The Battle House Hotel is the fourth hotel to occupy this site and the second to be known as the Battle House. Designed by F M Andrews and Company of New York, it was one of the earliest buildings in the state to make use of steel framed construction.

The first hotel on the site was known as the Franklin House. The owner Daniel White moved his Inn from Cahaba to Mobile on flatboats after the severe flood in 1825 almost destroyed the state capitol. Next to the Franklin House, an inn known as the Alabama Hotel was constructed, but both hotels were destroyed by fire in 1829.

That same year a larger hotel, the Waverly, took their place and served until it too was destroyed by fire in 1850. In the fall of that year, James Battle, his brothers, and several other prominent Mobilians formed a company to build a hotel. Isaiah Rodgers, a noted Greek Revival architect, was hired to design the building, which opened in 1852 as the Battle House. The hotel was a popular establishment in the city attracting a large clientele until it burned in 1905.

In 1906 a company composed of a number of leading citizens was formed with D R Burgess as president, and raised $1,350,000 for the purpose of rebuilding the Battle House. The structure was completed in 1908. President Woodrow Wilson was entertained here in 1913 after announcing his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine to delegates to the Southern Commercial Congress. - NPS