Mobile ( , ) is a city and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Mobile County, Alabama Mobile County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is the third-most populous county in the state after Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson and Madison County, Alabama, Ma ...

, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobile's population increased to 204,689 residents, making it the second-most populous city in Alabama. Mobile is the principal municipality of the

Mobile metropolitan area The Mobile Metropolitan Area comprises Mobile County, Alabama, Mobile in the southwest corner of Alabama in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the metropolitan area had a population of 430,197. The Mobile metropoli ...

. Alabama's only saltwater port, Mobile is located on the

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, Georg ...

at the head of

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow 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. T ...

on the north-central

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...

. The

Port of Mobile The Port of Mobile is a deep-water port in Mobile, Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, United States. It is the only deep-water port in Alabama. It was ranked by the United States Army Corps of Engineers as the 9th largest port by tonnage in the nation d ...

has always played a key role in the economic health of the city, beginning with the settlement as an important trading center between the French colonists and Native Americans, down to its current role as the 12th-largest port in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.Drechsel, Emanuel. ''Mobilian Jargon: Linguistic and Sociohistorical Aspects of a Native American Pidgin''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the city surrendered to Federal forces on April 12, 1865, after Union victories at two forts protecting the city. Considered one of the

's cultural centers, Mobile has several art museums, a symphony orchestra, professional opera, professional ballet company, and a large concentration of historic architecture. Mobile is known for having the oldest organized

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

celebrations in the United States. Alabama's French Creole population celebrated this festival from the first decade of the 18th century. Beginning in 1830, Mobile was host to the first formally organized Carnival

mystic society A mystic society is a Mardi Gras social organization in Mobile, Alabama, that presents parades and/or balls for the enjoyment of its members, guests, and the public. The New Orleans Krewe is patterned after Mobile's Mystics."Carnival/Mobile Mardi ...

to celebrate with a parade in the United States. (In New Orleans, such a group is called a ''krewe''.)

History

Etymology

The city gained its name from the Mobile tribe that the French colonists encountered living in the area of

. Although it is debated by Alabama historians, they may have been descendants of the Native American tribe whose small fortress town,

Mabila Mabila (also spelled Mavila, Mavilla, Maubila, or Mauvilla, as influenced by Spanish or French transliterations) was a small fortress town known to the paramount chief Tuskaloosa in 1540, in a region of present-day central Alabama. The exact loca ...

, was used to conceal several thousand native warriors before an attack in 1540 on the expedition of Spanish explorer

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...

. About seven years after the founding of the French Mobile settlement, the Mobile tribe, along with the Tohomé, gained permission from the colonists to settle near the fort.

Colonial

The European settlement of Mobile began with French colonists, who in 1702 constructed ''

Fort Louis de la Louisiane 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, ...

'', at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff on the

, as the first capital of the

French colony The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas Colony, colonies, protectorates, and League of Nations mandate, mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "Firs ...

La Louisiane Louisiana or French Louisiana was a district of New France. In 1682 the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle erected a cross near the mouth of the Mississippi River and claimed the whole of the drainage basin of the Missis ...

. It was founded by

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

brothers

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1706) or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French ...

and

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (; ; February 23, 1680 – March 7, 1767), also known as Sieur de Bienville, was a French-Canadian colonial administrator in New France. Born in Montreal, he was an early governor of Louisiana (New France) ...

, to establish control over France's claims to ''La Louisiane''. Bienville was appointed as royal governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile's Roman Catholic parish was established on July 20, 1703, by

Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier Jean-Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de St. Vallier (November 14, 1653 – December 26, 1727) was a French Catholic prelate who served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Quebec in the French colony of New France. Born in Grenoble, Fra ...

, Bishop of Quebec.Higginbotham, Jay. ''Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711'', pages 106–107. Museum of the City of Mobile, 1977. . The parish was the first French Catholic parish established on the

Gulf Coast of the United States The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states th ...

. In 1704, the ship ''Pélican'' delivered 23 Frenchwomen to the colony; passengers had contracted yellow fever at a stop in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 20–21. Though most of the "''Pélican'' girls" recovered, numerous colonists and neighboring Native Americans contracted the disease in turn and many died. This early period was also the occasion of the importation of the first African

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

, transported aboard a French supply ship from the French colony of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, where they had first been held. The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708, yet shrinking to 178 persons two years later due to disease. These additional outbreaks of disease and a series of floods resulted in Bienville ordering in 1711 that the settlement be relocated several miles downriver to its present location at the confluence of the

and

. A new earth-and-palisade Fort Louis was constructed at the new site during this time. The capital of

was moved in 1720 to

Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

, leaving Mobile to serve as a regional military and trading center. In 1723 the construction of a new brick fort with a stone foundation began and it was renamed Fort Condé in honor of

Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (Louis Henri Joseph; 18 August 1692 – 27 January 1740), was a French nobleman and politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1723 to 1726. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a '' p ...

. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, which Britain won, defeating France. By this treaty, France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain. This area was made a part of the expanded British

West Florida West Florida () was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. Great Britain established West and East Florida in 1763 out of land acquired from France and S ...

colony. The British changed the name of Fort Condé to Fort Charlotte, after

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of Un ...

. The British were eager not to lose any useful inhabitants and promised religious tolerance to the French colonists; ultimately 112 French colonists remained in Mobile.Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 44–45 The first permanent Jewish settlers came to Mobile in 1763 as a result of the new British rule and religious tolerance. Jews had not been allowed to officially reside in colonial French Louisiana due to the

Code Noir The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by King Louis XIV, Louis XIV of France in 1685 defining the conditions of Slavery in France, slavery in the French colonial empire and served as the code for slavery conduct in the French colonies ...

, a decree passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685 that forbade the exercise of any religion other than Roman Catholicism, and ordered all Jews out of France's colonies. Most of these colonial-era Jews in Mobile were merchants and traders from Sephardic Jewish communities in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

and

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

; they added to the commercial development of Mobile. In 1766 the total population was estimated to be 860, though the town's borders were smaller than during the French colonial period. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, West Florida and Mobile became a refuge for

loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

fleeing the other colonies.Delaney, Caldwell. ''The Story of Mobile'', page 45. Mobile, Alabama: Gill Press, 1953. While the British were dealing with their rebellious colonists along the Atlantic coast, the Spanish entered the war in 1779 as an ally of France. They took the opportunity to order

Bernardo de Galvez Bernardo is a given name, possibly derived from the Germanic Bernhard. It may refer to: People * Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Francis Xavier * Bernardo Accolti (1465–1536), Italian ...

, Governor of Louisiana, on an expedition east to retake West Florida. He captured Mobile during the

Battle of Fort Charlotte The Battle of Fort Charlotte, also known as the siege of Fort Charlotte, was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish general Bernardo de Gálvez against the Kingdom of Great Britain, British fortifications guarding the port of Mobile, Alabama, Mo ...

in 1780, as part of this campaign. The Spanish wished to eliminate any British threat to their Louisiana colony west of the Mississippi River, which they had received from France in the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Their actions were condoned by the revolting American colonies, partially evidenced by the presence of Oliver Pollack, representative of the American Continental Congress. Due to strong trade ties, many residents of Mobile and

remained loyal to the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. The Spanish renamed the fort as Fortaleza Carlota, and held Mobile as a part of Spanish

until 1813, when it was seized by United States General

James Wilkinson James Wilkinson (March 24, 1757 – December 28, 1825) was an American army officer and politician who was associated with multiple scandals and controversies during his life, including the Burr conspiracy. He served in the Continental Army du ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

19th century

By the time Mobile was included in the

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that was created under an organic act passed by the United States Congress, Congress of the United States. It was approved and signed into law by Presiden ...

in 1813, the population had dwindled to roughly 300 people. The city was included in the

Alabama Territory The Territory of Alabama (sometimes Alabama Territory) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States. The Alabama Territory was carved from the Mississippi Territory on August 15, 1817 and lasted until December 14, 1819, when i ...

in 1817, after

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

gained statehood. Alabama was granted statehood in 1819; Mobile's population had increased to 809 by that time. Mobile was well situated for trade, as its location tied it to a river system that served as the principal navigational access for most of Alabama and a large part of Mississippi. River transportation was aided by the introduction of

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

s in the early decades of the 19th century. By 1822, the city's population had risen to 2,800. The

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

in Great Britain created shortages of cotton, driving up prices on world markets. Much land well suited to growing cotton lies in the vicinity of the

, and its main tributaries the Tombigbee and

Alabama River The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa River, Tallapoosa and Coosa River, Coosa rivers, which unite about north of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery, near the town of Wetumpka, Alabama, Wetumpka. Over a co ...

s. A plantation economy using slave labor developed in the region and as a consequence Mobile's population quickly grew. It came to be settled by attorneys,

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, doctors, merchants and other professionals seeking to capitalize on trade with the upriver areas. Convent Visitation 01

From the 1830s onward, Mobile expanded into a city of commerce with a primary focus on the cotton and slave trades. Many slaves were transported by ship in the

coastwise slave trade The coastwise slave trade existed along the southern and eastern coastal areas of the United States in the antebellum years prior to 1861. Hundreds of vessels of various capacities domestically traded loads of slaves along waterways, generally ...

from the Upper South. There were many businesses in the city related to the slave trade – people to make clothes, food, and supplies for the slave traders and their wards. The city's booming businesses attracted merchants from the North; by 1850 10% of its population was from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, which was deeply involved in the cotton industry. Mobile was the slave-trading center of the state until the 1850s, when it was surpassed by Montgomery. The prosperity stimulated a building boom that was underway by the mid-1830s, with the building of some of the most elaborate structures the city had seen up to that point. This was cut short in part by the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression (economics), depression which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pes ...

and yellow fever epidemics. The waterfront was developed with wharves, terminal facilities, and fireproof brick warehouses. The exports of cotton grew in proportion to the amounts being produced in the Black Belt; by 1840 Mobile was second only to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in cotton exports in the nation. With the economy so focused on one crop, Mobile's fortunes were always tied to those of cotton, and the city weathered many financial crises. Mobile slaveholders owned relatively few slaves compared to planters in the upland

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

areas, but many households had domestic slaves, and many other slaves worked on the waterfront and on riverboats. The last slaves to enter the United States from the African trade were brought to Mobile on the slave ship ''Clotilda''. Among them was

Cudjoe Lewis Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis ( – July 17, 1935), born Oluale Kossola, and also known as Cudjo Lewis, was the third-to-last adult survivor of the Atlantic slave trade between Africa and the Americas. Together with 115 other African captives, he was broug ...

