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Fragments Observed:
Life During Mobile’s Progressive Era

Part One, A Snowy Day

This blog series is made possible through a partnership with Historic Mobile Preservation Society (HMPS.) HMPS’s archive collection, housed on the Oakleigh Complex in the Minnie Mitchell Archives building, is a treasure of inspiration and knowledge. Please support HMPS’s efforts in preserving not only the rich architectural legacy of our city, but the documents, literature, photographs, and more that tell Mobile’s colorful history. The historic photo in this post is used with the permission of Historic Mobile Preservation Society for the purpose of education and enlightenment in the “Fragments Observed: Life During Mobile’s Progressive Era” blog series.
For more information about HMPS and their mission, please visit:
https://www.historicmobile.org/
And for their online archives, including requests to use photographs from their collection:
https://historicmobile.catalogaccess.com/home

In February of 1895, there was a notable snowfall Valentine’s Day morning in Mobile, Alabama, though it only survived a few hours on the ground. But by mid-afternoon, flurries returned and lasted through the night. When Mobilians woke on the morning of the fifteenth, they were greeted with a record six inches of accumulated snowfall. My short story “Dashing Through the Snow” is set around that snowy day, capturing the excitement and mischief of a nearly fifteen-year-old Sean Spunner (a character found in all three of my historical series.)

This photo from HMPS is from the William E. Wilson photography collection. It is listed as being from 1894-1905 and there is no notation of the location. Mobile and Savannah are both possibilities.

We can pretend it’s from one of those 1895 snow days, taken somewhere in Mobile, though not many streets in the city were curved. Does the scene look familiar to you? I’m sure if those houses are still standing, someone will recognize them.

That February day caused schools and businesses to close, plus halted streetcar operations. Mobilians traveled on foot and by horse, except for the thrill-seeking numbers who removed the wheels from their buggies and attached boards as make-shift runners to turn them into sleighs to delight family and friends. Snowballs flew, tossed by people of all ages. Despite the freezing north wind, joyful sounds rang out from all neighborhoods.

The first year I moved to Mobile there was a snowfall of a couple inches the week before Christmas, on December 18, 1996. Here’s a (reluctant) photo of me after building my first Alabama snowman with the help of my brother.

It’s also my biggest snowman so far. Snow that sticks on the ground tends to happen about once a decade since I’ve lived here. I’ve seen it at least three times, plus the great ice storm on January 28, 2014. I jokingly say it triggered an Ice Age because my children’s dinosaurs in the sandbox looked a little out of place after the freezing precipitation stopped.

It’s in the twenties this morning and snow is in the forecast tomorrow (January 21, 2025.) How many Gulf Coast snowfalls have you seen?