Cotton City

1813-1860

Mobile in the New

America• 1813…Mobile’s population---809

• 1822…Mobile’s population---2,800

• Hope of financial gain brought people to Mobile

Demolition of Fort

Charlotte

• 1820…Private developers purchased Fort Charlotte property

• Fort no longer needed for defense

• City funds used to pay for demolition of walls …streets needed for city

Regulations Abound in Mobile,

Finally• 1820’s…Private citizens controlled Mobile’s

development

• Town govt. did little to regulate

• 1827…fire consumed 2/3 of business district bounded by Conti and St. Michael St.

• Fire destroys many businesses and 169 homes

• Losses exceed one million dollars

• Fire causes town govt. to begin to regulate

Mobile Gets a New Look

• 7/8 of buildings…wooden

• Needed more durable & fire-resistant materials

• City ordinance requires brick construction in fire district

• 1831…Mobile looks like a new city

Charity in Mobile

• Fire causes Mobile to form six fire companies to protect their property

• 1829…also support charitable organizations • Female Benevolent Society

• Auxiliary Tract Society

• American Tract Society

• Temperance Society

• Augmented services provided by• Hibernian Benevolent Society

• Mobile Bible Society

Charities in Mobile

• Roman Catholic Church…only institution survived since Colonial Era

• Voluntary charities…bring together diverse population in Mobile

• New Americans…Protestants who want own churches, not Catholic church

• 1822…build small church

Cotton as the New Export

• Export trade…serves as major economic activity of antebellum Mobile

• Cotton…major item of export

• Requires transportation and financial services• Banking services

• Insurance facilities

• Some things open up to help planters and merchants combine business with pleasure • Local hotels

• Local theaters

Cotton Exporting

• All around Mobile…some of the richest cotton-producing areas in Al. & MS

• Cotton exports grew steadily

• 1830’s…Mobile’s exports surpassed Savannah & Charleston

• After 1840…Mobile’s 2nd only to New Orleans as a cotton exporter

Mobile's Port

• Mobile’s Port…less than adequate

• Mobile Bay…too shallow for large ships to come up to port to pick up cotton

• Smaller boats (lighters) had to carry the cotton to the larger ships anchored out in the bay

Waterfront Property

• Local businessmen…provide places for receiving, storing,& compressing cotton bales before their sale & shipment

• A dozen private wharves in place in 1820’s

• Over 48 in place by the 1850’s

• 1824…an Act of Congress gives the City of Mobile the title to the waterfront property

Waterfront Property, cont.

• Most wharves were owned by individuals

• 1850’s a combine of D.W. Goodman & C.P. Gage owned many of the wharves

• Four dozen wharves on One Mile Creek…arranged so that 42,000 bales of cotton could be landed simultaneously without interfering with space needed for shipping & receiving other goods

What Did Mobile Have to Offer?

• 1850’s…42 fireproof brick warehouses that could store 310,000 bales of cotton

• This is more than half the number exported in an entire six month season

• Also…dozen cotton presses

Factors and Commission Merchants

• Mobile had good FACTORS---an agent hired to sell produce for a planter

• Mobile also COMMISSION MERCHANTS--people who purchased various types of supplies, such as tools, household items and foodstuffs on commission

• Some worked as BOTH as these

Northern/Foreign Factors

• Northern & foreign factors/agents…provided services for cotton

• 1820’s New York merchants…sent agents to purchase cotton directly from planters

Commission Houses Opened

• Southerners open factorage businesses

• Duke W. Goodman (experienced factor) from Charleston relocated to Mobile

• 1840’s…Commission houses…opened in Mobile by Robert A. Baker & John A. Winston (a future governor), both state legislators

Funding the Cotton Trade in Mobile

• 1819…Bank of Mobile receives charter from Alabama legislature

• Only bank that can withstand the fluctuations of cotton trade

• Cotton trade…requires tons of credit and financial services

• Export trade valued at $40 million by 1860

• Limited local banking…businessmen must use nonlocal banks or use services of local private bankers/exchange brokers

Mobile's Semi-Burgeoning

• Served as a leading winter resort

• Struggled to offer housing for visitors during winter business season

• 1820’s…hotels—plain accommodations and few services for guests

• Many fires destroyed hotels…causes overcrowding

• 1835-1845…winter population 3 times number of regular residents & hotels shortages

Local Hotels

• 1839…hotel about to open…arsonist burnt down much of downtown

• Mid 1840’s…three large hotels open

• 1850…two burn down

Battle House Opens!

• 1852…Battle House Hotel opens

• Local corporation builds first-class, 5 story hotel

• Corner of Royal and St. Francis Streets

• Convenient to business district

• 240 guest rooms

• Dining rooms and shops

• Held soirees and suppers during week (winters)

• City & country dwellers mingled at dances

• Planters select it for honeymoons

• Sometimes waits for first frost to open

Battle House Hotel

Theaters & Entertainment

• Entertainment…theaters

• Hundreds entertained by theaters each winter

• Newspapers…begged for money to build more theaters

• Editor argues that visitors would find this entertainment elsewhere if not in Mobile

• Also argued without entertainment, people would find “bad things” to do

Mardi Gras

• American observance ...1830

• Michael Kraft, cotton broker from Pennsylvania, and friends

• Parade down streets on New Year’s Day…use hoes, rakes, gongs, and cowbells

• Called on ladies of their acquaintances

Mardi Gras, cont.

