The Mobile Cotton Exchange was a commodities exchange that operated from 1871 until 1942 in the
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
port city of
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
to enable key local
cotton factor
In the antebellum and Reconstruction era South, most cotton planters relied on cotton factors (also known as cotton brokers) to sell their crops for them.
Description
The cotton factor was usually located in an urban center of commerce, such as ...
s and merchants to maintain control over cotton sales, warehousing, and shipping from Mobile Bay.
It was the third cotton exchange founded in the United States, following those in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and
. The exchange in Mobile was followed by exchanges in
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
and
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
.
History
Following the initial success of the exchanges seen in New York and New Orleans, the cotton brokers in Mobile saw the need to protect their local market and to coordinate the rules and regulations for the sale, purchase and handling of cotton. With Thomas K. Irwin as chairman, they founded their exchange on St. Michael Street in December 1871.
During the first half of the 1870s the exchange covered fifty-one counties in Alabama and twenty in
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
. The exchange moved from St. Michael Street in 1886, into a new
Rudolph Benz
Rudolph Benz (1847 - 1906) was an architect in the United States. He immigrated from Germany. He lived at 201 Rapier Avenue in Mobile. He was buried at Magnolia Cemetery
Works
* Mobile Cotton Exchange (1886), burned in 1917
*Baldwin County Cou ...
-designed building at the corner of St. Francis and North Commerce streets. That building burned in 1917, with the firm relocating to another St. Francis Street address facing
Bienville Square
Bienville Square is a historic city park in the center of downtown Mobile, Alabama. Bienville Square was named for Mobile's founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.Delaney, Caldwell. ''The Story of Mobile'', page 79. Mobile, Alabama: ...
. The Mobile Cotton Exchange closed in 1942 with an August newspaper announcement that it was closing until the war's end.
It never reopened, however.
References
{{reflist
Financial services companies established in 1871
Commodity exchanges in the United States
Companies based in Mobile, Alabama
Defunct companies based in Alabama
Cotton organizations
Defunct companies based in Louisiana
Agricultural organizations based in the United States
American companies disestablished in 1942
Cotton industry in the United States