, who in the 1920s became the last survivor of the slave trade. Steamer loading cotton in Mobile

By 1853, fifty Jewish families lived in Mobile, including Philip Phillips, an attorney from

, who was elected to the Alabama State Legislature and then to the United States Congress. Many early Jewish families were descendants of Sephardic Jews who had been among the earliest colonial settlers in Charleston and Savannah. By 1860 Mobile's population within the city limits had reached 29,258 people; it was the 27th-largest city in the United States and 4th-largest in what would soon be the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

. The free population in the whole of Mobile County, including the city, consisted of 29,754 citizens, of which 1,195 were

free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (; ) were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who we ...

. Additionally, 1,785 slave owners in the county held 11,376 people in bondage, about one-quarter of the total county population of 41,130 people. During the

, Mobile was a Confederate city. The '' H. L. Hunley'', the first

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

to sink an enemy ship, was built in Mobile. One of the most famous

naval engagement Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. The armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be broadly d ...

s of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

was the

Battle of Mobile Bay The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fle ...

, resulting in the Union taking control of

on August 5, 1864.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city'', page 113. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. On April 12, 1865, three days after

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, the city surrendered to the Union army to avoid destruction after Union victories at nearby Spanish Fort and

Fort Blakeley The Battle of Fort Blakeley took place from April 2 to April 9, 1865, in Baldwin County, Alabama, about north of Spanish Fort, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the American Civil War. At the time, Blakeley, Alabama, had been the count ...

On May 25, 1865, the city suffered great loss when some three hundred people died as a result of an

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

at a federal

ammunition depot Supply depots are a type of military installation used by militaries to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to military units. Supply depots are responsible for nearly all other types of ...

on Beauregard Street. The explosion left a deep hole at the depot's location, and sank ships docked on the Mobile River; the resulting fires destroyed the northern portion of the city. Federal

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

in Mobile began after the Civil War and effectively ended in 1874 when the local Democrats gained control of the city government.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city'', page 153. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. The last quarter of the 19th century was a time of economic depression and municipal insolvency for Mobile. One example can be provided by the value of Mobile's exports during this period of depression. The value of exports leaving the city fell from $9 million in 1878 to $3 million in 1882.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city'', p. 145. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001.

20th century

The turn of the 20th century brought the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period in the United States characterized by multiple social and political reform efforts. Reformers during this era, known as progressivism in the United States, Progressives, sought to address iss ...

to Mobile. The economic structure developed with new industries, generating new jobs and attracting a significant increase in population.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pages 154–169. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. The population increased 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 to deepen the shipping channels. During and after World War I, manufacturing became increasingly vital to Mobile's economic health, with shipbuilding and steel production being two of the most important industries. During this time, social justice and race relations in Mobile worsened, however. The state passed a new constitution in 1901 that disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites; and the white Democratic-dominated legislature passed other discriminatory legislation. In 1902, the city government passed Mobile's first

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

ordinance, segregating the city streetcars. It legislated what had been informal practice, enforced by convention. Mobile's African-American population responded to this with a two-month boycott, but the law was not repealed. After this, Mobile's ''de facto'' segregation was increasingly replaced with legislated segregation as whites imposed

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...

to maintain supremacy. In 1911 the city adopted a commission form of government, which had three members elected by

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

voting. Considered to be progressive, as it would reduce the power of ward bosses, this change resulted in the elite white majority strengthening its power, as only the majority could gain election of at-large candidates. In addition, poor whites and blacks had already been disenfranchised. Mobile was one of the last cities to retain this form of government, which prevented smaller groups from electing candidates of their choice. But Alabama's white yeomanry had historically favored

single-member districts A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

in order to elect candidates of their choice.James Blacksher, Edward Still, Nick Quinton, Cullen Brown, and Royal Dumas, "Voting Rights in Alabama 1982–2006"
July 2006, RenewtheVRA.org, accessed March 12, 2015 The

red imported fire ant ''Solenopsis invicta'', the fire ant, or red imported fire ant (RIFA), is a species of ant native to South America. A member of the genus ''Fire ant, Solenopsis'' in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was Species description, described by Swiss ento ...

was first introduced into the United States via the Port of Mobile. Sometime in the late 1930s they came ashore off cargo ships arriving from South America. The ants were carried in the soil used as ballast on those ships. They have spread throughout the South and Southwest. Liberty ship at sea

Type T2-SE-A1 tanker Hat Creek underway at sea on 16 August 1943

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the defense buildup in Mobile shipyards resulted in a considerable increase in the city's white middle-class and working-class population, largely due to the massive influx of workers coming to work in the shipyards and at the Brookley Army Air Field.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pp. 213–217. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. Between 1940 and 1943, more than 89,000 people moved into Mobile to work for war effort industries. Mobile was one of eighteen United States cities producing

Liberty ships Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. ...

. Its

Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company The Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company (ADDSCO) located in Mobile, Alabama, was one of the largest marine production facilities in the United States during the 20th century. It began operation in 1917, and expanded dramatically during W ...

(ADDSCO) supported the war effort by producing ships faster than the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

could sink them. ADDSCO also churned out a copious number of

T2 tanker The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large numbers in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of 1 ...

s for the War Department.

Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation is a former shipbuilding corporation in Chickasaw, Alabama a few miles upstream of the Port of Mobile. Following the company's closure, the land became a part of the Chickasaw Shipyard Village Historic District. Hi ...

, a subsidiary of

Waterman Steamship Corporation Waterman is an American deep sea ocean carrier, specializing in liner services and time charter contracts. It is owned by SEACOR Holdings. History Waterman was founded in 1919 in Mobile, Alabama by John Barnett Waterman, Henry Crawford Slaton, ...

, focused on building freighters, s, and

minesweepers A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. The rapid increase of population in the city produced crowded conditions, increasing social tensions in the competition for housing and good jobs. In May 1943, a

race riot This is a list of ethnic riots by country, and includes riots based on Ethnic conflict, ethnic, Sectarian violence, sectarian, xenophobic, and Racial conflict, racial conflict. Some of these riots can also be classified as pogroms. Africa A ...

broke out between whites and blacks. ADDSCO management had long maintained segregated conditions at the shipyards, although the Roosevelt administration had ordered defense contractors to integrate facilities. That year ADDSCO promoted 12 blacks to positions as welders, previously reserved for whites; and whites objected to the change by rioting on May 24. The mayor appealed to the governor to call in the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

to restore order, but it was weeks before officials allowed African Americans to return to work.Scotty E. Kirkland, "Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company (ADDSCO)"
''Encyclopedia of Alabama'' online, 2008, update August 10, 2015 In the late 1940s, the transition to the postwar economy was hard for the city, as thousands of jobs were lost at the shipyards with the decline in the defense industry. Eventually the city's social structure began to become more liberal. Replacing shipbuilding as a primary economic force, the paper and chemical industries began to expand. No longer needed for defense, most of the old military bases were converted to civilian uses. Following the war, in which many African Americans had served, veterans and their supporters stepped up activism to gain enforcement of their constitutional rights and social justice, especially in the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

South. During the 1950s the City of Mobile integrated its police force and

Spring Hill College Spring Hill College is a private Jesuit college in Mobile, Alabama. It was founded in 1830 by Bishop Michael Portier of Mobile. Along with being the oldest private college or university in the state of Alabama, it was the first Catholic college ...

accepted students of all races. Unlike in the rest of the state, by the early 1960s the city buses and lunch counters voluntarily desegregated. The Alabama legislature passed the Cater Act in 1949, allowing cities and counties to set up industrial development boards (IDB) to issue municipal bonds as incentives to attract new industry into their local areas. The city of Mobile did not establish a Cater Act board until 1962. George E. McNally, Mobile's first Republican mayor since Reconstruction, was the driving force behind the founding of the IDB. The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, believing its members were better qualified to attract new businesses and industry to the area, considered the new IDB as a serious rival. After several years of political squabbling, the Chamber of Commerce emerged victorious. While McNally's IDB prompted the Chamber of Commerce to become more proactive in attracting new industry, the chamber effectively shut Mobile city government out of economic development decisions. In 1963, three African-American students brought a case against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to Murphy High School.Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 260–261 This was nearly a decade after the United States Supreme Court had ruled in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

'' (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The federal district court ordered that the three students be admitted to Murphy for the 1964 school year, leading to the desegregation of Mobile County's school system. The civil rights movement gained congressional passage of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

and

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...

