This article is from the summer 2025 edition of Mobile Baykeeper’s print quarterly, CURRENTS. The magazine is mailed to active members who have given more than $50 in the past year. To get on the magazine’s mailing list, donate here.
By Jody K. Harper | Photo by Micah Green
Kris Fecteau of Atmore draws in his cast net on the Fairhope Pier and scoops up a sheepshead, the spines on its dorsal fin flaring out before it is tossed into his ice chest. Fecteau recollects an early morning on the pier years ago when he says, “My eight-foot net wrapped around 280 pounds of mullet in two throws … the net was so heavy I had to have people help me bring it in.”
Asked about the changes happening to the pier, Fecteau says the new handrails are smoother and cleaner than the wood railings they replace. The old wooden benches, with dedications inscribed to beloved Fairhope residents, are gone now, replaced with blank new benches of that same composite material. This is just one update to the pier’s construction, made through the Working Waterfront Project, which is federally funded through the RESTORE Act.
The disruption and changes have been visible. Large trees have been removed from the walking area south of the park, and piles of concrete are heaped up from the removal of old sidewalks. Much of the upheaval is to address the structures beneath the surface.
“The infrastructure needed to be fixed, and it needed a face-lift,” says Fairhope Public Works Director George Ladd, explaining that the project is repairing and renovating stormwater drainage, seawall repair, and utility upgrades. “A large portion of the concrete is being repurposed as rip-rap and the remainder will be milled back down and used for other jobs for the city.”
This modern facility has a history reaching back into the late 1800s. In 1895, founding members of Fairhope built a wharf where boats could land and bring supplies across Mobile Bay. Before this, these boats had been going to Battles Wharf and up to Daphne. Construction of the wharf only cost $1,300. It was funded from “wharf certificates” that were redeemable for future services for a donation of labor and materials toward the construction effort. According to former Fairhope History Museum Director Donnie Barrett, it was the sole source of income for the town of Fairhope at that time, with docking fees charged for loading and unloading materials.
In 1905, according to the Fairhope Courier newspaper, a 16-room bath house was built for ladies and a separate building erected for gentlemen, where visitors could rent a wool bathing suit that Barrett said would have “smelled like gasoline,” as their method of cleaning the suits was to “wash them in white gas,” a method of dry cleaning used in the early 1900s.
The Bay Queen, the Fairhope, the Pleasure Bay, and the James A. Carney are just a few of the bay steamers that came into Fairhope. In 1910, the steamer Robert E. Lee caught fire at the wharf and was destroyed, leaving “The Red Wharf,” as the original structure was called, to be rebuilt and christened “The White Pier.”
The wharf included The People’s Railroad in the early 1900s, which gave transport all the way to the end of the pier. A building known as The Casino housed a dance hall in the 1920s, and hotels and Adolf Berglin’s ice-cream plant were located near the pier. The Hurricane of 1926 destroyed much of the pier, though it was rebuilt a year later, says Barrett.
In the 1930s, the Single Tax Colony gave the parks, piers, roads, and sidewalks to the city of Fairhope, says Barrett. With the construction of the Causeway linking Mobile to the Eastern Shore, waterborne transport diminished, but the Fairhope Pier remained a popular recreation site.
In the 1950s, swimming lessons were taught at the pier swimming platforms, and the north beach was a popular gathering place for local teens in the 1970s and ’80s. During his tenure, Mayor Patrick Nix redesigned the park area, working to add the fountain and rose gardens. It has always been a friendly setting, says Barrett. “When you walked down the Pier, you spoke to people when you passed them,” he recalls.
Through many permutations, the Fairhope Pier continues to draw in those who want to stroll, catch fish, or enjoy seeing amazing sunsets. By July, this latest renovation is expected to be complete.
