What is the history of the vacant building on Government Street that once housed the Mobile Press-Register?

text by TOM MCGEHEE

In February of 1919, a brick mansion occupying the northeast corner of Government and Claiborne streets was purchased by the Adams Machinery and Manufacturing Company. That company had previously sold Ford cars and trucks on North Royal Street near St. Louis Street. The firm’s president, Lucious Geneve Adams, was also a founder and president of the Mobile Automobile Club, which sought to promote “year-round roads” throughout Alabama, while teaching members safe driving habits.

The house, which dated back to 1844, was demolished. A construction permit was issued to Adams Motor Company in October of 1920 for a three-story brick structure with concrete slab floors. The architect was C. L. Hutchisson and the cost for the new building was given as $150,000, or nearly $2.3 million today. The building would fill the entire lot.

Largest in the South

When the firm was completed in 1922, it was advertised as “The Largest Automobile Building in the Entire South.” Adams Motor Company explained in the ad that “this structure is evidence of our faith in Mobile and the Port of Mobile.” The building’s first floor featured oversized plate glass windows to show off the newest Fords and the more luxurious Lincolns.

According to a news account published at its completion, the plant contained a cafeteria for employees as well as “a hospital where first aid treatment can be rendered.” There is also an automatic soft drink machine whereby, “dropping a nickel, an employee can secure a soft drink.” As Coca-Cola bottler Walter Bellingrath was an investor, there was no doubt of the soft drink brand.

As the 1920s roared onward, the number of automobiles in Mobile soared. The very first — an electric model with a top speed of 15 miles per hour — had been on view in 1900 as an advertising gimmick. By 1904, the Mobile Register editorialized that “the automobile craze has struck this city,” noting the existence of 18 registered vehicles while condemning drivers speeding about in “devil wagons.” By 1924, just two years after the new building for Adams Motor Company was completed, 14,000 automobiles were in Mobile.

Automobile Row Beckons

Although several auto dealerships were in the vicinity of the Adams firm, those businesses began to migrate to St. Louis Street in the late 1920s. That street, which had once held many beautiful 19th-century mansions, became an alternative route for auto traffic heading west. Real estate developers ran full-page advertisements promoting St. Louis Street as a faster route west than Government Street, and traffic soared. New dealerships followed. By the 1930s, St. Louis would be dubbed “Automobile Row.”

During the Depression years, Detroit ignored the request for affordable Fords made by Adams Motor Co. and instead filled their inventory with expensive Lincolns. As a result, the firm had financial difficulties, and ultimately became a Chevrolet dealership.

In 1941, the Adams firm and the owners of the Mobile Press Register swapped locations. The newspaper, which had been founded in 1929 and bought out the old Mobile Register in 1932, had been operating at 450 St. Louis Street at Hamilton Street. Mobile Daily Newspapers, Inc., remodeled the former car dealership while Chevrolets were now offered in the paper’s former home.

A Major Conversion and a Sad Ending

The exterior of the former car emporium received a major makeover. Gone were the large plate glass windows. All three floors were infilled with thousands of glass blocks centered with jalousie windows between.

The interior was fitted with the latest technology of the newspaper business. There were massive rotary presses and soundproofed rooms holding teletype machines rapidly firing off news stories from around the world. A large reference library was created for reporters and a room was built to house newspaper files stretching back more than a century. The building held a variety of office space as well as what was described as “a vast area for the Want Ad section.”

After 60 years at the corner of Government and Claiborne streets, the Mobile Press-Register spent millions in 2002 on a sprawling new plant on Water Street. The printing presses alone cost $20 million. A portion of the former location was sold and remodeled as a museum while the majority of the structure has remained forlornly vacant for more than two decades. Although it has changed hands, its future remains unknown.

Meanwhile, in 2012, the Mobile PressRegister ceased daily publication and, now, a decade later, announced it will cease newspaper publication entirely in February of 2023. MB