08/28/2026
🏡 Every old house has a story… and sometimes you just have to start digging to find it. Warning: Long post ahead!
As we get closer to our September program, “An Evening of Histories of Old Dauphin Way and Mobile,” we thought it would be fun to share a little example of just how fascinating the history hiding within our neighborhood can be.
Almost four years ago, one of our neighbors moved into a 1918–1919 home on Dauphin Street after relocating to Mobile from Atlanta. Like so many of us who live in Old Dauphin Way, curiosity about the house soon turned into curiosity about the people who built it, lived in it, and helped shape the neighborhood around it.
What started as an attempt to learn a little more about the house turned into a wonderful historical rabbit hole—one involving a Mobile family, a Michigan transplant, steamboats, a yellow fever epidemic, the remarkable “Can’t Get Away Club,” Magnolia Cemetery, a mysterious stained-glass window, and not one but two C.L. Hutchisson Sr. houses on Dauphin Street.
And this is exactly what makes Old Dauphin Way so special.
Our homes aren't simply beautiful examples of architecture. They are pieces of Mobile's history—and the people who lived in them often have stories every bit as interesting as the houses themselves.
Take a look at the story below, and then join us in September as we hear even more fascinating stories about the history of Old Dauphin Way and the people and places that make our neighborhood unique.
We have a feeling that once you start looking into the history of your own house, you might find yourself going down a rabbit hole, too.
"Recently, while attempting to do some research about the history of my house, I ended up going down a very interesting rabbit hole—the story of the original builders and owners of 1551 Dauphin Street (originally 1051), George Ezra and Mary Burke Glover.
The more I’ve uncovered about them, the more fascinating their story has become.
Mary Finnegan Burke was born in Mobile in December 1876 to Peter Burke and Margaret (Maggie) Aloysius Finnegan. She was the fourth child and second daughter in a family of eleven children—seven sisters and three brothers, with nine surviving to adulthood.
I’ve been able to confirm that both of Mary’s parents were born in Alabama, with her father, Peter Burke, being a Mobile native. Both sets of Mary’s grandparents, however, were from Ireland. Peter was a to***co merchant and also had connections to the pharmacy business here in Mobile.
But Peter Burke was also connected to a fascinating—and somewhat forgotten—part of Mobile history.
Peter was a member of Mobile’s “Can’t Get Away Club,” a remarkable organization formed in the aftermath of the devastating yellow fever epidemics of the 19th century. Its members pledged that when yellow fever returned, they would stay in Mobile rather than flee, and would help care for those who were sick and those left behind.
The club provided nurses and doctors, food and other necessities for victims and their families, and even maintained a burial lot at Magnolia Cemetery for those who had no family or resources to care for them.
Peter was still a member during Mobile’s 1897 yellow fever epidemic—the last major outbreak in the city. Afterward, he wrote to a fellow club member:
“It is my most fervent hope that we shall never meet again under such trying circumstances.”
It’s a surprisingly poignant glimpse into what Mobile had endured. The Can’t Get Away Club disbanded soon afterward, having served the city for 58 years.
By 1900, the Burke family was living at 757 Government Street, and Mary was growing up in a Mobile family with deep roots in the city and a firsthand connection to some of its most difficult history.
Then there is George Ezra Glover.
George was born in Michigan in May 1879 to Henry Lee Glover and Euphemia Moot. His father was from Massachusetts and his mother was born in Ontario, Canada. George was the only surviving child of Henry and Euphemia. Interestingly, Euphemia died the same year George was born and may have died in childbirth.
Henry later remarried and went on to have other children, giving George several younger half-siblings. I’m still researching the Glover family and trying to piece together exactly when and why Henry and George came to Mobile.
Henry eventually died in Mobile, so it’s possible that he and George relocated here together from Michigan.
There’s another intriguing clue. At some point, George worked for Gamma Transportation, which may have been a steamer company operating between Michigan and Mobile. It’s possible that George and his father came south through that connection and eventually made Mobile their home—but that’s one piece of the puzzle I’m still trying to find out more about.
And then there’s one particularly fascinating detail about George’s father, Henry Lee Glover.
Henry is believed to have been responsible for building the Glover mausoleum in Magnolia Cemetery. The mausoleum contains a beautiful stained-glass window depicting mountains and a stream—a rather unexpected and beautiful detail that makes me wonder whether it might have held some personal significance for the family and their northern roots.
While I haven’t yet been able to definitively prove that Henry built the mausoleum, I’m treating that as another piece of the puzzle rather than a confirmed fact. But if the connection is correct, it gives us another fascinating glimpse into the Glover family and their life in Mobile.
In November 1903, George married Mary Burke, and in 1908 they welcomed their only child, Henry Burke Glover.
George seems to have had quite a varied career in Mobile. In addition to his connection to Gamma Transportation, I’ve found records showing him working as an office manager at Bienville Pharmacy, working for Bay City Lumber, and serving as a member of the Mobile Housing Board.
Then, in 1916, George, his brother-in-law Owen Burke, and John T. Murray went into business together and purchased a sternwheel boat, forming the Burke Packet Company.
And this is where another interesting connection may emerge.
The boat was named the M.A. Burke, apparently after Mary and Owen’s mother. It was a cotton packet boat, and the company eventually acquired a second boat, the Helen Burke, named after another of Mary and Owen’s sisters.
So George’s earlier connection to steamboats may have eventually come full circle.
By 1918, George and Mary were living at 702 Government Street, while construction was underway on their new home at 1551 Dauphin Street designed by CL Hutchisson Sr. The house was built in 1918–1919, and this is where the story takes an unexpected turn.
According to the records I’ve found so far, George and Mary only lived in the house for about two-three years before selling it to its next owners.
There’s also another little architectural mystery hiding in the Burke family story. There is another C.L. Hutchisson Sr. house on Dauphin Street—1835 Dauphin Street, built in 1912 and referred to as the Burke House.
Given Mary’s Burke family connections and the fact that both houses are on Dauphin Street, I can’t help but wonder whether there is a connection between the Burke family and these two Hutchisson-designed houses. Whether it’s simply a coincidence or part of a larger story is something I’d love to figure out.
By the 1930 census, the Glover family—George, Mary, and Henry—were living at 2161 Springhill Road.
Their son Henry later married Rosalie Constance Baya in Tampa, Florida, in 1944.
There are still A LOT of unanswered questions in this story—what brought George and his father from Michigan to Mobile, the exact nature of George’s connection to Gamma Transportation, whether Henry Glover really was responsible for the family mausoleum, what the beautiful stained-glass window represents, and whether the Burke family had a connection to both of these C.L. Hutchisson houses on Dauphin Street.
Of course this is just the beginning of the story of 1551 Dauphin Street because there have been several families who have lived here and I'm working on putting together their stories as well.
But that’s one of the things I love about researching an old house.
The house itself is only part of the story. It's the human history and stories about the people who lived here that I find so fascinating.
Sometimes, pulling on one little thread leads you into an entire family history you never expected to find.
And now, of course, I have about twenty more threads to pull." - Melissa A Sheppard
