{harvid|Goodrich|1839}}

}}

{{cite book

|title= Southern Business Directory

|editor=John P. Campbell

|location=Charleston, SC

|publisher=Press of Walker & James

|year=1854

|chapter=Alabama: Mobile

|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IRDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA26

}}

{{cite journal |journal=Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion |date= June 27, 1857 |volume=12 |title=Mobile, Alabama |url=https://archive.org/stream/ballouspictorial1112ball#page/408/mode/2up |location=Boston }}
{{cite book |title=James' River Guide ... Mississippi Valley |location=Cincinnati |publisher=U.P. James |year= 1860 |chapter= Alabama River: Mobile |hdl=2027/nyp.33433081817672 }}
{{Citation |publisher = D. Appleton & Company |location = New York |title = Appletons' Hand-book of American Travel: the Southern Tour |author=Edward H. Hall |date = 1866 |chapter-url= http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b281933?urlappend=%3Bseq=138 |chapter=Mobile }}
{{Citation |publisher = American Pub. Co. |location = Hartford, Conn |author1 = Edward King Edward |author2-link = James Wells Champney |title = The Great South |date = 1875 |chapter=Mobile, the Chief City of Alabama |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/greatsouthrecord00kingrich#page/318/mode/2up |author2= J. Wells Champney }}
{{Citation |publisher = Mobile Register print. |date = 1878 |location = Mobile |title = Handbook of Alabama |author = Saffold Berney |chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/handbookofalabam01bern#page/72/mode/2up |chapter = Mobile |ol = 24232267M}}
{{cite EB9 |wstitle = Mobile |volume= 16 |short= 1}}
{{cite book |title=Mobile: Her Trade, Commerce and Industries, 1883-4 |publisher=J.E. Land |year=1884 |url=https://archive.org/details/mobilehertradeco00land |last1=Land |first1=John E. }}
{{cite book |title=Mobile: seaport and trade center; her relations to the New South |year=1888 |publisher=Metropolitan and Star |location=USA |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aAAZAAAAYAAJ }}
{{Citation |location = Mobile, Ala |title = Charter and code of ordinances of the city of Mobile |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=-vtOAAAAYAAJ |date = 1889 }}
{{cite book |chapter=Public School System of Mobile |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15kFAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA220 |year=1889 |title=History of Education in Alabama |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office |author=Willis G. Clark |series = U.S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information

| ref = {{harvid|Clark|1889}}

}}

{{cite book |title=Mobile in Photo-gravure |year=1892 |location=NY |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vh4oAAAAYAAJ }}
{{Citation |publisher = Houghton Mifflin and Company |location = Boston |title = Colonial Mobile |author = Peter J. Hamilton |date = 1897 |oclc = 3580977

|ol = 271548M }}

{{Citation

|publisher = Rand, McNally & Co.

|date = 1899

|location = Chicago

|title = Rand, McNally & Co.'s Handy Guide to the Southeastern States

|chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/randmcnallycosha07chic#page/230/mode/2up

|chapter= Mobile

|via=Internet Archive

}}

=Published in the 20th century=

{{Citation

| publisher = K. Baedeker | location = Leipzig | edition = 4th | title = The United States | date = 1909 | oclc = 02338437 |chapter=Mobile |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/unitedstateswith00karl#page/572/mode/2up }}

{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Mobile |volume= 18 | pages = 635–636 |date=1910 |ref= {{harvid|Britannica|1910}} |short= 1}}
{{Citation |publisher = Commercial Printing Company |location = Mobile |title =Bicentennial Celebration ... of the Founding of Mobile |author = Peter J. Hamilton |date = 1912

|ol = 23365574M }}

{{Citation |author = Erwin Craighead |title = The literary history of Mobile |date = 1914 |oclc = 5058844 |ol = 6576822M }}
{{cite book |chapter=Mobile |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GtINAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA353 |year=1919 |title=Automobile Blue Book |location=USA

|title-link = Automobile Blue Book}} [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/mobile_al_1919.jpg Map]

{{Citation |publisher = S.J. Clarke |location = Chicago |title = History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography |author = Thomas McAdory Owen |date = 1921 |oclc = 1872130 |chapter=Mobile |chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/historyofalabama02owen#page/1000/mode/2up

| ref = {{harvid|Owen|1921}}

}}

{{Citation

|location = New York |publisher=Hastings House |title = Alabama; a Guide to the Deep South |series=American Guide Series |author = Federal Writers' Project |date = 1941 |chapter=Mobile |author-link=Federal Writers' Project |hdl=2027/uc1.b4469723 }}

