Mobile County

Fort Condé Re-enactors Located in the extreme southwest corner of the state, Mobile County is home to Alabama’s only seaport and is the state’s second most populous county. The county is steeped in history, having been occupied by the French, Spanish and British, prior to being annexed by the United States in 1813. The city of Mobile, the first European settlement within the state of Alabama and one of the oldest cities in the United States, was established in 1702. Both the city and the county derive their name from this settlement, which was known as Fort Louis de la Mobile. During its period of French control, the city was briefly capital of the French colony of Louisiana and home to the nation’s first Mardi Gras celebration. Mobile, long a major seaport and commercial center, Mardi Gras Marching Band saw a great period of industrial growth during the twentieth century. Mobile County is governed by a commission of three members elected to concurrent four-year terms. Mobile is also home to American baseball’s long-time home run champion, Hank Aaron, whose record stood for nearly a quarter century until 2007. His boyhood home in Mobile is now a museum.

  • Founding Date: December 18, 1812
  • Area: 1,644 square miles
  • Population: 414,809 (2020 Census estimate)
  • Major Waterways: Mobile Bay, Mobile River, Dog River, Fowl River
  • Major Highways: I-10, I-65, I-165, U.S. 90, U.S. 98, U.S. 31, U.S. 43, U.S. 45
  • County Seat: Mobile
  • Largest City: Mobile

Early History

MOWA Pow Wow The territory that would become Mobile County had a colorful colonial history. Variously controlled by the French, the Spanish, the British, and finally the United States, the area and its major city, Mobile, were host to many cultural shifts prior to its official establishment as a county. Mobile County was created by proclamation of the governor of Mississippi Territory, David Holmes, on December 18, 1812, soon after the U.S. Congress had annexed the Mobile District of West Florida. Spain initially maintained its claim over the area, peacefully coexisting with the Americans in the territory. The following year, however, Gen. James Wilkinson occupied the district with a military force, and the Spanish commandant surrendered his garrison on April 13, 1813. The northern portion of Mobile County is home to the MOWA (Mobile and Washington County) band of Choctaw Indians, whose ancestors settled in the area after the Creek War ended in 1814. Although the MOWAs have not received official recognition from the federal government, the group was formally recognized as a tribe of Alabama in 1979, making the MOWAs eligible for such services as education and housing.

Mobile County Courthouse After coming under American control, Mobile prospered as a port, with the increasing use of steamboat technology making upstream transportation possible. By the 1850s, Mobile ranked second to New Orleans among the South’s seaports on the Gulf Coast, exporting lumber and cotton from a huge drainage area to the interior of the state. Through Mobile, Alabama was able to maintain a steady trade with Europe and the West Indies up until the time of the Civil War. Although Mobile escaped occupation by Union troops until the very end of the war, the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864 resulted in the defeat of the Confederate Navy and the capture of strongholds around Mobile. It was in this battle that Union admiral David Farragut is rumored to have shouted the famous rallying cry, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

Major Cities and Demographics

Bayou La Batre Blessing of the Fleet Alabama’s second most populous county, in 2020 Mobile County had an estimated population of 414,809. Of that total, 58.0 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 36.1 percent as African American, 2.9 percent as Hispanic, 2.2 percent as two or more races, 1.9 percent as Asian, and 0.7 percent Native American. The county seat, Mobile, is the largest city in the county with an estimated population of 187,041. Other population centers in the county include Prichard, Saraland, Chickasaw, Satsuma, Citronelle, Bayou La Batre, Semmes, and Creola. The median household income was $49,625, compared with $52,035 for the state as a whole, and the per capita income was $26,778, compared with $28,934 for the state as a whole.

Economy

Women in the Shipyards Mobile County’s economy after the Civil War was driven by the success of the Port of Mobile, where the shipping channel had been deepened and shipbuilding increased. The port’s success as a major distribution center was also furthered by railroad expansion. In the 1870s, the cotton trade was supplemented by coffee, and the port became a major center for the importation of Brazilian coffee. The Port of Mobile continued to modernize and expand at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1922, the Alabama State Docks Commission was created and empowered to build, operate, and maintain wharves, piers, docks, grain elevators, warehouses and other terminals, structures, and facilities. Mobile’s shipbuilding industry played a vital role in the nation’s war efforts in both World War I and World War II.

Hurricane Ivan Aftermath Mobile County’s location on the coast means that its economy and citizens are very vulnerable to storms. The county suffered a severe blow from the effects of hurricane Camille in 1969, with a loss of 250 lives and $1.5 billion worth of property. Ten years later, the county lost another $1 billion in property to hurricane Frederic. Hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2006 left the county with additional significant losses. Despite these catastrophes, Mobile County’s economy, as well as the state as a whole, continued to benefit from the activity of the Port of Mobile. In 1999, the port was the 14th largest in the nation in total tonnage, providing more than 118,000 jobs and an estimated economic impact statewide of more than $3 billion.