, which increased the percentage of black residents able to vote, ended multiple forms of segregation, and allowed the NAACP to return to Mobile. However, the city's commission form of government with

voting resulted in all positions being elected by the white majority, as African Americans could not command a majority for their candidates in the informally segregated city. Many forms of

de facto segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...

persisted for decades. Downtown Mobile 2008 03

In 1969, the

Brookley Air Force Base : ''For the civil use of Brookley AFB after 1969, see: Mobile Downtown Airport'' Brookley Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Mobile, Alabama. After it closed in 1969, it became what is now known as the Mobile Aero ...

was closed by the Department of Defense, dealing a blow to Mobile's economy. It affected about 10% of workers in the city. In total, 16,000 people lost their job. Mobile's city commission form of government was challenged and finally overturned in 1982 in '' City of Mobile v. Bolden'', which was remanded by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

to the district court. Finding that the city had adopted a commission form of government in 1911 and

positions with discriminatory intent, the court proposed that the three members of the city commission should be elected from

, likely ending their division of executive functions among them. Mobile's state legislative delegation in 1985 finally enacted a mayor-council form of government, with seven members elected from

. This was approved by voters. As white conservatives increasingly entered the Republican Party in the late 20th century, African-American residents of the city have elected members of the Democratic Party as their candidates of choice. Since the change to single-member districts, more women and African Americans were elected to the council than under the at-large system. Beginning in the late 1980s, newly elected mayor Mike Dow and the city council began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive city. The city initiated construction of numerous new facilities and projects, and the restoration of hundreds of historic downtown buildings and homes. City and county leaders also made efforts to attract new business ventures to the area.

Geography

Mobile is located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , with of it being land, and , or 22.5% of the total, being covered by water. The elevation in Mobile ranges from on Water Street in downtown to at the Mobile Regional Airport.

Neighborhoods

Mobile has a number of notable historic neighborhoods. These include

Ashland Place Ashland may refer to: Places Canada *Ashland, New Brunswick United Kingdom *Simpson and Ashland, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire United States Historic sites *Ashland (Henry Clay estate), a historic site in Lexington, Kentucky, and the source of ...

Campground Campsite, campground, and camping pitch are all related terms regarding a place used for camping (an overnight stay in an outdoor area). The usage differs between British English and American English. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an ...

, Church Street East, De Tonti Square, Leinkauf, Lower Dauphin Street, Midtown, Oakleigh Garden, Old Dauphin Way, Spring Hill, and

Toulminville Toulminville is a neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama, United States. It began as a small settlement on the property of Harry Theophilus Toulmin, who served as Sheriff of Mobile County in the 1830s. During the American Civil War, Toulminville w ...

Climate

Mobile's geographical location on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

provides a mild

subtropical climate The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 3 ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cfa''), with hot, humid summers and mild, rainy winters. The record low temperature was , set on February 13, 1899, and the record high was , set on August 29, 2000. A 2007 study determined that Mobile is the wettest city in the contiguous 48 states, with of average annual rainfall over a 30-year period.Thompsen, Andrea (May 22, 2007)
Study Reveals Top 10 Wettest United States Cities.
Mobile averages 120 days per year with at least of rain. Precipitation is heavy year-round. On average, July and August are the wettest months, with frequent and often-heavy shower and thunderstorm activity. October stands out as a slightly drier month than all others.

Snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

is rare in Mobile. The most recent snowfall event occurred January 21, 2025, which produced record-breaking accumulations of up to 8.5 inches within the city and near-blizzard conditions. The snowfall event previous to this one was on December 8, 2017. Mobile is occasionally affected by major tropical storms and hurricanes. The city suffered a major natural disaster on the night of September 12, 1979, when category-3

Hurricane Frederic Hurricane Frederic, known in Latin America as Federico, was an intense and damaging tropical cyclone that carved a path of destruction from the Lesser Antilles to Quebec, in particular devastating areas of the United States Gulf Coast. Though ...

passed over the heart of the city. The storm caused tremendous damage to Mobile and the surrounding area. Mobile had moderate damage from

Hurricane Opal Hurricane Opal was a large and powerful tropical cyclone that caused severe and extensive damage along the northern Gulf Coast of the United States in October 1995. The fifteenth named storm, ninth hurricane and strongest tropical cyclone of th ...

on October 4, 1995, and

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

on September 16, 2004. Mobile suffered millions of dollars in damage from

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

on August 29, 2005, which damaged much of the Gulf Coast cities. A storm surge of , topped by higher waves, damaged eastern sections of the city with extensive flooding in downtown, the

Battleship Parkway Battleship Parkway, commonly referred to locally and in the media as the "Causeway", is a long causeway that carries US 90 and US 98 eastbound across Mobile Bay from the Bankhead Tunnel on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama to Spanish Fort, A ...

, and the elevated

Jubilee Parkway The Jubilee Parkway is a pair of parallel concrete viaduct bridges that carry Interstate 10 in Alabama, Interstate 10 across Mobile Bay from the George Wallace Tunnel on Blakeley Island (Alabama), Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama eastbound to ...

Christmas Day tornado

House on Springhill Avenue Mobile 12-29-2012

In late December 2012, the city suffered two tornado hits. On December 25, 2012, at 4:54 pm, a large wedge tornado touched down in the city. The tornado rapidly intensified as it moved north-northeast at speeds of up to . The path took the tornado into Midtown, causing damage or destruction to at least 100 structures. The heaviest damage to houses was along Carlen Street, Rickarby Place, Dauphin Street,

Old Shell Road Old Shell Road is a thoroughfare located in Mobile, a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. Old Shell Road is predominantly a two lane road, with a four lane section from Schillinger Road to University Boulevard, which was widened t ...

, Margaret Street, Silverwood Street, and Springhill Avenue. The tornado caused significant damage to the Carmelite Monastery, Little Flower Catholic Church, commercial real estate along Airport Boulevard and Government Street in the Midtown at the Loop neighborhood, Murphy High School, Trinity Episcopal Church, Springhill Avenue Temple, and Mobile Infirmary Hospital before moving into the neighboring city of Prichard. The tornado was classified as an

EF2 Elongation factors are a set of proteins that function at the ribosome, during protein synthesis, to facilitate translational elongation from the formation of the first to the last peptide bond of a growing polypeptide. Most common elongation ...

tornado by the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

on December 26. The path taken through the city was just a short distance east of the path taken days earlier, on December 20, by an EF1 tornado which had touched down near Davidson High School and taken a path ending in Prichard.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census, there were 187,041 people, 77,772 households, and 45,953 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 89,215 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 40.12% White, 51.06% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.80% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, and 3.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.23% of the population. After annexing areas west of the city in July 2023, Mobile's population increased to 204,689 residents, making it the second-most populous city in Alabama. The annexation shifted racial demographics; Mobile became a

majority-minority A majority-minority or minority-majority area is a term used to refer to a subdivision in which one or more racial, ethnic, and/or religious minorities (relative to the whole country's population) make up a majority of the local population. Term ...

city with Black or African American residents remaining the largest racial group. According to American Values Atlas data published in 2014, the majority of the population were Christians, with 36% identifying as white evangelical Protestant, 18% identifying as black Protestant, 13% as

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...

, and 7% as Catholic. 14% of the population identified as unaffiliated with any religion. According to the 2024

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

estimates, 19.7% of the population was under 18. The median age was 38.6. The average family size was 3.13 people. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

in Mobile was $50,156, while the median income for a family was $73,717. 15.2% of the population were living below the poverty line.

Economy

Aerospace, steel, ship building, retail, services, construction, medicine, and manufacturing are Mobile's major industries. After having economic decline for several decades, Mobile's economy began to rebound in the late 1980s. Between 1993 and 2003 roughly 13,983 new jobs were created as 87 new companies were founded and 399 existing companies were expanded. Defunct companies that had been founded or based in Mobile included

Delchamps Delchamps was a chain of supermarkets along the central Gulf Coast of the United States, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama. At the time of its acquisition in 1997, the company had 118 supermarkets in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida a ...

, and

Gayfers Gayfer's was a regional department store chain in the southern United States. Based in Mobile, Alabama, the chain of stores operated from 1879 until 1998 when it was taken over by Dillard's. History C.J. Gayfer migrated to Mobile, Alabama, from ...

. Current companies that were formerly based in the city include

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), is a group of Abstract strategy game, strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game ...

, Minolta-QMS, Morrison's, and the

. In addition to those discussed below, AlwaysHD, Foosackly's,

Integrity Media Integrity Music is part of the David C. Cook nonprofit group. Founded as a direct-to-consumer music club in 1987 as ''Integrity Music'', Integrity was at the forefront of contemporary worship music's widespread popularity of praise and worshi ...

, and Volkert, Inc. are headquartered in Mobile.

Major industry

Port of Mobile

Mobile's Alabama State Docks underwent the largest expansion in its history in the early 21st century. It expanded its container processing and storage facility and increased container storage at the docks by over 1,000% at a cost of over $300 million, a project completed in 2005. Despite the expansion of its container capabilities and the addition of two massive new cranes, the port went from 9th largest to the 12th largest by tonnage in the nation from 2008 to 2010.

Shipyards

Shipbuilding began to make a major comeback in Mobile in 1999 with the founding of

Austal USA Austal USA is an American shipbuilder based on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama. It is a subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder Austal, operating under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently and separately on s ...

. A subsidiary of the Australian company

Austal Austal Limited is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, High-spee ...

, it expanded its production facility for United States defense and commercial aluminum shipbuilding on Blakeley Island in 2005. Austal announced in October 2012, after winning a new defense contract and completing another building within their complex on the island, that it would expand its workforce from 3,000 to 4,500 employees.