{{citation |title=Mobile, Alabama's City in Motion |year=1968 |volume=133 |work=National Geographic Magazine |location=Washington DC }}
{{cite journal |author=Harriet Elizabeth Amos |title= All-Absorbing Topics: Food and Clothing in Confederate Mobile |journal= Atlanta Historical Society Journal |number=22 |year= 1978 }}
{{Citation |publisher = E.P. Dutton |location = New York |title = Encyclopedia of American Cities |date = 1980 |ol=4120668M |editor=Ory Mazar Nergal |chapter=Mobile, AL }}
{{cite journal |author=Harriet Elizabeth Amos |title=City Belles: Images and Realities of Lives of White Women in Antebellum Mobile |journal=Alabama Review |volume= 34 |year= 1981 }}
{{cite book |author=Harriet Elizabeth Amos |title=Cotton City: Urban Development in Antebellum Mobile |publisher= University of Alabama Press |year= 1985 }}
{{Citation |publisher = University of North Carolina Press |isbn = 0807818836 |location = Chapel Hill |title = New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910 |author = Don Harrison Doyle |date = 1990 }}
Bergeron, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
Higganbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
{{cite journal |title=Organized Labor and the Struggle for Black Equality in Mobile during World War II |author= Bruce Nelson |journal= Journal of American History |volume= 80 |issue= 3 |pages= 952–988 |year=1993 |jstor=2080410 |doi= 10.2307/2080410 }}
{{Citation

|chapter-url = https://openlibrary.org/books/ia:worldencyclopedi00kuri/World_encyclopedia_of_cities

|title = World Encyclopedia of Cities

|date = 1994

|location = Santa Barbara, Calif.

|publisher=ABC-CLIO

|author=George Thomas Kurian

|volume=1: North America

|chapter= Mobile, Alabama

|ol = 1431653M

|via=Internet Archive

}} (fulltext)

{{Citation |publisher = St. Martin's Press |location = New York |series = Let's Go |title=USA |date = 1999 |ol=24937240M |chapter=The South: Alabama: Mobile

}}

=Published in the 21st century=

{{Citation

|publisher = University Alabama Press |isbn = 9780817310653 |title = Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City |author = Michael Thomason |date = 2001 }}

Fitzgerald, Michael W. Urban Emancipation: Popular Politics in Reconstruction Mobile, 1860–1890. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
Pride, Richard. The Political Use of Racial Narratives: School Desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, 1954–1997. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
{{cite journal |title=French Colonial Archaeology at Old Mobile: An Introduction |author= Gregory A. Waselkov |journal= Historical Archaeology |volume= 36 |year=2002 }}

External links

{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1794 |title=Mobile |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Alabama |author= Scotty E. Kirkland |publisher=Alabama Humanities Foundation }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.museumofmobile.com/timeline.php |title=Carnival/Mobile Mardi Gras Timeline |publisher= History Museum of Mobile }}
{{cite web |publisher=Birmingham Public Library |url=http://www.bplonline.org/virtual/subjects/Default.aspx?s_page=117&s_section=257 |title=Selected Resources for Alabama Counties: Mobile County }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/hrb/search.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925161035/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/hrb/search.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 25, 2009 |title=(City: Mobile) |work= Alabama Repositories Directory |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives & History |quote=A listing of public entities and private organizations holding historical records, artifacts, and other cultural heritage materials }}
{{cite web |url=https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/search/collection/photo!records!quarterly!register!adah!voices!wpa!dictionary!splc/searchterm/Mobile%20(Ala.)/field/subjec/mode/exact/conn/and/rmcoll/splc/order/nosort/ad/asc |title=ADAH Digital Collections |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History }}. Materials related to Mobile, Ala.
[http://dp.la/search?utf8=✓&page_size=100&q=Mobile+Alabama Items related to Mobile, Alabama], various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/mobile_1815.jpg Map of Mobile], 1815
[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Mobile%20Alabama Materials related to Mobile, Alabama], various dates (via US Library of Congress, Prints & Photos Division)
[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=✓&keywords=mobile+alabama#/?scroll=0 Materials related to Mobile, Alabama], various dates (via New York Public Library, Digital Collections)
[https://backinthedayinmobilecounty.com/ Back in the Day in Mobile County] - Free genealogy records, family stories, area descriptions and information on Mobile historical sites.

Mobile

Category:Years in Alabama