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The namesake of my most recent series Washington Square Secrets is the neighborhood surrounding Washington Square Park. The area is also prominent in The Malevolent Trilogy and a couple of my short stories. The park has stood since 1850 in what is now called the Oakleigh Garden District, one of Mobile’s not-so-hidden treasures. As seen in the following 1892 photograph from the Historic Mobile Preservation Society’s archives, the park as long been home to oaks, walking paths, and places to meet friends.

A photo from the turn-of-the-century showcases additions to Washington Square Park including a covered water pump, swings, and deer statue. There were still plenty of benches for mothers or the help to rest on while watching energetic tykes run the open grassy areas, climb trees, or swing.

And a sampling of the homes surrounding the park is visible beyond the street line. I wonder what that striped building is along the right side of the picture. A bathroom facility, police callbox location, or public telephone? I’ll keep an eye out for information about what it might be during future research.

Here’s what Washington Square Park looked like in March 2025 with a central, fenced water garden area. No benches or playground equipment reside there, but one of the original deer statues has been returned.

As it’s approaching hurricane season, I thought it fitting to include a photograph of the aftermath of the 1916 hurricane. I touched on that year’s hurricane in both The Possession Chronicles (#7 Barren Devotion) and the second book in The Malevolent Trilogy (Tangled Discoveries.) It’s no wonder the oak branches that shade the park are as twisted as one of my family saga plots.

Here’s to hoping Washington Square Park and all the historic locations highlighted in the “Fragments Observed: Life During Mobile’s Progressive Era” series are able to shine no matter what life or nature throws at them.

Special thanks, once again to Historic Mobile Preservation Society. The 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 past.

All historic photos in this post are 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:
https://historicmobile.catalogaccess.com/home

I look forward to bringing you a new “Fragments Observed” article series in June. Be sure to subscribe to my blog posts so you don’t miss anything. (Check the bottom of the page, near the right if you are reading this on my website.)