Atlantic Marine Atlantic Marine was an American shipbuilding and construction company. It operated two shipyards, one in Mobile, Alabama and the original corporate location, a smaller one in Jacksonville, Florida where its headquarters was located. It was acquir ...

operated a major shipyard at the former Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company site on

Pinto Island Pinto Island is an island in the U.S. state of Alabama, within the city limits of Mobile. Located on the northwestern coast of Mobile Bay, it is bounded on the west by the Mobile River, on the south by Mobile Bay, on the east by the Spanish Rive ...

. It was acquired by British defense conglomerate

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

in May 2010 for $352 million. Doing business as

BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards is a division of BAE Systems Ship Repair, which itself is a subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc., the North American arm of British defense conglomerate BAE Systems. It was formed through the acquisition of Atlantic M ...

, the company continues to operate the site as a full-service shipyard, employing approximately 600 workers with plans to expand.

Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley

The

Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley The Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley is an industrial complex and airport in Mobile, Alabama, United States, which lies adjacent to the western shore of Mobile Bay. It is owned and operated by the Mobile Airport Authority. It was known by a variety of ...

is an industrial complex and airport located south of the central business district of the city. It is the largest industrial and transportation complex in the region, having more than 70 companies, many of which are

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

, spread over . Notable employers at Brookley include

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

North America Engineering ( Airbus Military North America's facilities are at the Mobile Regional Airport),

VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering (VT MAE) provides commercial aircraft maintenance to passenger and cargo aircraft to many of the world's leading airlines. It is located within the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Alabama and is one of the largest emp ...

(a division of

ST Engineering ST Engineering, is a global technology, defence and engineering group with a diverse portfolio of businesses across the aerospace, smart city, defence and public security segments. Headquartered in Singapore, the group reported a revenue of ov ...

), and Continental Motors. Plans for an

Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fami ...

aircraft assembly plant in Mobile were formally announced by

CEO Fabrice Brégier from the Mobile Convention Center on July 2, 2012. The plans include a $600 million factory at the Brookley Aeroplex for the assembly of the A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. It was planned to employ up roughly 1,000 full-time workers when fully operational. Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on April 8, 2013, with it becoming operable by 2015 and producing up to 50 aircraft per year by 2017. The assembly plant is the company's first factory to be built within the United States. It was announced on February 1, 2013, that Airbus had hired Alabama-based

Hoar Construction Hoar Construction is a privately held construction company specializing in commercial, industrial, health care, government, cultural/entertainment, education, residential, hospitality, and retail/mixed use construction. Founded in 1940 by Friend ...

to oversee construction of the facility. The factory officially opened on September 14, 2015, covering one million square feet on 53 acres of flat grassland. On October 16, 2017, Airbus announced a partnership with

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation, a division of Bombardier Inc., is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. The company currently produces the Global and Challenger series of business jets. At its peak, Bombardier operated manufacturing plants in 27 c ...

, taking over a majority share of the

Bombardier CSeries The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launche ...

airliner program. As a result of this partnership, Airbus plans to open an assembly line for CSeries aircraft in Mobile, particularly to serve the US market. This effort may allow the companies to circumvent high import tariffs on the CSeries family. The aircraft was renamed the Airbus A220 on July 10, 2018. Production started in August 2019; the first A220 from the new line is due to be delivered to Delta in the third quarter of 2020.

ThyssenKrupp

German technology conglomerate

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It resulted from the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and E ...

broke ground on a $4.65 billion combined stainless and

carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

processing facility in Calvert, a few miles north of Mobile, in 2007. Original projections promised eventual employment for 2,700 people. The facility became operational in July 2010. The company put both its carbon mill in Calvert and a steel slab-making unit in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

up for sale in May 2012, citing rising production costs and a worldwide decrease in demand. ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel division, Inoxum, including the stainless portion of the Calvert plant, was sold to Finnish stainless steel company Outokumpu Oyi in 2012.

Top employers

According to the City's 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are:

Unemployment rate

The

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the government of the United States, U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics, labor economics and ...

unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted).

Arts and culture

Unlike other Alabama cities, Mobile's French and Spanish colonial history has given it a culture distinguished by French, Spanish, Creole, African, and Catholic heritage, in addition to later British and American influences. The annual

celebration is an example of its differences. Mobile has the longest history of celebrating

in the United States, dating to the early 18th century during the French colonial period."Mardi Gras in Mobile" (history), Jeff Sessions, Senator, Library of Congress, 2006, webpage
LibCongress-2665
/ref> Carnival in Mobile evolved over 300 years from a sedate French Catholic tradition to a mainstream multi-week celebration. Mobile's official cultural ambassadors are the

Azalea Trail Maids The ''Azalea Trail Maids'' is a group of fifty high school seniors chosen yearly to serve as "Official Ambassadors" for the city of Mobile, Alabama. The Maids, wearing dresses meant to evoke Southern charm and hospitality, make appearances at ma ...

, meant to embody the ideals of

Southern hospitality Southern hospitality is a phrase used in American English to describe a cultural stereotype of the Southern United States, with residents perceived to show kindness, warmth, and welcoming of visitors to their homes, or to the South in general. O ...

Carnival and Mardi Gras

The Carnival season has expanded throughout the late fall and winter: balls in the city may be scheduled as early as November, with the

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

s beginning after January 5 and the Twelfth Day of Christmas or Epiphany on January 6. Carnival celebrations end at midnight on

, which falls on the Tuesday before

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

. During the Carnival season, mystic societies build floats, parade through downtown, and toss small gifts to spectators. They also hold formal

masquerade ball A masquerade ball (or bal masqué) is a special kind of formal ball which many participants attend in costume wearing masks. (Compare the word "masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal " costume parties" may be a descend ...

s, usually by invitation only. Mobile Mardi Gras 2010 48

Carnival was first celebrated in Mobile in 1703 when colonial French Catholic settlers carried out their traditional celebration at the

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, ...

. Mobile's first Carnival society was established in 1711 with the ''Boeuf Gras Society'' (Fatted Ox Society). In 1830 Mobile's Cowbellion de Rakin Society was the first formally organized and masked mystic society in the United States to celebrate with a parade. The Cowbellions began their parade with rakes, hoes, and cowbells. They introduced horse-drawn floats in 1840. The Striker's Independent Society, formed in 1843, is the oldest surviving mystic society in the United States. Carnival celebrations were canceled during the

. Founded in 2004, the Conde Explorers in 2005 were the first integrated Mardi Gras society to parade in downtown Mobile. The Explorers were featured in the documentary, ''The Order of Myths'' (2008), by

Margaret Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a survivor of the RMS ''Titanic'', which sank in 1912, and she unsuccess ...

about Mobile's Mardi Gras.

Archives and libraries

The National African American Archives and Museum features the history of African-American participation in Mardi Gras, slavery-era artifacts, and portraits and biographies of famous African Americans. The University of South Alabama Archives are open to the public and house primary sources relating to the history of the university, Mobile, and southern Alabama. The Mobile Municipal Archives contains the extant city records, dating from the Mississippi Territory period. The Mobile Genealogical Society Library and Media Center features handwritten manuscripts and published materials that are available for use in genealogical research. The

Mobile Public Library The Mobile Public Library is a public library system primarily serving Mobile County, Alabama. The system is a department of the city of Mobile and receives funding from Mobile County and the city of Saraland. History The Mobile Public Library ...

system serves Mobile and consists of eight branches across Mobile County. Its local history and genealogy division is located near the Ben May Main Library on Government Street. The Saint Ignatius Archives, Museum and Theological Research Library contains primary sources, artifacts, documents, photographs and publications that pertain to the history of Saint Ignatius Church and School, the Catholic history of the city, and the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Arts and entertainment

The

Mobile Museum of Art The Mobile Museum of Art (MMofA) is an art museum located in Mobile, Alabama. It features extensive art collections from the United States, Europe, and non-western art. The museum hosts exhibitions, multi-disciplinary programs (including film, ...

features permanent exhibits that span several centuries of art and culture. The museum was expanded in 2002 to approximately . The Centre for the Living Arts is an organization that operates the historic Saenger Theatre and Space 301, a contemporary art gallery. The Saenger Theatre opened in 1927 as a

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is a large, elaborately decorated movie theater built from the 1910s to the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. Wi ...

. Today it is a performing arts center, a small concert venue, and home to the

Mobile Symphony Orchestra The Mobile Symphony Orchestra is the symphonic orchestra of Mobile, Alabama. Scott Speck is the current music director. Concerts The Mobile Symphony Orchestra holds a 7 concert season from September to May of each year. The season consists of 6 ...

. The Crescent Theater in downtown Mobile has shown

arthouse film An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...

s since 2008. MobileDomeJuly07

The

Mobile Civic Center Mobile Civic Center (formerly Mobile Municipal Auditorium) was a multi-purpose facility located in Mobile, Alabama. Owned by the Mobile, Alabama, City of Mobile and operated by ASM Global, the facility consisted of three venues: a theater, an exp ...

contains three facilities under one roof. The building has an arena, a theater, and an exposition hall. It is the primary concert venue for the city and home to the

Mobile Opera Mobile Opera is an opera company located in Mobile, Alabama and is one of the oldest performing arts organizations in the United States, as well as the oldest performing arts organization in the State of Alabama, having been founded as the "Mobile ...

and Mobile Ballet. A variety of events are held at the Arthur C. Outlaw Convention Center. The city has hosted the Greater Gulf State Fair, each October since 1955. The city hosted BayFest, an annual three-day music festival, from 1995–2015. Mobile also holds the Ten Sixty Five free music festival. The Mobile Theatre Guild is a nonprofit

community theatre Community theatre refers to any Theatre, theatrical performance made in relation to particular Community, communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a communit ...

that has served the city since 1947. It is a member of the Mobile Arts Council, an umbrella organization for the arts in Mobile. Mobile is also host to the Joe Jefferson Players, Alabama's oldest continually running community theatre. The group debuted on December 17, 1947, and was named in honor of comedic actor Joe Jefferson, who spent part of his teenage years in Mobile.

