Point Clear is an unincorporated

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Baldwin County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,125. It is part of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area.

Geography

Point Clear is located at 30°29'48.505" North, 87°54'35.489" West (30.496807, -87.909858). According to the

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

, the community has a total area of , of which is land and 0.43% is water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,076 people, 793 households, and 639 families residing in the CDP.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,876 people, 741 households, and 546 families residing in the community. The population density was . There were 997 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the community was 56.13%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 42.70%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.16% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.05% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 0.59% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 741 households, out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.2% were non-families. 23.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.98. In the community, the population was spread out, with 23.8% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 28.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.8 males. The median income for a household in the community was $37,305, and the median income for a family was $45,729. Males had a median income of $39,844 versus $14,556 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the community was $26,271. About 16.1% of families and 18.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 30.2% of those under age 18 and 16.7% of those age 65 or over.

Point Clear in World War II

In 1944, Point Clear's Grand Hotel served as the base of operations for Operation Ivory Soap in

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 ...

. In the Pacific Theater, the United States utilized the

Leapfrogging (strategy) Leapfrogging was an amphibious military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea was to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to capture every island i ...

as a means of capturing islands held by the Japanese that were of strategic or tactical advantage. The commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps, Henry "Hap" Arnold, understood the American planes needed mobile air depots to support their efforts in the Pacific. Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Thompson, oversaw Operation Ivory Soap from a suite in the Grand Hotel. The nineteenth-century Alabama hotel housed soldiers and served as a maritime training facility training troops in skills including swimming, special calisthenics, marching, drill, navigation, ship identification, signaling, cargo handling, ship orientation, sail making and amphibious operations. The school produced 5,000 trained Army seamen who took part in operations in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

, and

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

. The training these troops received thanks to Operation Ivory Soap allowed the soldiers to help save countless lives and aircraft. The name "Ivory Soap," according to Col. Thompson, was derived from the fact that, like the experimental Aircraft Repair Units the military wanted to deploy, Ivory soap floats. The Grand Hotel is still in operation on the eastern shore 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 ...

today.

Other

From as early as the 1800s, wealthy families from Mobile, New Orleans and across the United States chose to spend their summers in Point Clear. In the days of yellow fever outbreaks, Pt. Clear residents believed they were escaping to what was deemed as "good air" because of the daily breeze off Mobile Bay. Arrival to the area was traditionally by ferry boat and most people arrived in Pt. Clear at Zundel's Wharf. Because of this, the front of the homes (sometimes referred to as cottages) face Mobile Bay and there is a boardwalk between the water and the homes leading to and from Zundel's Wharf. Remnants of the old pier at the Zundel property were still visible prior to

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. ...

in 2005.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Alabama Census-designated places in Baldwin County, Alabama Census-designated places in Alabama Unincorporated communities in Baldwin County, Alabama