The city of Mobile is older than the state of Alabama.
Mobile was settled in 1702 by three French brothers. Alabama became a state in 1818. The city of Mobile is the oldest settlement of the Colony of French Louisiana. The first five governors of Louisiana were from Mobile.
Mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras.
The first Mardi Gras celebration was in Mobile, AL during 1703. -That’s an entire 15 years before New Orleans was founded. It is thought that Roman Catholics created Mardi Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday,” to mark the start of Lent. Lent is a time of fasting and Fat Tuesday is the last day to eat richer foods before giving them up during Lent.
Mardi Gras parades have astonishing floats where famous MoonPies, goodies, stuffed animals and beaded necklaces are thrown into crowds. Before citizens of Mobile threw MoonPies, they used to throw boxes of Cracker Jack from floats but it caused injuries due to hard edges on the corners of the box.
One of the first viral videos ever on YouTube was created in Mobile, AL.
YouTube was founded in 2005. In 2006, a video of a local newscast highlighted the beholding of the Crichton Leprechaun, which grew to become a viral video due to the humorous behavior of the new station’s interviewees. The video has over 28 million views as of 2018.
Local school children helped fund the historic USS Alabama to be moved to Mobile, AL during 1963.
The USS Alabama is a WWII battleship that was nearly headed to a scrapyard. An article in a 1962 newspaper shared the news about the ship. The battleship had been inactive for years and was declared to be of no use to the Navy.
The news inspired a statewide campaign and battleship commissioners to get the community’s help in funding the voyage to bring home the battleship back to Alabama instead of being scrapped. The Governor in 1963, George Wallace, passed a bill for fundraising to kick off. He agreed that if school children contributed any amount of money, he would send them a ticket allowing them free admission to see USS Alabama once it arrived.
The children raised nearly $100,000, which would have bought about 34 new, high-end cars during this time period. Battleship USS Alabama was brought to Mobile Bay, where Battleship Memorial Park was opened on January 9th, 1965.
Mobile is the rainiest city in the United States.
Mobile gets over 67 inches of rain each year with 59 average annual rainy days. Seattle, Washington, is often thought to be the rainiest city in the United States but they get an average of 37 inches of rain each year. This is well under the amount of rain that Mobile, AL receives.
Mobile, AL has so much to offer! This one-of-a-kind city holds history and culture that help make this city what it is today. The next time you’re in Mobile, check out what this city is all about!
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