Cathedral Square, Mobile, Alabama Explained

Cathedral Square
Type:Public park
Location:Mobile, Alabama
Coords:30.6904°N -88.0451°W
Area:1 city block
Created:1996
Operator:City of Mobile
Open:All year

Cathedral Square is a municipal park in Mobile, Alabama. It is bordered by the streets of North Claiborne, Dauphin, North Jackson, and Conti.

History

At one time what is now Cathedral Square was part of Mobile's 18th century Catholic cemetery, the Campo Santo. The Campo Santo was roughly 400feet long by 300feet wide and filled portions of what are now several city blocks between Joachim, Dauphin, Franklin, and Conti Streets. Most of the burials were moved to the new Church Street Graveyard in 1819 as Mobile's city boundary expanded. A few graves continued to be accidentally unearthed along Conti Street as late as the 1890s, however.[1]

The area that is now Cathedral Square quickly became a commercial block filled with buildings after the relocation of the cemetery. The buildings were then demolished in 1979 to create a public park facing the cathedral. The current park layout was implemented in 1996.[2]

Features

The park features a layout that mirrors the neighboring Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The brick sidewalks mirror the walls and nave of the cathedral while a semicircular colonnade featuring fountains mirrors the apse.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hamilton, Peter J. . 1897 . Colonial Mobile An Historical Study, Largely from Original Sources, of the Alabama-Tombigbee Basin from the Discovery of Mobile Bay in 1519 Until the Demolition of Fort Charlotte in 1821. 370–371. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co..
  2. Web site: Main Street Mobile . "Dauphin Street Virtual Walking Tour" . 2007-09-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070430072858/http://www.mainstreetmobile.org/html/guide/walking.html . 2007-04-30 . dead .