Prichard

History

Prichard began as a settlement in the 1830s, bordering Telegraph Road, known now as U.S. Highway 43. It was named for Cleveland Mason Prichard (1840-1899), who purchased a tract of land (1879) on the east side of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio [GM&O] Railroad track and developed it into a vegetable-shipping point for markets in the North and East. This business model was copied by entrepreneurs throughout Florida, Texas and other states. Newspapers of the time referred to Cleveland Prichard as "The Vegetable King." Cleveland's brother, Hardy, worked with him in this enterprise. He also built the Prichard Horse Race Course, which flourished briefly as a winter training ground for thoroughbred race horses. He ran a livery stable in downtown Mobile, Alabama on the corner of Royal and State Streets. Prichard remained largely unsettled until after the American Civil War. The Clotilda, an illegal slave ship, had arrived at Mobile Bay in July 1860 carrying 110 Africans purchased in Ouidah, Kingdom of Dahomey, on behalf of Mobile shipbuilders and merchants. It was towed into the delta north of the city, burned, and sunk to escape capture. The Africans were taken upriver by a steamboat and landed near Magazine Point. They were distributed among the investors in the voyage. After the war, some 32 of the Africans returned there, developing Africatown as their own community. After 1900, Prichard began a slow, steady development. Major industries related to shipbuilding and paper mills began to develop along the waterfront, and some workers settled in Prichard. Social tensions were high in the postwar period as veterans returned and struggled to get jobs. The summer of 1919 became known as Red Summer because of the numerous racial riots that took place in industrial cities across…

Geography

Prichard is located in central Mobile County. It is bordered to the south by Mobile, to the east by Chickasaw, and to the north and northeast by Saraland. U.S. Route 45 (St. Stephens Road) runs through Prichard southwest of the city center; it leads southeast to downtown Mobile and northwest to Citronelle. Interstate 65 and its spur I-165 meet in Prichard. I-165 leads southeast to downtown Mobile, while I-65 leads south to Interstate 10 in southwest Mobile. To the northeast I-65 leads to Montgomery, the state capital. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Prichard has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.80%, are water. * Downtown * East Prichard * Whistler * Eight Mile

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,148
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,381
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  3,998
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  3,510
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,391
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,327
• Laughing Gull

  Leucophaeus atricilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,275
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,155

Largest nearby schools

• Mary G Montgomery High School
  High · Semmes · 1,965 students · 18:1 ratio
• Alabama Destinations Career Academy
  Other · Chickasaw · 1,596 students
• WP Davidson High School
  High · Mobile · 1,535 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Semmes Middle School
  Middle · Semmes · 1,318 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• Murphy High School
  High · Mobile · 1,254 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• Mattie T Blount High School
  High · Eight Mile · 1,176 students · 20.3:1 ratio
• Saraland High School
  High · Saraland · 1,096 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• ER Dickson Elementary School
  Elementary · Mobile · 1,038 students · 20.4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2020-09-03
  1 km W of Pollard, Alabama
• M 2.6 — 2019-04-12
  13 km NW of Flomaton, Alabama
• M 3.1 — 2019-04-11
  6 km NNW of Pollard, Alabama
• M 2.5 — 2019-04-11
  8 km NW of Pollard, Alabama
• M 2.7 — 2019-03-24
  2 km ESE of Century, Florida
• M 3.1 — 2019-03-11
  4 km N of Flomaton, Alabama