Museums

Mobile is home to a variety of museums. Battleship Memorial Park is a military park on the shore of Mobile Bay. It features the World War II era

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

, the World War II era

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Memorials, and historical military equipment. The History Museum of Mobile showcases centuries of local history in the

Old City Hall Old City Hall may refer to: Asia In Hong Kong * Old City Hall (Hong Kong) Europe In Croatia * Old City Hall (Zagreb) In Denmark * Old City Hall (1479–1728), in Copenhagen * Old City Hall (1728–1795), in Copenhagen * Old City Hall (Aalborg ...

. The Oakleigh Historic Complex are three house museums that portray the daily lives of enslaved, working class, and upper class people during the 19th century. The Mobile Carnival Museum houses the city's

history and memorabilia. The Bragg-Mitchell Mansion (1855), Richards DAR House (1860), and the Condé-Charlotte House (1822) are

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

house museums. The Mobile Medical Museum in the French colonial-style Vincent-Doan House chronicles the history of medicine in the city. The Phoenix Fire Museum in the restored Phoenix Volunteer Fire Company Number 6 building covers fire companies dating to 1838. The Mobile Police Department Museum chronicles the history of the city's law enforcement. The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center is a non-profit science center located in downtown. The

Dauphin Island Sea Lab The Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) is Alabama's primary marine education and research center. DISL is the home site of the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium and was founded by an act of the Alabama State Legislature in 1971. It also has a ...

is located south of the city, on Dauphin Island near the mouth of

Historic architecture

Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile

Mobile has antebellum architectural examples of

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

, and

Creole cottage Creole architecture in the United States is present in buildings in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South, and also in the U.S. associated territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A variant is Ponce Creole style. Creole cottages In ...

. Later architectural styles in the city include the various

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

types,

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

types,

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...

, and Beaux-Arts. The city's

historic districts A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...

include: Old Dauphin Way, Oakleigh Garden, Lower Dauphin Street, Leinkauf, De Tonti Square, Church Street East,

, and Midtown. Fires in 1827 and 1839 destroyed the city's primarily wooden colonial architecture. The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was built on the colonial-era Campo Santo cemetery, of which no trace remains. Several historic cemeteries were established shortly after the colonial era. The

Church Street Graveyard Church Street Graveyard is a historic city cemetery located in Mobile, Alabama. The cemetery is situated on and is surrounded by a brick wall that dates back to 1830. At the time the cemetery was established, it lay about a half-mile away from ...

contains above-ground tombs and monuments spread over and was founded in 1819. The nearby Magnolia Cemetery was established in 1836 and served as Mobile's primary burial site during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mobile's

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community dates back to the 1820s, and the city has two historic

Jewish cemeteries A Jewish cemetery ( ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' (house of sepulcher ...

Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery, also known as the Reformed Temple Jewish Cemetery, is a historic Jewish cemetery located in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was established by Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim in 1876 after their previous cemetery, Je ...

and Ahavas Chesed Cemetery. Sha'arai Shomayim is the older of the two.

Sports

Football

Football is the most popular spectator sport in the state. Alabama has never had a top-level professional football team in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

, but Mobile is one of several Alabama cities with a college football tradition. Mobile has been home to the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

since 1951, featuring the best college seniors in

NCAA football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

. Mobile is the home of two

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadiums. The Ladd-Peebles Stadium opened in 1948 and has a current capacity of 40,646, making it the fourth-largest stadium in the state.

Hancock Whitney Stadium Hancock Whitney Stadium is a 25,450-seat multi-purpose stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. It is the home of the South Alabama Jaguars football program, starting with the 2020 South Alabama Jaguars footba ...

opened in 2020 on the campus of

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May 1963 and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alaba ...

and has a current capacity of 25,450. The

68 Ventures Bowl The 68 Ventures Bowl is a postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game that has been played annually in Mobile, Alabama since 1999. In 2021, the game was moved from Ladd–Peebles Stadium to Hancock Whitney Stadium, on th ...

, originally known as the Mobile Alabama Bowl and later the GMAC Bowl, GoDaddy.com Bowl, Dollar General Bowl, and LendingTree Bowl, has been played at Hancock Whitney Stadium since 2021. The game was originally played at Ladd–Peebles Stadium from 1999 to 2020. It features opponents from the

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

and Mid-American conferences. Since 1988, Ladd–Peebles Stadium has hosted the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic. The top graduating high school seniors from their respective states compete each June. The University of South Alabama in Mobile established a football team in 2007, which went undefeated in its 2009 inaugural season. Their program moved to Division I/FBS in 2013 as a member of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

. The team currently plays at Hancock Whitney Stadium, after playing at Ladd-Peebles Stadium prior to the start of the 2020 Season.

Other sports and facilities

Mobile has been home to

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

teams from the late nineteenth century to 2019. Three Southern League teams operated out of Mobile intermittently in the nineteenth century: the Swamp Angels, Blackbirds, and Bluebirds. In the twentieth century, several teams, each called the Bears, operated at different times. Mobile's Hank Aaron Stadium was the home of the Minor League

Mobile BayBears The Mobile BayBears were a Minor League Baseball team based in Mobile, Alabama, United States. The team, which played in the Southern League, served as the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres (1997–2006), Arizona Diamondbacks (2007–2 ...

from 1997 to 2019. South Alabama basketball is a mid-major team in the Sun Belt Conference. They play their home games at the

Mitchell Center The Mitchell Center is a 10,041-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. It was completed in 1998 and is the home to the University of South Alabama Jaguars basketball teams. The Center is na ...

. The Archbishop Lipscomb Athletic Complex is home of AFC Mobile, which is a

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

team. The public Mobile Tennis Center includes over 50 courts, all lighted and hard-court. For golfers, Magnolia Grove, part of the

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is a collection of championship caliber golf courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., distributed across the state of Alabama, as part of investments by the Retirement Systems of Alabama. The Trail started ...

, has 36 holes. The Falls course was recently named the best par 3 course in America.

The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions was a golf tournament for professional female golfers on the LPGA Tour. It was played annually from 1994 to 2007 at various sites in the Southeastern United States. It was last played at the Robert Tren ...

was played annually at Magnolia Grove from 1999 through 2007. The Mobile Bay LPGA Classic took its place in 2008, also held at Mobile's Magnolia Grove. Mobile is home to the Azalea Trail Run, which races through historic midtown and downtown Mobile. This 10k run has been an annual event since 1978. The Azalea Trail Run is one of the premier 10k road races in the United States, attracting runners from all over the world.

Parks and recreation

The Mobile Botanical Gardens feature a variety of flora spread over . It contains the Millie McConnell

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

Garden with 1,000 evergreen and native azaleas and the

Longleaf Pine The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...

Habitat.

Bellingrath Gardens and Home Bellingrath Gardens and Home is the public garden and historic home of Walter and Bessie Bellingrath, located on the Fowl River near Mobile, Alabama, United States. Walter Bellingrath was one of the first Coca-Cola bottlers in the Southeast, ...

, located on

Fowl River Fowl River is a brackish river in Mobile County, Alabama. It originates near the Mobile suburb of Theodore and then splits into the East Fowl River and the West Fowl River. The East Fowl River discharges into Mobile Bay south of Belle Fonta ...

, is a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

and historic mansion that dates to the 1930s. The 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center is a facility that allows visitors to learn about and access the Mobile, Tensaw,

Apalachee The Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River,Bobby ...

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

, Blakeley, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

rivers. It was established to serve as an easily accessible gateway to the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. It offers boat and adventure tours, a small theater, an exhibit hall, meeting facilities, walking trails, and a canoe and kayak landing. Mobile has more than 45 public parks within its limits, with some that are of special note. Bienville Square is a historic park in the Lower Dauphin Street Historic District. It assumed its current form in 1850 and is named for Mobile's founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. It was once the principal gathering place for residents, when the city was smaller, and remains popular today. Cathedral Square is a one-block performing arts park, also in the Lower Dauphin Street Historic District, which is overlooked by the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The Fort of Colonial Mobile is a reconstruction of the city's original Fort Condé, built on the original fort's footprint. It serves as the official welcome center and a colonial-era living history museum. Spanish Plaza is a downtown park that honors the Spanish phase of the city between 1780 and 1813. It features the ''Arches of Friendship'', a fountain presented to Mobile by the city of

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Spain. Langan Park, the largest of the parks at , features lakes, natural spaces, and contains the

, Azalea City Golf Course, Mobile Botanical Gardens and Playhouse in the Park.

