Mobile History

Mobile History Timeline

• 1519
  Spain explores Mobile Bay
• 1540
  Hernando de Soto of Spain explores Alabama
• 1559
  Tristan de Luna establishes temporary settlements on Mobile Bay
• 1702
  France founds Fort Louis de la Mobile on the Mobile River
• 1763
  End of the French and Indian War.
  Britain controls Alabama.
• 1780
  Spain takes Mobile from Britain.
• 1783
  Britain gives Northern Alabama to the US and Mobile to Spain.
• 1702
  French occupation of Mobile area
• 1702
  Establishment of Fort Louis De La Louisianne
• 1711
  Establishment of Fort Conde
• 1763
  British occupation of Mobile area
• 1780
  Spanish occupation of Mobile area
• 1813
  American occupation of Mobile area
• 1819
  Incorporation of the City of Mobile
• 1830
  Spring Hill College founded.
  Indians begin moving to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears
• 1861
  Alabama joins the confederacy
• 1864
  Battle of Mobile Bay
• 1865
  The Civil War ends; Mobile and Montgomery surrender
• 1866
  Laying off of national cemetery
• 1867
  Shooting of Judge Richard Busteed
• 1878
  Yellow fever epidemic
• 1879
  Installation of first telephone in Mobile
• 1884
  First parade of 'Comic Cowboys'
• 1893
  Mobile's first electric streetcar begins operation
• 1888
  Mobile Fire Department established.
• 1899
  City forbids further burials in Church Street Cemetery
• 1905
  Fire destroys the Battle House
• 1906
  'Wayside Cross' erected in Bienville Square
• 1910
  Cornerstone for Mobile Infirmary laid
• 1913
  President Woodrow Wilson speaks to the citizens of Mobile
• 1919
  Fire destroys 40 city blocks
• 1920
  Mobile women cast their first ballots
• 1921
  Cornerstone of the Scottish Rites Temple laid
• 1923
  Mobile Fire Department retires last Horse-Drawn Apparatus
• 1923
  Alabama State Docks authorized
• 1926
  Murphy High School opens
• 1927
  Cochrane Bridge opens
• 1928
  Public Library opens
• 1929
  Azalea Trail opens
• 1929
  First Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo
• 1932
  Bellingrath Gardens opens
• 1933
  The Tennessee Valley Authority is formed
• 1937
  Cochrane Bridge is freed of toll
• 1941
  Bankhead Tunnel opens
• 1941
  Brookely Field opens
• 1951
  Mobile becomes home to Senior Bowl
• 1955
  Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus
• 1955
  City of Mobile purchases Oakleigh
• 1955
  Dauphin Island Bridge opens
• 1957
  Municipal (Langan) Park opens
• 1958
  First 'America's Junior Miss'
• 1960
  Restoration of Downtown Mobile begins
• 1963
  Mobile abandons racial segregation in public schools
• 1964
  U.S.S. Alabama brought to Mobile
• 1964
  University of South Alabama opened with first freshman class
• 1964
  Mobile Municipal Auditorium (Civic Center) opens
• 1965
  Martin Luther King Jr. leads a protest march of voter discrimination
• 1966
  33 story First National Bank building completed
• 1968
  Neighborhood Organized Workers (NOW) established
• 1971
  President Richard Nixon opens the Tenn-Tom Waterway
• 1973
  George Wallace Tunnel opened and Bayway completed
• 1974
  University of South Alabama College of Medicine established
• 1974
  Mobile Native Henry "Hank" Aaron hits record 715th career home run
• 1974
  First African-Americans from Mobile elected to Alabama Senate and House
• 1975
  Mobile Fire Department establishes Paramedic Services.
• 1976
  Fort Conde reconstructed and Fort Conde Village reopened
• 1979
  Hurricane Frederick strikes Mobile
• 1979
  Mobil drills first Oil Well in Mobile Bay
• 1981
  I-10 completed across Mobile Bay
• 1985
  Mayor - Council form of government replaces City Commission
• 1993
  Mobile Convention Center opens
• 1996
  Mobile Fire Department is renamed to Mobile Fire-Rescue Department.