As you leave Duncan Place, walking north on Royal, stop at the Corner of Royal and Conti. If you turn back toward the south from this corner your view would have looked like this around the year 1900
The next two blocks were the busiest and most popular blocks in the city during the nineteenth century.
On the corner of Royal and Conti Street stood the Mansion House Hotel,
which often received a visit from both the Cowbellions and Strikers on New Year's Eve.
Hotels
were the center of social life in the antebellum city. They were not only the scene of all formal and festive events, they were places where business was transacted and people met to talk and relax at any time of the day. Most hotels served free lunches, expecting to profit more from sales at the bar.
There are several good hotels in the city, among which the Mansion House and the Alabama Hotel have been the most popular, and most resorted to by strangers; but if any one prefers a quiet, orderly house, where ever thing is new, neat and clean …let him go to the Waverly House, recently opened by Mr. Noyes. I speak from personal knowledge, and can recommend it
as the best house for Northerners in the city. Charges are the same as at the other public houses -- $3 per day.
as the best house for Northerners in the city. Charges are the same as at the other public houses -- $3 per day.
Norfolk Democrat, Dedham, MA, March 23, 1839
The Waverly burned in 1852 and two years later a new hotel opened on the same corner, the Battle House, which still stands on the corner of Royal and St. Francis. Three views of the Battle House. One shows the street cars that once traversed Royal.
Late 1840's
Map of Mobile from 1888
shows later hotels on Royal St.
