National Register Listing

Battles Wharf Historic District

US 98, Eastern Shore Blvd. roughly between Woolworth Ave. and Buerger La., Battles Wharf, AL

The Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay has considerably higher elevation than the western shore and has long served as a summer retreat for Mobilians. During the 18th century, French planters farmed and raised cattle at the Village (now Daphne) and British soldiers convalesced at Montrose on the high bluffs. The area including Point Clear and Battles was part of a Spanish Land Grant (1800) to one Eugene La Valle. The United States gained possession of Mobile and lands east to the Perdido River in 1813. This was the only territory acquired by the
United States during the War of 1812.

Shortly afterwards the area around Point Clear attracted settlers. As early as 1822 there was a resort hotel at Point Clear catering to Mobilians and a scattering of residents to the north and south. One of the most prominent settlers north of the point was Robert R. Dade who came over from Mobile in 1849.

Though he constructed his house east of the present Highway 98, he gave a bayfront lot to each of his six daughters. This small nucleus of settlement was referred to as Dadeville, then Battles (for the Battle family of Mobile who made extensive purchases in the area), and beginning in 1904, as Battles Wharf.

The development of Point Clear and Battles differed in that Point Clear with its exposure to the prevailing southwesterly winds, was settled by private individuals of wealth and power while Battles, with less favorable geographic placement, developed a modest hotel trade dependent on less wealthy Mobilians brought over by the bayboats. Though there were a few private summer homes at Battles, most of the cottages were rental.

In 1847 the earlier resort hotel on the point was replaced by the Grand Hotel. This resort hotel, through a succession of buildings, catered to the elite of Mobile and New Orleans and continues operation today as a Marriott Hotel (the present building dates from the 1940s).

During the Civil War a number of homes along the bay sheltered Confederate wounded and a few were even shelled by Union gunboats. None of these houses survive. By 1875 Battles had a post office, which contributed to a sense of independent identity from Point Clear to the south. Point Clear Creek separated the two communities.

By 1881 Battles had a general store operated by Aaron Moog and Sam Weil. Moog and Weil depended on the bayboats from Mobile to keep them supplied. These steamboats made daily calls all along the Eastern Shore before returning to Mobile.

When the Single-Taxers from Iowa bought land on the Eastern Shore for their Utopian community,* they boarded with Mobilians at Battles Wharf until they were able to build houses on their townsite just a few miles to the north. The Fairhope Courier, the Single-Taxer's newspaper, was published at Battles for several months. The Courier informed its readers, many of whom were Single-Taxers in ether states, that "from Fairhope to way below Point Clear there is an almost continuous line of cottages on the bayfront each with its bathhouses on the beach." (Fairhope Courier, January 15, 1895). Battles Wharf itself "...stretches along the shore for nearly a mile with the beach on one side of its principal thorough-fare and on the other a row of low white washed cottages with wide galleries looking out upon the bay." The Fairhopers also took note of the rain porch, "across the entire front of the house extends a front gallery eight feet wide and beyond this the roof extends four or six feet supported by posts planted in the earth."

Though their townsite was an overgrown pasture, the Fairhopers were late-comers to the Eastern Shore. The Courier noted, "The reputation of this shore as a summer resort is already well established. Many wealthy merchants of Mobile have fine summer homes at Point Clear, Battles, Montrose and Daphne." Summer was the high season and the Courier commented that "...everything that will afford shelter from the rain is pressed into service to accommodate Mobilians who seek this shore for its excellent bathing, boating and fishing and its health giving breezes from the salt water and piney woods."

By 1915 Battles Wharf had a district school, churches, an orphanage, rental cottages and two hotels, all located along the shore. Three bayboats called daily, ensuring plenty of guests for the hotels. The Battles Hotel (1910-1934) boasted twenty-five rooms, a wharf and dance pavilion. The Beach Hotel (1904-1931), a rambling frame structure with towers and battlements, also had a wharf and dance pavilion. The completion of the causeway (1927) into Mobile diverted tourist traffic away from Battles Wharf and the hotels were forced to close.

Before construction of the causeway, travelers between Mobile and Florida found the wharfs in Fairhope and Battles the most convenient jump-off points to cross Mobile Bay. The causeway provided a motor route to the north and eliminated this traffic, forcing the bayboats out of business with subsequent economic consequences for hotels. By World War II only the Grand Hotel survived though rental cottages still abounded.

Battles Wharf never incorporated. The resort ambience is preserved to this day as Mobilians continue to summer along the bayfront. Today approximately 20% of the cottages continue to be used as rental property. During the 1970s and 1980s condominium and townhouse development spread all along the Eastern Shore and the area became a bedroom community for Mobile.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1988.