Government

Since 1985 the government of Mobile has consisted of a mayor and a seven-member

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. The council members are elected from each of the seven city council

(SMDs). A

supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...

of five votes is required to conduct most council business. This form of city government was chosen by the voters after the previous form of government, which had three city commissioners, each elected at-large, was ruled in 1975 to substantially dilute the minority vote and violate the

Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movem ...

in '' Bolden v. City of Mobile''. The three at-large commissioners each required a majority vote to win. Due to appeals, the case took time to reach settlement and establishment of a new electoral system.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pp. 272–273. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. Municipal elections are held every four years and are nonpartisan. Sam Jones was elected in 2005 as the first African-American mayor of Mobile. He was re-elected for a second term in 2009 without opposition. His administration continued the focus on downtown redevelopment and bringing industries to the city. He ran for a third term in 2013 but was defeated by

Sandy Stimpson William S. "Sandy" Stimpson (born April 4, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the mayor of Mobile, Alabama since 2013. He was elected August 27, 2013, defeating incumbent Mayor Sam Jones. In 2017, Stimpson was reel ...

. Stimpson took office on November 4, 2013, and was re-elected on August 22, 2017. As of January 2022, the seven-member city council is made up of Cory Penn from District 1, William Carroll from District 2, C.J. Small from District 3, Ben Reynolds from District 4, Joel Daves from District 5, Scott Jones from District 6, and Gina Gregory from District 7.

Education

Bishop State clock tower May 2012 cropped

Public schools

Public schools in Mobile are operated by the

Mobile County Public School System Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS) is a school district based in unincorporated area, unincorporated Mobile County, Alabama, Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The system currently serves areas of Mobile County, including the city ...

. The Mobile County Public School System has an enrollment of approximately 55,200 students at 88 schools, employs approximately 7,026 public school employees, and had a budget in 2020–2021 of $623 million. The State of Alabama operates the

Alabama School of Mathematics and Science The Alabama School of Mathematics and Science (ASMS) is a Boarding school, public residential high school in the Midtown Historic District (Mobile, Alabama), Midtown neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama. ASMS is a member of the National Consortium ...

on Dauphin Street in Mobile, which boards advanced Alabama high school students. It was founded in 1989 to identify, challenge, and educate future leaders.

Private and parochial schools

UMS-Wright Preparatory School UMS-Wright is an independent co-educational University-preparatory school, prep school in Mobile, Alabama. The school was founded in 1893 as University Military School, and in 1988 it combined with Julius T Wright School for Girls (founded 195 ...

is an independent co-educational preparatory school. It assumed its current configuration in 1988, when the University Military School (founded 1893) and the Julius T. Wright School for Girls (1923) merged to form UMS-Wright. Many

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

s belong to the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile ''Former names: Apostolic Vicariate of Alabama and the Floridas (1825-1829), Diocese of Mobile (1829-1954; 1969-1980), Diocese of Mobile-Birmingham (1954-1969).'' The Archdiocese of Mobile (Latin: ''Archidiœcesis Mobiliensis'') is a Latin Church ...

. These include McGill-Toolen Catholic High School (1896), Corpus Christi School, Little Flower Catholic School (1934), Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic School (1900), Saint Dominic School (1961), Saint Ignatius School (1952), Saint Mary Catholic School (1867), Saint Pius X Catholic School (1957), and Saint Vincent DePaul Catholic School (1976). Notable Protestant schools include

St. Paul's Episcopal School St. Paul's Episcopal School is an independent, parochial, co-educational Christian preparatory school in Mobile, Alabama. Description The school has a four-level structure: the Lower School (Pre-K through 2nd grade), the Intermediate School (3r ...

(1947), Mobile Christian School (1961), St. Lukes Episcopal School (1961), Cottage Hill Baptist School System (1961), Faith Academy (1967), and Trinity Lutheran School (1955).

Tertiary

Major colleges and universities in Mobile that are accredited by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...

include the University of South Alabama, Spring Hill College, the University of Mobile, Faulkner University, and Bishop State Community College.

Undergraduate and postgraduate

The

is a public,

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

-level university established in 1963. The university is composed of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Mitchell College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Engineering, the College of Medicine, the Doctor of Pharmacy Program, the College of Nursing, the School of Computing, and the School of Continuing Education and Special Programs.

Faulkner University Faulkner University is a private Christian university in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. History The university was founded in 1942 by Rex Turner, Leonard Johnson and Joe Greer as "Montgomery B ...

is a four-year private

Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * Christianity, the Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ * Christian Church, an ecclesiological term used by denominations to describe the true body of Christia ...

-affiliated university based in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

. The Mobile campus was established in 1975 and offers bachelor's degrees in Business Administration, Management of Human Resources, and Criminal Justice. It also offers associate degrees in Business Administration, Business Information Systems, Computer & Information Science, Criminal Justice, Informatics, Legal Studies, Arts, and Science.

, chartered in 1830, was the first Catholic college in the southeastern United States and is the third oldest

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

college in the country. This four-year private college offers graduate programs in Business Administration, Education, Liberal Arts, Nursing (MSN), and Theological Studies. Undergraduate divisions and programs include the Division of Business, the Communications/Arts Division, International Studies, Inter-divisional Studies, the Language and Literature Division, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Philosophy and Theology, Political Science, the Sciences Division, the Social Sciences Division, and the Teacher Education Division. The

University of Mobile The University of Mobile is a private Baptist university in Prichard, Alabama, in Mobile County. It is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). History The university was founded in 1961 by the Alabama ...

is a four-year private Baptist-affiliated university in the neighboring city of Prichard that was founded in 1961.

Community college

Bishop State Community College Bishop State Community College is a public, historically black community college with campuses and facilities throughout Mobile and Washington Counties in Alabama. The college was founded in Mobile, Alabama, in 1927, and is accredited by the ...

, founded in 1927, is a public, historically African American,

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

. Bishop State has four campuses in Mobile.

Vocational

Several post-secondary

vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in non-religious contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity. A calling, in the reli ...

institutions have a campus in Mobile. These include the Alabama Institute of Real Estate, American Academy of Hypnosis, Bealle School of Real Estate, Charles Academy of Beauty Culture, Fortis College,

Virginia College Virginia College was a private for-profit college located primarily in the southeastern United States. It offered classes, certificates, diplomas, and degrees related to specific professions such as health sciences, information technology, busin ...

ITT Technical Institute ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) was a private for-profit technical institute with its headquarters in Carmel, Indiana and many campuses throughout the United States. Founded in 1969 and growing to 130 campuses in 38 states of the United Sta ...

, Remington College and White and Sons Barber College.

Media

Print

Mobile's ''

Press-Register The ''Press-Register'' (known from 1997 to 2006 as the ''Mobile Register'') was a newspaper serving the southwest Alabama counties of Mobile and Baldwin. The newspaper is a descendant of one founded in 1813, making the ''Press-Register'' Alab ...

'' is Alabama's oldest active newspaper, first published in 1813."Newhouse News Service – The Press-Register" (description), Newhouse News Service, 2007, webpag
NH-Register
. The paper focuses on Mobile and

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

counties and the city of Mobile, but also serves southwestern Alabama and southeastern Mississippi. Mobile's alternative newspaper is the ''

Lagniappe A lagniappe ( , ) is "a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase" (such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure." It can be u ...

''. The Mobile area's local magazine is ''Mobile Bay Monthly''. The ''Mobile Beacon'' was an alternative focusing on Mobile's African-American communities that ran from 1943 to 2018.

Mod Mobilian Mod Mobilian was a regional website focused on the music, art and culture of metro Mobile, the Eastern Shore, and the surrounding areas of the Southeastern United States. It was started in 2009 by co-editors Trey Lane and Doc Valso. It had ove ...

is a website with a focus on cultured living in Mobile.

Television

Mobile is served locally by a number of over-the-air television stations. These include WKRG 5 (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

), WALA 10 (

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

), WPMI 15 (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

), WMPV 21 (

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

), WDPM 23 (religious), WEIQ 42 (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

), and WFNA 55 (

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

). The region is also served by WEAR 3 (

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

), WSRE 31 (PBS), WHBR 34 (religious), WFGX 35 (

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

), WJTC 44 (independent), WFBD 48 (

America One America One was an American television network established in 1995 by USFR Media Group through its America One Television subsidiary.

), WPAN 53 (

Jewelry Television Jewelry Television is an American television network specializing in the sale of jewelry. On-air and online, the network is mainly branded by its jtv initials in small caps, lower-case letters. It has an estimated reach of more than 80 million ...

), and WAWD 58 (independent), all out of the

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

area. Mobile is part of the Mobile–Pensacola–

Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach, often referred to by the initialism FWB, is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is a principal city of the Crestview� ...

designated market area A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

, as defined by

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. It ranked 61st in the nation for the 2007–08 television season.

Radio

In total, 55 radio stations are located around the Mobile area and provide signals sufficiently strong to serve Mobile. Fourteen FM radio stations transmit from Mobile: WAVH, WBHY, WBLX, WDLT, WHIL, WKSJ, WKSJ-HD2,

WLVM WLVM (98.3 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Chickasaw, Alabama, and broadcasting to the Mobile metropolitan area. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation. Programming WLVM began broadcast ...

WMXC WMXC (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, and serving the Mobile and Pensacola metropolitan areas. The station broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November ...

-HD2, WQUA,

WRKH WRKH (96.1 FM) is the call sign for the Mobile, Alabama classic rock formatted radio station known as "96.1 The Rocket". The station is owned by San Antoniobased iHeartMedia. Its studios are located inside the building of unrelated television ...

-HD2, and

WZEW WZEW (92.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is an adult album alternative-formatted Broadcasting, broadcast radio station licensed to Fairhope, Alabama, serving Mobile, Alabama Mobile metropolitan area, metropolitan area. WZEW and sister station WNSP broad ...

