History

The search to uncover her great-grandmother’s past led Rhoda Melendez to uncover the history of the Protestant Orphans’ Asylum in Mobile and ignited her first novel.

Turn back time with this early 1900s photograph of a laundry service that once operated in downtown Mobile.

In October of 1923, Catholic Bishop Edward Patrick Allen dedicated the Zimmer Memorial Institute at 2567 St. Stephens Road in Toulminville.

The Search for Mobile’s Pipe-Smoking Sea Captain

Take a peek into this 1958 scene of The Loop Theatre which was once a favorite for moviegoers in Mobile.

At roughly 1:15 a.m. on the morning of January 23, 1909, a group of two dozen armed, masked men strolled into what was then called the New Jail at 104 Church Street and held a gun on a deputy to obtain the keys to the cells. A prisoner was taken by force out onto the street and dragged west.

American Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette was as beloved by Mobilians upon his visit to the area as he was one-hundred years later.

That designated district, located south of Government Street, is named for the historic public school located on Church Street.

With plenty of space for entertaining and for privacy, this distinctive home design was popular with Mobile’s oldest families.

The Sundance award-winning documentary releasing to international audiences this October captures Africatown’s complicated history and hope for the future.