AM/NS Calvert Plant Mobile County’s economy was given a boost in the 1970s with the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the surrounding Gulf Coast waters. Mobile has also become a center of manufacturing and produces chemicals, steel, wood pulp and paper products, furniture, rayon products, and clothing. The county’s metals production increased in 2010 with the establishment of a plant by German steel company ThyssenKrupp (now owned by AM/NS Calvert) in Mount Vernon, located 35 miles north of the city of Mobile. This plant occupies 1,500 acres and employs approximately 1,500 workers.

Employment

According to 2020 Census estimates, the workforce in Mobile County was divided among the following industrial categories:

  • Educational services, and health care and social assistance (23.0 percent)
  • Manufacturing (12.3 percent)
  • Retail trade (11.4 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste management services (9.7 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (9.5 percent)
  • Construction (7.4 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (6.0 percent)
  • Finance and insurance, and real estate, rental, and leasing (5.7 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (5.4 percent)
  • Public administration (4.1 percent)
  • Wholesale trade (2.8 percent)
  • Information (1.6 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (1.2 percent)

Education

Auditorium at Alabama School of Mathematics and Science The Mobile County School System currently oversees 115 schools. Mobile County is also home to the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, the only public boarding high school in Alabama for advanced students, and numerous private schools, many of which are run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile. The University of South Alabama, the county’s only major public institution of higher learning, was created by act of the Alabama State Legislature in May 1963. The county also has two religiously affiliated liberal arts colleges: Spring Hill College, the first Catholic college in the South founded in 1830, and the University of Mobile, founded in 1961 and affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention. Coastal Alabama Community College oversees the Alabama Aviation Center, a vocational school created to support the aerospace industry that is located at the Mobile Aeroplex.

Geography

Mobile County Map Mobile County is located in the extreme southwest corner of the state, wholly within the Coastal Plain physiographic section, and encompasses 1,644 square miles, which includes 1,233 square miles of land and 410 square miles of water. It is bounded by Washington County to the north, Mobile Bay to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Jackson, George, and Greene Counties in Mississippi to the west. Three miles off Mobile County’s coast, at the entrance to Mobile Bay, is Dauphin Island, a subtropical Gulf Coast barrier island that is 14 miles long and 1¾ miles wide at its widest point. There are approximately 1,300 permanent residents living on the island. Mobile’s major transportation routes are I-10, which runs east-west, and I-65, which runs north-south, and U.S. highways 31, 43, 45, 90, and 98. I-165, a $100 million interstate spur completed in 1995, connects I-65 and I-10 in downtown Mobile. The Mobile Regional Airport, serviced by five major airlines, is located approximately 14 miles from downtown Mobile. Amtrak provides passenger rail service between Mobile and New Orleans, Atlanta, and New York.

Events and Places of Interest

Airboat on the Mobile River Mobile County’s residents and visitors can engage in many activities on or in adjacent bodies of water. Mobile Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and area rivers offer sailing, wind surfing, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, water-skiing, swimming, and scuba diving. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove is located west of Mobile on Highway 98. Mobile is also home to the Mobile BayBears, a minor-league affiliate of the San Diego Padres baseball team; the Dollar General Bowl, a post-season college match-up between teams from Conference USA and the MID-American Conference; and the Senior Bowl, an all-star game featuring the nation’s top-ranking college seniors.

USS Alabama Battleship Park, Aerial View In 1704, Mobilians celebrated North America’s first Mardi Gras, which has evolved into a huge modern-day festival and tourist attraction. The William and Emily Hearin Mobile Carnival Museum celebrates that heritage with exhibits of regalia, floats, art, and other artifacts. The Mobile Bay area has many other festivals and tourist attractions including the Azalea Trail, the Blessing of the Fleet in Bayou La Batre, the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, Bellingrath Gardens, Mobile Botanical Gardens, the USS Alabama and Battleship Memorial Park, Fort Condé, the Oakleigh Historic Complex, the Richards-DAR House Museum, Mobile’s Church Street Graveyard and Magnolia Cemetery, the Mobile Museum of Art, the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, Fort Gaines, and Dauphin Island. The Mobile Medical Museum interprets the medical history of the region. The city is also home to the National African American Archives. Mobile’s tourism industry was supplemented in 2004 by the addition of a Carnival Cruise line sailing out of Mobile. Cruises were suspended in 2011 for financial reasons but resumed in 2016.

Further Reading

  • Hamilton, Peter J. Colonial Mobile. Edited by Charles G. Summersell. 1910. Reprint, Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1976.
  • Higginbotham, Jay. Mobile: City by the Bay. Mobile, Ala.: Azalea City Printers, 1968.
  • Thomason, Michael V. R., ed. Mobile: The New History of Alabama’s First City. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001.

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