• Became known as Cowbellion de Rakin Society

• Donned masks and staged parades on New Year’s Eve before hosting a ball for invited guests

• 1840’s…New mystic societies form• Strikers’ Independent Society

• Calfbellions

• Rising Generation

• T.D.S. (The Determined Set or Tea Drinkers Society)

• Jim Oakes

• Indescribables

Madame Octavia Levert

• Mobile’s hostess

• Wife of Dr. Henry S. Levert

• Most famous and fashionable

• Held weekly receptions…most fashionable guests

• Toured Europe twice in 1850’s …modeled her parties after those of the French

• Held an open house on Mondays 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Office of Dr. Levert

Historical Marker for Dr. Levert’s Office

Maybe a Little More Diversified?

• Local economy depended on cotton

• Economy…not diversified

• Mobile businesses…supported cotton trade almost exclusively

• International firms handled lots of transport, insurance, and market arrangements for Alabama cotton

• Those reps who live in Mobile had lots of influence in local affairs

Building Mobile

• To build the city of Mobile…it needed leadership

• Newer residents would fulfill this need

• Required a vision

• People who had been here 10-15 years were considered long-time, distinguished citizens

Addin Lewis

• First American mayor

• Native of Connecticut

• Graduate of Yale in 1803

• Tutor at University of Georgia

• Served as first collector of U.S. customs for port of Mobile in 1813 (to 1829)

• Postmaster (1818-1824)

• President of Bank of Mobile (1818) and mayor (1820-1820)

Addin Lewis, cont.

• Retired from civic affairs in 1829, due to health (49 yrs old)

• Said he had done his duty to Mobile for 15 yrs and had improved it with help of other leaders who he expected to continue after his retirement to New Haven

• Praised as “one of their oldest and most respected citizens.”

Making Improvements to Mobile

• Many up & coming leaders only stay fall-spring…business demands their presence

• Long summer absences…negative effect on development

• Wealthy leaders had money to make improvements

• Not there enough to get it done

• Visitors took notice of this about Mobile

What Did Mobile's Leaders Value?

• Leaders wanted to support commerce not issue lots of regulations on it

• Tried to shape consensus in the community…based on business and enterprise

Labor Force in Mobile

• Labor force…very diversified

• Much more than leadership

• Slaves & free blacks…fill some service positions

• White skilled workers…always scarce…sometimes had to be brought in

• Competition continued with immigrants came in search of jobs

1850's Industrialization

• Shortages in 1850’s affects industrialization…

• Employers must pay good wages to attract and keep workers

• Some industrialists introduced operations new to the area could not recruit workers locally…sought managers & operators from the North

Slaves in the Workplace

• Slaves…supplied much of city’s semiskilled and unskilled labor

• Domestics

• Personal servants

• Carriage drivers

• Draymen

• Mechanics

• Press hands

• Increased in number each decade

• 1830’s and 1840’s…most rapid expansion

Slave Trade in Mobile

• Until 1850’s…Mobile was slave-trading center for state

• Dealers ship slaves from Maryland, Virginia, & Carolina to Mobile

• Local residents and planters from southwestern AL & southeastern MS come to make purchases

• After rail lines…Montgomery in 1850’s equals then surpasses Mobile in slave trade

• Planters who buy/sell cotton in Mobile…buy/sell slaves in Mobile

Slave Market in Mobile

• Slave market…Royal Street between St. Louis and St. Anthony Streets

• Three story barracks nearby…houses slaves between auctions

Clotilde, U.S.A's Last African Slave Ship

• Foreign slave trade market happened as well…even though it was illegal since 1808

• 1860…Clotilde, transports supposed last cargo of African slaves to U.S.

• 116 survivors…John Dabney’s plantation on Alabama River…few miles north of Mobile

Slave Owners in Mobile

Slave owners…small population of free population of Mobile…less than 10%...1830-1860

People who owned slaves… Thaddeus Sanford, newspaper publisher turned farmer

Gustavus Horton, cotton broker

William Rix, merchant

Israel Jones, merchant

Jonathan Emanuel, merchant

Ann Yuille, Scottish baker’s widow

Albert Stein, hydraulic engineer

James Saunders & Duke Goodman, businessmen who owned the most slaves

Hired Slaves

• Cost of purchasing slaves increased

• Hiring slaves…becomes more advantageous

• Employers hire out for only needed services

• Usually for business season in Mobile

Free Blacks in Mobile

• Less than 3% of work force…free blacks

• Came from two backgrounds…Creole & American

• Held skilled & unskilled positions

Women & Children in Mobile

• Free white women…worked as domestics, teachers, and shopkeepers

• Children in orphanages…forced to work for respectable community members

Socialization in Mobile

• Ways to socialize in Mobile:

• Churches

• Fire companies

• Militia companies

• Occupational organizations

• Ethnic benevolent societies

• Charitable organizations

City and State Elections

• Elections…city officials during cotton marketing season

• Alabama voters…chose governors and state reps in August…absence of seasonal residents

Panic of 1837

• Growth stalls

• Tax revenue drops...

