Mobile, Alabama

Battle House project and downtown rebirth

Since 1852, the Battle House hotel has been a fixture of the Mobile landscape. Although the original hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1905, it was rebuilt and has remained a Mobile area landmark. It was the location of President Woodrow Wilson's famous speech in 1913 where he declared that the United States would never again fight in a foreign war of aggression. In 1974, the hotel went vacant, as much of downtown was doing at the time.

Related Topics:
1852 - 1905 - President Woodrow Wilson's - 1913 - 1974

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In 2001, the Mobile City Council approved a deal with the Retirement Systems of Alabama for a complete restoration of the historic hotel, as well as construction of the Battle House Tower, a 35 Story, 745 foot (227 m) tall skyscraper that will not only be the tallest building in Alabama, but also one of the ten tallest buildings on the Gulf Coast.

Related Topics:
2001 - Skyscraper - Gulf Coast

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The Battle House Project is the crowning achievement of the "String of Pearls" initiative undertaken by the Dow administration, which has seen the construction of the Arthur Outlaw Convention Center, the Cruise Ship Terminal, the Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico, and the complete rebirth of Dauphin Street, Mobile's historic commercial corridor.

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Other projects in the works include a proposed high-rise condominium tower on Water Street in the heart of the downtown waterfront, as well as the construction of a historic Mardi Gras themed city park in downtown to celebrate the city's heritage as the original city of American Mardi Gras, the Mother of All Mystics, as well as a brand new state of the art federal courthouse. Mobile is rapidly developing into one of the South's hottest cities, and locals believes that the future will only be bright, based on the old Mobile saying of "As goes the Battle House, so goes Mobile"

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