Two overlooked pieces of Mobile’s history could soon gain national recognition after the City Council agreed to pursue historic designation for the old “Automobile Alley” district and the Texas Hill neighborhood.
The council’s resolution hires preservation consultant Shaun Wilson to prepare applications seeking a spot on the National Register of Historic Places for both areas. Automobile Alley refers to the stretch of St. Louis Street once lined with car dealerships, an area now targeted for redevelopment as a technology corridor and business park. Texas Hill is a historically Black neighborhood located just south of the Oakleigh Garden district.
The push comes as the city separately works on revitalization plans for both areas. An Atlanta-based planning firm was recently hired for close to $50,000 to develop a neighborhood revitalization strategy for Texas Hill, while the Auto Alley redevelopment concept has been in discussion for some time.
Wilson’s work will also include expanding the boundaries of the existing Church Street East Historic District, surveying properties in the Lewis Quarter area and updating the city’s historic district maps. The consultant’s roughly $30,000 fee will be split evenly between the city and the Alabama Historical Commission.
Mobile currently has ten locally recognized historic districts, including Leinkauf, Midtown, Lower Dauphin Street, Old Dauphin Way, DeTonti Square, the Campground, Oakleigh Garden and Church Street East. Two more, Oakdale and Lafayette Heights, were added to the national register in December 2014 and will soon appear on city maps as well.
Lewis Quarter, tucked behind an industrial lumber operation on Conception Street Road, carries particular historical weight tied to the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, which arrived in Mobile Bay in 1859. According to Wilson, the small community there was founded by a mixed group of freed African Americans and survivors associated with the Clotilda, distinct from the group that founded the nearby Africatown Historic District.
Much of Lewis Quarter’s historic significance is considered archaeological, centered on a small cemetery within the heavily wooded site. Any future historic designation would likely lean on that archaeological record, and state officials have indicated they may eventually want a ground-penetrating radar survey of the burial ground.
City leaders say the historic designations, paired with ongoing redevelopment plans, are intended to preserve the character of these neighborhoods even as investment moves into the surrounding areas.