A Yellow Fever Scare and a Train to Canada: A Mobile Childhood Recalled
A serialized memoir by Sister Marie Emilie, born Elizabeth Zoe Walsh in 1892, recalled a yellow fever scare that sent her north by rail and a Mobile childhood spent between…
A Fairhope Lawyer’s Campaign to Give Dixey Bar Its Proper Name
In March 2005, Fairhope attorney David Bagwell asked federal geographers to make Dixey Bar official, tracing its name to a clipper ship lost in a hurricane at the mouth of…
When Springsteen Played Twice in Mobile: A Radio Man Remembers the City’s Loudest Decade
A former WABB-FM program director recalled 1973 to 1978 as the golden age of Mobile radio and live music, when Skynyrd played Fort Whiting and Springsteen sold out two nights…
A Web Address Prank Turns Sour in Mobile’s Mayoral Campaign
In March 2005 a web address bearing Ann Bedsole's name redirected to an anonymous political gadfly site, and Bess Rich's cell number appeared in the registration. Both denied any part…
Cotton, Shipyards and Brookley: One Mobilian’s Blunt Accounting of the City’s Fortunes
Mark Berson placed Mobile's golden age between 1830 and 1860, traced its long decline through the loss of Brookley Field, and argued in 2005 that the city was poised to…
‘We Are in the Golden Age Now’: A Councilman on Race Relations in Mobile
Asked in March 2005 to name Mobile's golden age, City Councilman Fred Richardson answered with the present tense, and pointed to a small change in newspaper style as a milestone.
Three Golden Ages and a Silver One: Reading Mobile’s History in Its Buildings
In a March 2005 series on Mobile's golden age, attorney Palmer Hamilton argued the city had three of them, and that the proof stands in its churches, schools and antebellum…
Bess Rich Makes It Official, Filing Papers in a Bid to Lead Mobile
Former Mobile City Councilwoman Bess Rich formally filed for mayor in March 2005, promising sales tax relief, stronger core services and a more transparent City Hall.
Mobile County Judges Say They Have No Power to Erase an Arrest Record
A standing order from Mobile County District Court, reported in March 2005, declared the court had no authority to expunge arrest records and sent petitioners to the Legislature instead.
Consultants, Strategists and a Defection: Mobile’s Mayoral Campaigns Staff Up
By March 2005, Mobile's mayoral candidates were assembling professional campaign teams, and one veteran local adman crossed the aisle from John Peavy's camp to Ann Bedsole's.