Barton History

In the January 2013 issue of Mobile Bay Magazine, architectural historian John Sledge placed the deteriorating Barton Academy at the top of his “Restoration Wish List.” Sledge calls Barton “a landmark example of Greek Revival style with its columned rotunda floating among the live oak tops, soaring ionic porticoes … and distinguished cast-iron fence.” It’s easy to see why Barton should top anyone’s preservation wish list in Mobile. Beyond its nationally recognized architectural significance, Barton is Alabama’s oldest public school and an enduring symbol of the high importance our city has placed on education. Constructing such a monumental building in 1836 for a city of only 13,000 people showed bold confidence and vision for growth.

Led by Willoughby Barton, Mobile County established the state’s first public school system in 1826 and began building Barton Academy in 1836. For the design, the school commission selected architects James Gallier Sr. and brothers James and Charles Dakin, major figures in the Greek Revival movement who began their careers in New York and made their mark creating some of the best-known buildings in New Orleans. Barton Academy and Government Street Presbyterian Church, a National Historic Landmark, are Mobile’s last surviving examples of works by Gallier and Dakin.

Although the school commission bought an entire block on Government Street in 1830, problems raising funds delayed construction of a school. Eventually the state legislature allowed the commission to raise funds through a lottery. By early 1836 they had $50,000 in lottery funds, a $15,000 municipal loan and private donations, including a large gift from Henry Hitchcock, a local millionaire and major funder of nearby Government Street Presbyterian.

After finishing touches were completed in 1839, students began attending Barton – but for a tuition fee. A large construction debt prevented the commission from offering full public education, and classrooms were rented to a number of private and denominational schools, with costs supplemented by the school commission. After more than a decade, a new board of commissioners reorganized the school system and reopened Barton as a public school in November 1852. This system became the model for Alabama’s public school system.

Aside from being closed during the Civil War, Barton continued to be Mobile County’s public high school until Murphy High School opened in 1926. Barton served as an elementary and middle school until the 1960s when it was converted to the central office for the Mobile County Public School System. Barton was expanded with wings to the east and west in 1899 and with an additional building – J.D. Yerby School – along Conti Street in 1904. Over the years Barton’s interior has been dramatically altered, divided and rebuilt. Only the interior of the rotunda under the dome remains in its original condition and configuration.

The building was surveyed by the Historic American Buildings Survey several times from 1934 to 1937, resulting in a large collection of photos and drawings maintained at the Library of Congress. Barton was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February 1970.

Vacant since 2007, Barton has twice landed on Alabama’s list of “Places in Peril.” The Barton Academy Foundation has launched a campaign to renovate the building for use as a world studies school and prepare this landmark for a dramatic new role in the 21st century.