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Mobile boasts a lot of firsts, records, and odd (but noteworthy) things for the state of Alabama, the region, and even the country. We are the birthplace of Mardi Gras. The first reinforced concrete skyscraper in Alabama was the Van Antwerp building by George B. Rogers, completed in 1907 at the corner of Royal and Dauphin Streets. The location where fire ants entered the country from South America? You can blame the port of Mobile. Here’s another one: the oldest public school in the state.

Completed in 1836, Barton Academy has stood dignifiedly on Government Street for almost two hundred years. It was built under the direction of the Board of School Commissioners for Mobile County, which was established in 1826—nearly three decades before the State Public School System. Mobile has always been progressive compared to the rest of Alabama.

The above photograph of Barton Academy from the Historic Mobile Preservation Society archives was taken in about 1900. Besides the shape of the trees, the low railing enclosing the oaks, and the benches in the school yard, not much has changed about the overall look of the property. (The trees on the right appear cut. I’d guess it was due to recent power or telephone line adjustments rather than a hurricane because of the straightness.) Here’s how Barton Academy looks after its most recent refurbishment.

For Progressive Era Mobile, as showcased in my historical novels, Barton Academy is first mentioned in the short story “Natural Selection in Life and Love” which was written after I finished The Possession Chronicles. The children in my first series attended private schools. (Mentioned in those books are U.M.S., St. Mary’s, and an unnamed small school for girls run by two sisters out of their home, like Kate Shepard might have done.) In the short story set during the winter of 1912-13, the heroine is Hattie Fearnsby who is a Bostonian transplant in Mobile teaching science at the Girls’ High School at Barton Academy—back when in the students were kept separated. One of the main characters in Tangled Discoveries (The Malevolent Trilogy #2) is Ethelwynne “Winnie” Graves, who attends Barton Academy in 1916. We see Winnie on several school days with other fictional students.

In my most recent series, Washington Square Secrets, we meet a mathematics teacher at Barton Academy in 1910. Alvin and his wife Deborah (the main character) are introduced in Discernment: Washington Square Secrets 1. Having moved from the Montgomery area, Alvin comes to town with a year of teaching under his belt and a glowing college football career from his years at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now called Auburn University.) If I had seen the following photos featuring the 1908-09 Barton football team before the book published, I would have included that Alvin was hired to coach the school’s football team as well.

There’s something magical about group snapshots like these, don’t you think?

See the rest of the posts in this blog series here.

This blog series is made possible through a partnership with Historic Mobile Preservation Society. HMPS’s archive collection, housed on the Oakleigh Complex in the Minnie Mitchell Archives building, is a treasure of inspiration and knowledge. The historic photos in this post are used with the permission of Historic Mobile Preservation Society for my “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