Timeline of Mobile, Alabama

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Mobile, Alabama, USA.

Prior to 19th century

 * 1702 - Fort Louis de la Mobile founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville of Montreal.
 * 1703 - Mardi Gras begins.
 * 1722 - French Louisiana capital relocated from Mobile to New Orleans.
 * 1723 - Fort Conde built.
 * 1763 - Mobile becomes part of British West Florida per Treaty of Paris (1763).
 * 1780 - March: Battle of Fort Charlotte; Spanish in power.
 * 1783 - Mobile becomes part of Spanish West Florida per Treaty of Paris (1783).

19th century

 * 1810 - Mobile becomes part of the independent Republic of West Florida.
 * 1813
 * Spanish West Florida annexed to the United States.
 * Mobile Gazette newspaper begins publication.
 * 1814 - Town of Mobile incorporated.
 * 1819 - City of Mobile incorporated.
 * 1821 - Mobile Commercial Register begins publication.
 * 1823 - Christ Church Cathedral established.
 * 1827 - Fire.
 * 1829 - Mobile Female Benevolent Society founded.
 * 1830
 * Spring Hill College and City Hospital established.
 * Population: 3,194.
 * 1835 - Franklin Society Reading Room and Library founded.
 * 1839
 * October 2: Fire.
 * Barton Academy construction completed.
 * 1840
 * St. Francis Street Methodist Church founded.
 * Population: 12,672.
 * 1842 - United States Marine Hospital completed.
 * 1844 - Shaarai Shomayim congregation formed.
 * 1845 - Trinity Episcopal Church established.
 * 1850
 * Mobile Evening News begins publication.
 * Population: 20,515.
 * Bienville Square (city park) established.
 * 1852
 * Public schooling begins in Barton Academy building.
 * Mobile and Ohio Railroad opened.
 * 1854 - Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce chartered.
 * 1855 - Publisher S.H. Goetzel in business (approximate date).
 * 1857 - City Hall built.
 * 1860 - Population: 29,258.
 * 1861 - City becomes part of the Confederate States of America.
 * 1864
 * Wilmer Hall established.
 * (August 5) Battle of Mobile Bay.
 * 1865 - State colored convention held in city.
 * 1868 - Africatown established near Mobile.
 * 1869 - Mobile Bar Association and Mobile Law Library founded.
 * 1871 - Mobile Cotton Exchange established.
 * 1872 - Mobile Carnival Association established.
 * 1883
 * Fidelia Club formed.
 * Drago Band (musical group) active (approximate date).
 * 1889 - Mobile County Courthouse built.
 * 1890
 * Mobile Camera Club founded.
 * Population: 31,076.
 * 1894 - Clara Schumann Club (music group) formed.
 * 1900 - Population: 38,469.

20th century

 * 1902 - Mobile Public Library established.
 * 1906 - (27 September) Mobile swept by a hurricane.
 * 1907 - Union Depot built.
 * 1910 - Population: 51,521.
 * 1914 - Rotary Club of Mobile organized.
 * 1918 - Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company in business.
 * 1925 - Lincoln Theatre built.
 * 1927 - Saenger Theatre built.
 * 1928 - Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks founded.
 * 1929
 * Mobile Press newspaper begins publication.
 * Woman's Clubhouse Association founded.
 * 1930 - WALA radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1936 - American Association of University Women of Mobile organized.
 * 1937
 * Foreign trade zone established.
 * Aluminum Ore Company refining plant constructed.
 * 1940 - Population: 78,720.
 * 1950 - Population: 129,009.
 * 1953
 * WALA-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
 * Consular Corps of Mobile organized (approximate date).
 * 1955 - WKRG-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
 * 1960
 * Sister city agreement established with Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.
 * Population: 202,779.
 * 1962 - Mobile Genealogical Society founded.
 * 1964 - Mobile British Women's Club active (approximate date).
 * 1965 - Sister city agreement established with Málaga, Spain.
 * 1966 - Neighborhood Organized Workers established.
 * 1974
 * Azalea City News begins publication.
 * Sister city agreement established with Pau, France.
 * 1975 - Springhill Medical Center (then called Springhill Memorial Hospital) opens.
 * 1976 - City twins with Worms, Germany.
 * 1980
 * U.S. Supreme Court decides Mobile v. Bolden redistricting-related lawsuit.
 * Sister city agreement established with Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
 * 1982 - Sister city agreement established with Zakynthos, Greece (approximate date).
 * 1983 - Mobile Municipal Archives founded.
 * 1985 - U.S. Naval Station Mobile opens.
 * 1987 - Providence (hospital) built.
 * 1988 - Sister city agreement established with Rostov on Don, Russia.
 * 1989
 * Sister city agreement established with Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
 * Mike Dow becomes mayor.
 * 1990 - Sister city agreement established with Katowice, Poland.
 * 1992 - Sister city agreement established with Košice, Slovakia.
 * 1993
 * September 22: 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck.
 * Sister city agreement established with Havana, Cuba, and Ichihara, Japan.
 * 1995
 * City website online (approximate date).
 * Bayfest (Mobile) (music festival) begins.
 * 1998 - Sammy’s v. City of Mobile strip club-related lawsuit decided.

21st century

 * 2002 - Tricentennial of founding of Mobile.
 * 2005
 * Sam Jones becomes first African-American in city elected mayor.
 * City twins with Cockburn, Australia, and establishes sister city agreement with Bolinao, Philippines.
 * 2010 - Population: 195,111.
 * 2012 - Christmas tornado outbreak.
 * 2015 - Bayfest is cancelled.

Published in the 20th century

 * Map
 * Bergeron, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
 * Higganbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
 * (fulltext)
 * Map
 * Bergeron, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
 * Higganbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
 * (fulltext)
 * Bergeron, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
 * Higganbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
 * (fulltext)
 * Bergeron, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
 * Higganbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
 * (fulltext)
 * Higganbotham, Jay. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
 * (fulltext)
 * (fulltext)

Published in the 21st century

 * Fitzgerald, Michael W. Urban Emancipation: Popular Politics in Reconstruction Mobile, 1860–1890. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
 * Pride, Richard. The Political Use of Racial Narratives: School Desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, 1954–1997. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
 * Pride, Richard. The Political Use of Racial Narratives: School Desegregation in Mobile, Alabama, 1954–1997. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.