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Part Two of this blog series showcased the Battle House hotel at the corner of Royal and St. Francis Streets. Here are a few more photographs of that area before we travel three blocks south. Reminder: 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

The Progressive Era had the most impressive of all of Mobile’s courthouses. Situated on the southwest corner of Royal Street with the front doors facing Government Street, the Mobile County Courthouse had all the adornment of a stately government building you’d expect from The Gilded Age. Designed by Rudolph Benz, this was the courthouse for Mobile from the late 1880s to the 1950s, when it was demolished. (Mobile is currently on its second courthouse since then, situated a block west of this location.) Look at the ornate details in this photograph of the structure that was most likely taken in the 1890s.

Notice the building further down Royal Street, just behind the courthouse. Then look at the end of the courthouse building in the following photograph from the early 1900s. The Mobile County Courthouse had been extended the length of the block so it reached Church Street. From this angle, it’s a near seamless addition.

Why was the courthouse enlarged? A new County Jail area was added. There are Mobile Courthouse and Jail postcards from the first few decades showcasing the angle seen below, looking northward at the combined building from the Church and Royal Street intersection.

My characters visit the courthouse in The Possession Chronicles, The Malevolent Trilogy, and Washington Square Secrets in a handful of different scenes spanning the 1890s to the 1920s. From a girl paying homage to the statue of Marianne on the roof, to the belly of the jail to a judge’s chambers, the Mobile County Courthouse and jail building brings plenty of excitement to my Southern Gothic stories. (Of note: The statue of Marianne–seen in the first two photos in the middle of the east-facing side of the roof–was damaged during the 1906 hurricane and never replaced on the top of the courthouse. It is now on display in the atrium of the History Museum of Mobile.)

Here’s what the location looks like as of January 2025 in both daytime and nighttime. A lot has changed, but a few historical buildings from the era still exist–like the Van Antwerp tower (designed by George B. Rogers and easily seen in the 1907 photo, though it is dwarfed in the modern pictures below.) The old City Hall and Market building is still standing across Royal Street from the site. The courthouse location is now Mardi Gras Park and the City Hall building houses The History Museum of Mobile—which I typically visit monthly.

Do you have a favorite place on Royal Street in Mobile, Alabama?

P.S. Be sure to stop by the EVENTS tab to see the latest additions to my literary calendar.