GPS City GuideMobileTrinity Episcopal Church

Stop 1 of 19 · Mobile audio walking tour

Trinity Episcopal Church

Mobile · 1857 · Alabama's First Large Gothic Revival Church

What you'll hear here: about 90 seconds on Trinity Episcopal Church — the story behind what you're looking at, playing hands-free as you arrive.

Look at Trinity Episcopal Church, Alabama's first Gothic Revival church. This building was the first large Gothic Revival church built in Alabama, designed by architects Frank Wills and Henry Dudley. The parish itself was established in 1845 as Mobile's second Episcopal congregation; Christ Church Cathedral was the first.

The cornerstone was set on April 8, 1853, a year when a yellow fever outbreak swept the city and the church register records that the rector conducted 49 funerals in September 1853. That deadly season appears to have delayed work, but the structure was finally completed in 1857. For nearly a century it stood at the corner of St. Anthony and Jackson Streets until it was moved to Dauphin Street in 1945.

In 1979 Hurricane Frederic removed a portion of the roofing, broke windows, and damaged the spire; repairs included adding steel reinforcement to the rebuilt spire. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and was nominated for National Historic Landmark status, a designation it did not receive because the building had been moved. Notice the stone and timber walls, the steel-reinforced spire restored after Hurricane Frederic, and Dauphin Street stretching beyond.

Where it is

Coordinates
30.68667, -88.08583
Area
Mobile
Era
1857 · Alabama's First Large Gothic Revival Church
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.