Shotgun Houses, 1937

Travel back to 1937 and see one of Mobile’s shotgun house communities

Photojournalist Arthur Rothstein captured this street scene during his April 1937 visit to Mobile. Shown lining the street is one of the most common types of houses during the late 19th and early 20th centuries — the shotgun house, so named because one could stand in the front door and shoot buckshot straight through the house and out the back door. According to John S. Sledge, architectural historian with the city of Mobile and MB contributor, “Surviving examples … are concentrated south of Canal Street along the river and north of Downtown.”

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Original photo by Arthur Rothstein, retrieved from the Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information Photograph Collection • Colorization by Dynamichrome Limited

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