• Individual crises

• Decline in property values & property taxes

• Mobile relied heavily on property taxes…NOT GOOD!

• 1839…city defaults on its own loans

• 1839…yellow fever epidemic & wave of arson…worsens the financial problems

City Services

• City services…accommodated commerce

• Streets in business district…paved earlier & repaired more often

• Police…patrolled more often in business areas

• Police ignore gambling houses & brothels

• Fire districts…begin business district & expand to other areas

• Sanitation services…provided in city…only other areas when epidemics invaded

City Services

• Lamp lighting…commercial areas only

• Beautification efforts…late in antebellum era began with some civic-minded people

Unwise Financial Practices in the City

• Invested money for city to bring business

• Got bond issues for projects…no thought given as to repayment

• Brings about financial disaster

• Helps to explain some of the city’s limits on city services

Social Assistance

• Limited social services

• Benevolence…mostly through charities

• Governmental aid…provides some aid through some institutions

• School system…only way that leaders give some help to poor Mobilians

The Poor in Mobile

• 1850’s…laws enforced against vagrancy and begging (put in jail or fined)

• City funds used to build permanent building for poor

• Most important one…general hospital

• Another…Widow’s Row…small brick houses for needy widows

Yellow Fever Epidemic

• Samaritan Society and Can’t Get Away Club…formed during 1830’s

• Provide direct aid/medical assistance to victims

• Orphanages founded by Catholic & Protestant churchwomen

Mobile County Public Schools

• Public schools…drew rich and poor alike into mainstream

• 1851…more than half school-age white children did not attend school

• 1852…citizens vote for school commissioners, almost half are from North

• Leaders wanted economy & efficiency of public schools

• Mobile County Public System established 1852: three levels…primary, grammar, & high school

Mobile County Public Schools

• 1860…More than ¼ of white kids attend public school

• Ahead of southern & northern cities’ averages in 1860

• Leaders support public schools…b/c of lessons & values to potential voters & taxpayers

• Wanted Mobile’s to be up & coming…not lag behind other cities, so as to attract new people

• Patterned after advanced northeastern cities

Free Blacks and Education

• Assumed management of Creole School

• Provided tax-supported education for county’s black Creoles

• Part of treaties already ratified earlier in history

• Almost no other free blacks in Southern city in antebellum south had this privilege

Population in Mobile

• 1820’s…population doubled

• 1830’s….population quadrupled

• 1840’s…population does nothing

• To reverse the trend city leaders promoted

• Railroads

• Direct trade

• Manufacturing

• Real need to diversify Mobile’s economy

Railroads in Mobile

• Railroads…provide southern independence and urban growth

• Connect Alabama port with Ohio River

• Tap trade in the west

• Reach cotton districts of Mississippi

• Only one major line results…The Mobile and Ohio

• Failed to sustain trade significantly

• Ports still main lines of commerce

Shipping Business in Mobile

• Mobile tries its hand at direct trade

• Opens its own shipping companies

• Until this time…northern companies operate shipping companies at port of Mobile

• Doesn’t work…not enough exports to sustain business year-round

"Buy Locally!"

• Leaders encourage citizens to buy locally

• Down to tombstones being carved from Alabama marble

Alabama Medical College

• Opens in 1859

• Tries to keep AL students & education $$$ in AL

Trying to Change Mobile's Economy

• For all their confidence in railroads, direct trade, and manufacturing…none really helped the economy of Mobile

• Goals for southern commercial independence…did not happen

• Could not change economy substantially

A Shift in Thinking

• 1850’s…Mobilians decide elected officials should be devoted to region & support internal improvement projects

• Attract suspicion…move to Mobile from the North

• Local decision makers born outside south…raised questions about their loyalty

• Political record…useless if he was not of Southern heritage

A Catholic Problem????

• Mid-1850’s…change from worry of non-Southerners to foreign born, especially Catholics

• Catholics…majority of church members

• BUT, Protestants control business, govt., & editorial offices

• Thought this may challenge their power eventually

Know Nothings Invade!

• Many politicians join American Party (Know Nothing)

• Gains many followers in state

• Makes its first appearance in state in Mobile

City Hospital

• 1854…American party wields its power

• 1852-1854…Catholic nuns administered hospital

• Had done a good job

• Mayor Charles C. Langdon recommends a change & gets it

• Transferred authority to municipal board members

The American Party continues…

• American Party…clean sweep of elections in Mobile County elections

• Anti-foreign sentiment gains

• Several people end up changing back to Democrats years later…

What Next?

• 1850’s…city continues to stagnate

• Everyone was blamed…residents, northerners, foreigners, leaders….

• Yet…Mobile had come a long way since the French, British, and Spanish!

• Had achieved prominence as an important city in its early days when cotton was truly KING!