Mobile
Mobile names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Mobile a city, port of entry and county-seat of Mobile co.
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city, port of entry and county-seat of Mobile co., Ala., on the Mobile river near Mobile Bay; 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and on the New Orleans, Mobile and Chicago, the Louisville and Nashville, the Southern, the Mobile and Ohio, and the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern railroads; 140 miles E. of New Orleans. It is built on a sandy plain, rising as it recedes from the river, and within a short distance of high and beautiful hills. Business Interests. The city is noted for its many industries. Here are manufactories of shingles, boxes, staves, sashes, blinds, and barrels; large flour mills and tobacco and cigar factories; clothing, carriage, confectionery, saddlery and harness, and other plants. It also has a large export export trade to Mexico, Central and South America. The most important exports include cotton, rice, coal, grain, lumber, cigars, tar, resin, turpentine, and vegetables. There are National and State banks and many daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals, In recent years the docking facilities have been greatly increased by the construction of a great system of docks. The bay has also been dredged and straightened. Public Interests. The corporate limits of Mobile extend 6 miles N. and S. and 2 or 3 miles W. from the river. Its streets are generally well paved, shaded, and quite regular. The water supply, which is by two systems, is so pure that it is employed for chemical purposes without filtering. Here are the United States Government Building, which cost $250,- 000, the court house, United States Marine Hospital, city hospital, Providence Infirmary, Odd Fellows' and Temperance Halls, the Battle House, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, etc. The educational institutions include the College of St. Joseph, Spring Hill College, McGill Institute, Barton Academy, Evangelical Lutheran Institute, Convent and Academy of the Visitation, Medical College of Alabama, St. Mary's School, and a public library. History. In 1702 a fort was built about 20 miles N. of the present site of Mobile by Le Moyne de Bienville and named St. Louis de la Mobile. In 1711 this settlement was nearly annihilated by a furious hurricane, and a disastrous deluge, which compelled its removal to the present location of Mobile. The colony was ceded to Great Britain in 1763 by the treaty of Paris, but with all the English possessions on the Gulf of Mexico was transferred to Spain in 1783. The Spanish government administered its affairs till 1813, when it was taken by an American army under General Wilkinson. It received its charter as a city in 1819. Mobile was under Confederate rule from Jan. 11, 1861, to April 11, 1864. The fleet of Admiral Farragut sailed up Mobile Bay on Aug. 5, of the latter year, and a great battle with the Confederate vessels and forts was fought. This resulted in the destruction of the Confederate fleet, and the capture of Forts Morgan and Gaines. In the spring of 1865 the city was carried by assault , and the city passed into Union hands. The name of Mobile was changed to Port of Mobile in 1879, but the place was reincorporated with full city rights in 1887. Pop. (1910) 51,521; (1920) 60,777
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
mo-bel', the chief city and seaport of Alabama. It is situated at the head of Mobile Bay, thirty-three miles from the Gulf of Mexico. It is 141 miles by rail eastward from New Orleans . The site is a sandy plain about fourteen feet above the Gulf level. The city is laid out on the rectangular plan. The entrance to the bay has been deepened by the general government from seventeen feet to twenty-four. The harbor is one of the finest in the Union. The city does a large business by steamboat with interior points of the state. It has also several lines of railway. It is the natural outlet of a cotton-producing region. Cotton and cottonseed oil, fruits, live stock, meat, coal, lumber, tar, resin, and turpentine to the value of $15,000,000 a year are exported. The city ranks third in the Union in the importation of tropical fruits. Coffee, bananas, and sisal are important imports. The trade is largely with Cuba, the West Indies , and Central America . Fisheries are an important local industry. The city was founded in 1702. It was the capital of Louisiana until 1722, when the French governor removed to New Orleans. The site was acquired by the United States from Spain with the accession of Florida in 1819. The waters of the bay may be said to have been dominated at different times by five flags, those of France, Spain, Great Britain , the United States, and the Confederacy. In August, 1864, Farragut entered the harbor and, after a spirited engagement, captured the Confederate fleet anchored there. The population in 1910 was a little over 55,000. The city has a number of fine buildings, including a United States custom building, erected at a cost of $250,000. A seaside boulevard, known as the Shell Road, is paved with shells after the fashion of Gulf cities.
Mobile a river of the United States
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a river of the United States, in Alabama, formed by the union of the Alabama and the Tombigbee, which unite about 45 miles above the town of Mobile. It enters Mobile Bay by two mouths.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's counted 60,777 people in 1920; the 2020 census recorded about 187,000 in the city, with roughly 430,000 in the metropolitan area. The cotton, naval-stores and lumber trade both accounts describe has given way to containers, coal, steel and aerospace: Airbus opened a final-assembly line for A320 jetliners at Brookley in 2015, and the ship channel has been dredged far past the twenty-four feet Aiton's boasted of in 1910. Of the institutions listed, Spring Hill College and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception remain, but the Medical College of Alabama left for Birmingham and the city's main university, South Alabama, was not founded until 1963. In 2019 the wreck of the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, was identified in the Mobile River, a few miles from the Africatown community founded by its survivors.
Written for this edition, 2026.