. Nine AM radio stations transmit from Mobile: WBHY, WABF,

WGOK WGOK (900 AM, "Gospel 900") is a radio station serving the Mobile, Alabama, area with a gospel music format. The station is under ownership of Cumulus Media. Its studios are on Dauphin Avenue in Midtown Mobile, and its transmitter is northwes ...

WIJD WIJD (1270 AM) is a radio station licensed to the community of Prichard, Alabama, United States, and serves the greater Mobile, Alabama, area. The station is owned by Wilkins Communications Network Inc. and the license is held by the Mobile Ba ...

, WLPR, WMOB,

WNGL WNGL (1410 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Mobile, Alabama, United States. Since September 2009, the station has been owned by Fairhope-based Archangel Communications, Inc. Programming WNGL broadcasts a Catholic radio format to th ...

WNTM WNTM (710 AM broadcasting, AM) is a talk radio, talk radio station based in Mobile, Alabama. The station calls itself "News Radio 710." WNTM is owned by San Antonio-based iHeartMedia and the broadcast license is held by iHM Licenses, LLC. Its ...

, and

WXQW WXQW (660 AM broadcasting, AM) is a Talk radio, news/talk radio station city of license, licensed to Fairhope, Alabama, and serving the Mobile metropolitan area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and the broadcast license is held by Cumulus L ...

. The content ranges from Christian Contemporary to

Hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. In fall 2020, Nielsen ranked Mobile's radio market as the 102nd in the US. Some years earlier, Nielsen's predecessor,

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

ranked Mobile's radio market as 93rd in fall 2007.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Air

Local airline passengers are served by the

Mobile Regional Airport Mobile Regional Airport is a public/military airport west of Mobile, Alabama, Mobile, in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The airport is owned and operated by the Mobile Airport Authority, a self-funded entity that receives no local ta ...

, with direct connections to four major hub airports. It is served by American Eagle, with service to

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas region, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartere ...

and

Charlotte/Douglas International Airport Charlotte Douglas International Airport is an international airport serving Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, located roughly west of the city's central business district. Charlotte Douglas is the primary airport for commercial and m ...

;

United Express United Express is a regional airline network that supports United Airlines operations, primarily by serving smaller cities and connecting traffic to United's main hubs. Representing six percent of United's total capacity for 2024, United Express ...

, with service to

George Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Initially named Houston Intercontinental Airport upon its opening in 1969, it was renamed in ho ...

and

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic mark ...

, with service to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The

Mobile Downtown Airport Mobile International Airport is a public use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Mobile, a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The airport is a principal component of the Mob ...

at the Brookley Aeroplex serves corporate, cargo, and private aircraft.

Cycling paths

In an effort to leverage Mobile's waterways for recreational use, as opposed to simply industrial use, The Three Mile Creek Greenway Trail is being designed and implemented under the instruction of the City Council. The linear park will ultimately span seven miles, from

Langan (Municipal) Park Langan Park, also known as Municipal Park, is a municipal park in the Spring Hill neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama, US. The park opened in 1957 and was named for Joseph N. Langan, a former Mobile mayor, state senator and city commissioner. It ha ...

to Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Avenue, and include trailheads, sidewalks, and bike lanes. The existing greenway is centered at Tricentennial Park.

Rail

Mobile is served by four

Class I railroad Railroad classes are the system by which Rail freight transport, freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportatio ...

s, including the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(CNR),

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

(CSX), the

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...

(KCS), and the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

(NS). The

Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway The Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway is a Class II railroad in the United States, owned by Genesee & Wyoming. It operates of track from the Pensacola, Florida export terminals, west of downtown, north to Columbus, Mississippi, with trackage rights ...

(AGR), a

Class III railroad Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With a ...

, links Mobile to the

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ra ...

(BNSF) at

Amory, Mississippi Amory is a city in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 6,666 at the 2020 census, down from 7,316 in 2010. Located in the northeastern part of the state near the Alabama border, it was founded in 1887 as a railroad tow ...

. These converge at the Port of Mobile, which provides

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

service to companies engaged in importing and exporting. Other railroads include the

CG Railway The CG Railway is a terminal railroad as reported by the Association of American Railroads. The CGR is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, and is owned and operated by a 50/50 joint venture between SEACOR Holdings and Genesee & Wyoming. The railro ...

(CGR), a rail ship service to

Coatzacoalcos Coatzacoalcos (; formerly known as Puerto México; ; Zapotec: ; Popoluca: ''Puertu'') is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, mostly on the western side of the Coatzacoalcos River estuary, on the Bay of Ca ...

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

, and the

Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks The Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks is a terminal railroad, according to the AAR. It operates on about of track and is a subsidiary of the Alabama State Port Authority located at the Port of Mobile in Mobile, Alabama. Connections All c ...

(TASD), a

switching railroad A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It gener ...

. The city was served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is a long-distance passenger train run by Amtrak, operating on a route between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Major stops include Houston, San Antonio and El Paso in Texas, as well as Tucson, Arizona. Opening in 1894 thr ...

'' passenger train service until 2005, when the service was suspended due to the effects of

. However, efforts to restart passenger rail service between Mobile and

were revived in 2019 by the 21-member Southern Rail Commission after receiving a $33 million Federal Railroad Administration grant in June of that year. Louisiana quickly dedicated its $10 million toward the project, and Mississippi initially balked before committing its $15 million sum but Governor

Kay Ivey Kay Ellen Ivey ( ; born October 15, 1944) is an American politician who is the 54th governor of Alabama, serving since 2017. A Republican since 2002, Ivey was the 38th Alabama state treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and the 30th lieutenant governor o ...

resisted committing the estimated $2.7 million state allocation from Alabama because of concerns regarding long-term financial commitments and potential competition with freight traffic from the

. The Winter of 2019 was marked by repeated postponement of votes by the Mobile City Council as it requested more information on how rail traffic from the port would be impacted and where the Amtrak station would be built as community support for the project became more vocal, especially among

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...

. A day before a deadline in the federal grant matching program being used to fund the project, the city council committed about $3 million in a 6–1 vote. About $2.2 million is still needed for infrastructure improvements and the train station must still be built before service begins. Potential locations for the station include at the foot of Government Street in downtown and in the

, which is favored by the

Transit

The Wave Transit System The Wave Transit System is the operator of public transportation in Mobile, Alabama, operated by the City of Mobile. Eleven local routes service the city and suburban regions, while the modal trolley provides downtown shuttle service. Crossbay serv ...

provides fixed-route bus and demand-response service in Mobile.

Roadways

Two major

interstate highways The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National H ...

and a spur converge in Mobile.

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

runs northeast to southwest across the city, while

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between th ...

starts in Mobile at Interstate 10 and runs north. Interstate 165 connects to Interstate 65 north of the city in Prichard and joins Interstate 10 in downtown Mobile. Mobile is well served by many major highway systems. US Highways

US 31 U.S. Route 31 or U.S. Highway 31 (US 31) is a major north–south U.S. highway connecting southern Alabama to northern Michigan. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with US 90/ US 98 in Spanish Fort, Alabama. I ...

US 43 U.S. Route 43 (US 43) is a north–south United States Highway in the Southern states of Alabama and Tennessee. It travels from Prichard, Alabama, to Columbia, Tennessee. The highway's southern terminus is in Prichard, at an interse ...

US 45 U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as . US 45 is notable for incorporati ...

US 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. It generally travels near Int ...

, and

US 98 U.S. Route 98 (US 98) is an east–west United States Highway in the Southeastern United States that runs from western Mississippi to southern Florida. It was established in 1933 as a route between Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola and Apalachicola, ...

radiate from Mobile traveling east, west, and north. Mobile has three routes east across the Mobile River and Mobile Bay into neighboring Baldwin County. Interstate 10 leaves downtown through the

George Wallace Tunnel The George Wallace Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels that carry Interstate 10 through Mobile, Alabama from the city's downtown, going beneath the Mobile River, and emerging on Blakeley Island where they join the Jubilee Parkway over Mobile Bay. ...

under the river and then over the bay across the

to Spanish Fort and

Daphne Daphne (; ; , , ), a figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in which she appears, but t ...

. US 98 leaves downtown through the

Bankhead Tunnel The Bankhead Tunnel, formally the John H. Bankhead Tunnel, is a road tunnel in Mobile, Alabama that carries Government Street (Mobile, Alabama), Government Street under the Mobile River from Blakeley Island (Alabama), Blakeley Island to the downt ...

under the river, onto Blakeley Island, and then over the bay across the

into Spanish Fort. US 90 travels over the Cochrane–Africatown USA Bridge to the north of downtown onto Blakeley Island, where it becomes co-routed with US 98. Mobile's public transportation is the Wave Transit System which features buses with 18 fixed routes and neighborhood service. Baylinc is a public transportation bus service provided by the Baldwin Rural Transit System in cooperation with the Wave Transit System that provides service between eastern Baldwin County and downtown Mobile. Baylinc operates Monday through Friday.

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

provides intercity bus service between Mobile and many locations throughout the United States. Mobile is served by several taxi and limousine services.

Water

The

has public deepwater terminals with direct access to of inland and intracoastal waterways serving the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

, the

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and

Tennessee river The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

valleys (via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway), and the

. The Alabama State Port Authority owns and operates the public terminals at the Port of Mobile. The public terminals handle

containerized Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of uni ...

, bulk, breakbulk,

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

, and heavy-lift cargoes. The port is also home to private bulk terminal operators, as well as a number of highly specialized shipbuilding and repair companies with two of the largest floating dry docks on the Gulf Coast. The city was a home port for

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

s from

Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. This ...

