Historic Markers in the City of Mobile

Marker Number 52: Springhill Avenue Temple—Sha’arai Shomayim Umaskil El Dol (The Gates of Heaven and the Society of the Friends of the Needy) Congregation.

Location: 1769 Springhill Avenue (west of Louiselle Street).

Text: Organized in Mobile on January 29, 1844, this Reform Jewish Congregation is the oldest in Alabama and one of the oldest in the United States. Members met in homes until December 27, 1846, when the St. Emanuel Street Temple was dedicated. The congregation soon outgrew this structure and built a new temple on Jackson Street, which was consecrated March 10, 1853. They worshipped there until 1907, when a new edifice was erected at the corner of Government and Warren streets. Continued growth led to the construction of the present building, which was dedicated September 5, 1955. Incorporated into the design of this structure are architectural and decorative elements preserved from the Congregation's earlier houses of worship.

Alabama Historical Commission (not dated)

Marker Number 52: Springhill Avenue Temple—Sha’arai Shomayim Umaskil El Dol (The Gates of Heaven and the Society of the Friends of the Needy) Congregation.

Location: 1769 Springhill Avenue (west of Louiselle Street).

Text: Organized in Mobile on January 29, 1844, this Reform Jewish Congregation is the oldest in Alabama and one of the oldest in the United States. Members met in homes until December 27, 1846, when the St. Emanuel Street Temple was dedicated. The congregation soon outgrew this structure and built a new temple on Jackson Street, which was consecrated March 10, 1853. They worshipped there until 1907, when a new edifice was erected at the corner of Government and Warren streets. Continued growth led to the construction of the present building, which was dedicated September 5, 1955. Incorporated into the design of this structure are architectural and decorative elements preserved from the Congregation's earlier houses of worship.

Alabama Historical Commission (not dated)

Marker Number 54: Trinity Episcopal Church.

Location: 1900 Dauphin Street (between Rickarby and Van Heuvel).

Text: Mobile's second Episcopal Church, organized in 1846 by the Rev. B. M. Miller. Church built 1853 during rectorship (1848-1879) of the Rev. J. A. Massey. This original structure moved from Jackson and St. Anthony streets and was re-erected on this site in 1945 under rectorship (1925-1953) of the Rev. Herbert F. Schroeter. Parish House erected 1961-62.

Historic Mobile Preservation Society 1963

 

 

 

Marker Number 55: The Bragg-Mitchell Home. 

 

Location: 1906 Springhill Avenue (between Tuscaloosa and Stanton).

Text: Built for Judge John Bragg in 1855; Thomas James, supervising architect. After 1880 owned by Pratt, Upham, and Frank Davis families. Acquired 1925 by A. S. Mitchell, who restored the house and lived here forty years.

Historic Mobile Preservation Society 1966

 

Marker Number 56: Visitation Monastery and Academy.

Location: 2300 Springhill Avenue (between Woodland and Levert).

Text: Founded January 29, 1833, at the request of Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, first Bishop of Mobile, Sisters from Visitation Monastery of Georgetown, D.C., under direction of Mother Madeleine Augustine D'Arreger, established the academy for girls. Renowned as an educational and cultural center in the South, the foundation served as a school until 1952 and now functions as a retreat house. Architect for the building was Claude Beroujon.

Historic Mobile Preservation Society 1967