. The first cruise ship to call the port home was the ''

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

'', which left the city in November 2009 so that a larger and newer ship could take its place. The ''

Carnival Fantasy ''Carnival Fantasy'' (formerly ''Fantasy'') was a cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She was the first ship of her namesake class, which was the largest by number of ships, before the scrapping of the Fantasy, Inspiration, Imagination ...

'' operated from Mobile from then on until the ''

Carnival Elation ''Carnival Elation'' (formerly ''Elation'') is a operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Finland, she was floated out on January 4, 1998, and christened as ''Elation'' by Shari Arison Dor ...

'' arrived in May 2010. In early 2011, Carnival announced that despite fully booked cruises, the company would cease operations from Mobile in October 2011. This cessation of cruise service left the city with an annual debt service of around two million dollars related to the terminal. In September 2015, Carnival announced that the ''

'' was relocating from Miami, Florida, to Mobile and would offer four- and five-night cruises to Mexico that started in November 2016 through November 2017. Her first departure from Mobile left on November 9, 2016, on a five-night cruise to Cozumel and Progreso. ''

Carnival Fascination ''Carnival Fascination'', originally ''Fascination'', was a cruise ship built at Helsinki, Finland in 1994. For most of her service with Carnival Cruise Lines she operated out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2017 ''Carnival Fascination'' was charte ...

'' will be replacing ''Carnival Fantasy'' in 2022.

Healthcare

Mobile serves the central Gulf Coast as a regional center for medicine. Mobile Infirmary Medical Center has 704 beds and is the largest nonprofit hospital in the state. It was founded in 1910.

Providence Hospital Providence Hospital may refer to: *Providence Hospital (Columbia, South Carolina) *USA Health Providence Hospital in Mobile, Alabama * Providence Hospital (Southfield), Michigan *Providence Hospital (Washington, D.C.) in Washington, D.C. *Providence ...

has 349 beds. It was founded in 1854 by the Daughters of Charity from

Emmitsburg, Maryland Emmitsburg is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, south of the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania. Founded in 1785, Emmitsburg is the home of Mount St. Mary's University. The town has two Catholic pilgrim ...

. The University of South Alabama Medical Center has 346 beds. Its roots go back to 1830 with the old city-owned Mobile City Hospital and associated medical school. A teaching hospital, it is designated as Mobile's only

level I trauma center A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major trauma, major traumatic injuries such as Falling (accident), falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. The term "tra ...

by the

Alabama Department of Public Health The Alabama Department of Public Health is the primary state health agency of the government of the U.S. state of Alabama. It provides a number of public health services to Alabama residents. Chronically underfunded for decades, even by a health ...

. It is also a regional burn center. Springhill Medical Center, with 252 beds, was founded in 1975. It is Mobile's only for-profit facility. Additionally, the University of South Alabama operates the University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital with 219 beds, dedicated exclusively to the care of women and minors. In 2008, the University of South Alabama opened the USA Mitchell Cancer Center Institute. The center is home to the first academic cancer research center in the central Gulf Coast region. Mobile Infirmary Medical Center operated Infirmary West, formerly Knollwood Hospital, with 100 acute-care beds, but closed the facility at the end of October 2012 due to declining revenues. BayPointe Hospital and Children's Residential Services is the only psychiatric hospital in the city. It houses a residential unit for children, an acute unit for children and adolescents, and an age-segregated involuntary hospital unit for adults undergoing evaluation ordered by the Mobile Probate Court. The city has a broad array of outpatient surgical centers, emergency clinics, home health care services, assisted-living facilities and

skilled nursing facilities A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

Notable people

Jerry Carl Jerry Lee Carl Jr. (born June 17, 1958) is an American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 1st congressional district from 2021 to 2025. The district is based in Mobile, and includes all of the state's ...

–

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

* Rick Crawford (born 1958) – racing driver *

Anne Haney Cross Anne Cross (born c. February 27, 1956) is an American neurologist and neuroimmunologist and the Section Head of Neuroimmunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Cross holds the Manny and Rosalyn Rosenthal–Dr ...

(born 1956) – neurologist, section head of

neuroimmunology Neuroimmunology is a field combining neuroscience, the study of the nervous system, and immunology, the study of the immune system. Neuroimmunologists seek to better understand the interactions of these two complex systems during development, hom ...

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis, located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine shares a ca ...

George Washington Dennis George Washington Dennis ( – September 16, 1916), was an American entrepreneur, real estate developer, advocate for Black rights, and gambler. He was African American, and born enslaved in Alabama; he came to California as chattel during the ...

( – 1916) – former slave, turned entrepreneur and real estate developer in San Francisco, California; advocate for Black rights *

Michael Figures Michael Anthony Figures (October 13, 1947 – September 13, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the Alabama Senate from the 33rd district from 1978 until his death in 1996. He served as the body's president pro tempore af ...

(1947–1996) – American lawyer and politician who served in the Alabama Senate *

Shomari Figures Shomari Coleman Figures (born September 3, 1985) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Alabama's 2nd congressional district since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Figures was first elected in 2024 with 54.6% ...

(born 1985) – U.S. representative from

Alabama's 2nd congressional district Alabama's 2nd congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It shares most of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery metropolitan area, and in ...

Thomas Figures Thomas Henry Figures (August 6, 1944January 22, 2015) was an American attorney and judge. He was the first African American assistant district attorney and assistant United States Attorney from Mobile, Alabama. Figures earned convictions on two m ...

(1944–2015) – first African American assistant district attorney and assistant United States Attorney *

Flo Milli Tamia Monique Carter (born January 9, 2000), known professionally as Flo Milli, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence after her 2018 single " Beef FloMix" and its 2019 follow-up, " In the Party" both reached viralit ...

(born 2000) – rapper *

Cale Gale Cale Kelly Gale (born March 5, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. He is named after other accomplished racer Cale Yarborough. Karting Gale's racing career began when his father placed him on a Kart racing, g ...

(born 1985) – racing driver * Dorothy E. Hayes (1935–2015) – graphic designer, educatorDeMarko, Sharon (February 19, 1971). "Black Artists Graphics Displayed at Art Center". ''

Pensacola News Journal The '' Pensacola News Journal'' is a daily morning newspaper serving Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It is Northwest Florida's most widely read daily. The ''News Journal'' is owned by Gannett, a national media holding company t ...

''. p.&nbs
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– via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

. *

Vivian Malone Jones Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (July 15, 1942 – October 13, 2005) was the first black student to graduate from the University of Alabama, in 1965. She and James Hood were the first black students able to enroll at the university since Autherine ...

(1942–2005) – director in the EPA, integrated the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

and was its first black graduate *

Charles Keller Charles Ernest Keller (September 12, 1916 – May 23, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a left fielder in Major League Baseball from 1939 through 1952 for the New York Yankees (1939–1943, 1945–1949, 1952) and De ...

(1868–1949) – former U.S. Army Brigadier General and the oldest Army officer to serve on active duty during World War IIHistorical Vignette 079 – The Oldest U.S. Army Officer to Serve in World War II Was an Engineer
/ref>
/ref> *

Antonio Lang Antonio Maurice Lang (born May 15, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who is an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, wi ...

(born 1972) – American former professional basketball player and coach *

Anne Bozeman Lyon Anne Bozeman Lyon (1860–1936) was an American Gulf States author of Southern U.S. literature. She wrote poetry, short sketches and novels, excelling in descriptive work. Lyon wrote verses for the ''Louisville Courier-Journal'' and other dai ...

(1860–1936) – writer *

Alexander Lyons Alexander Lyons (June 19, 1867 – June 5, 1939) was an American rabbi who ministered in New York City for nearly 40 years. Life Lyons was born on June 19, 1867, in Mobile, Alabama, the son of Samuel Lyons and Fanny Wolf. Lyons attended publ ...

(1867–1939) – rabbi *

Bubba Wallace William Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. (born October 8, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing. Wallace was previously a dev ...

(born 1993) – racing driver * William Moody (19542013)

professional wrestling manager In professional wrestling, a manager is a supporting character paired with a wrestler (or wrestlers) for a variety of reasons. A woman accompanying, or "seconding", a male wrestler to a match is sometimes referred to as a valet. Performers who ...

known for his time in

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

under the name "Paul Bearer"https://web.archive.org/web/20091120140240/http://percypringle.com/biography.html

Sister cities

Mobile has nine

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

Notes

References

External links

City of Mobile website
* {{Authority control Cities in Alabama Cities in Mobile County, Alabama Former colonial and territorial capitals in the United States County seats in Alabama Mobile metropolitan area Port cities and towns of the United States Gulf Coast Colonial United States (Spanish) French-American culture in Alabama Populated coastal places in Alabama 1702 establishments in New France Alabama placenames of Native American origin Populated places established in 1702

History

Etymology

Colonial

19th century

20th century

Geography

Neighborhoods

Climate

Christmas Day tornado

Demographics

Economy

Major industry

Port of Mobile

Shipyards

Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley

ThyssenKrupp

Top employers

Unemployment rate

Arts and culture

Carnival and Mardi Gras

Archives and libraries

Arts and entertainment

Museums

Historic architecture

Sports

Football

Other sports and facilities

Parks and recreation

Government

Education

Public schools

Private and parochial schools

Tertiary

Undergraduate and postgraduate

Community college

Vocational

Media

Print

Television

Radio

Infrastructure

Transportation

Air

Cycling paths

Rail

Transit

Roadways

Water

Healthcare

Notable people

Sister cities

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links