Toulminville is a neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama, United States.^[1] It began as a small settlement on the property of Harry Theophilus Toulmin, who served as Sheriff of Mobile County in the 1830s. During the American Civil War, Toulminville was mapped along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as a significant settlement, northwest of Mobile (see map). In 1945, the remainder of Toulminville was annexed into the city of Mobile. The area of Toulminville has varied over the past decades from being an upper-middle class suburb to having a serious crime problem during most of the 1980s and 1990s, although the trend has been reversed in recent years.

Toulminville remained a largely rural settlement until after the Civil War, when it slowly took on the character of a suburb to Mobile. It remained largely exurban in character until the 20th century, when growth within the city of Mobile spilled over into Toulminville. Part of Toulminville was annexed into the city of Mobile in the 1920s, and the whole of Toulminville was annexed into the city of Mobile in 1945, in the annexation which tripled the size of Mobile's corporate limits. By World War II, Toulminville had become an upper-middle class suburb, with many affluent neighborhoods built along Stanton and Summerville streets.

Professional baseball player Hank Aaron grew up in Toulminville as a young boy.

Suburbanization started after World War II, as highways were built and new houses were built outside the city. Middle and upper-class whites began to move out of the city to newer housing, especially after desegregation following civil rights advances of the 1960s. A perceived upsurge of crime on Mobile's north side contributed to this white migration. (In 1966 a white nun was raped by a black man in a notorious incident at Catholic Cemetery on Stone Street, now Martin Luther King Avenue.) The district was majority white in 1960 and became nearly 80% black by 1975. Toulminville was the heart of the district that elected John LeFlore to the Mobile County Commission; he was a Mobile NAACP leader and the first African American elected to the county commission.

Upper-class neighborhoods along Stanton and Summerville streets retained their white population for some time. In the 1980s they became majority black and retained high property values. While Stanton and Summerville are middle-class areas, most of Toulminville is lower-class. During most of the 1980s and 1990s with its economic and drug problems, this area had a serious crime problem. That trend has reversed due to a concerted effort by the Mobile Police Department and community leaders in Toulminville.

Toulminville was the birthplace of United States Surgeon General William Crawford Gorgas, who worked to control yellow fever and malaria during World War I. Several streets and an elementary school were named after him. Figures Park, named for Senator Michael Figures, an influential African-American politician of the 20th century, was originally named Gorgas Park, in honor of the general. This neighborhood was the adolescent home of baseball legend Hank Aaron.

Toulminville is within the Mobile County Public School System. Washington Middle School is in Toulminville.^[2]

LeFlore Magnet High School (originally Toulminville High School) is a performing arts magnet school named in honor of John L. LeFlore. Toulminville High School was renamed LeFlore High School in honor of LeFlore. In the 1980s, it was converted into a magnet school, which under Mobile County Public School policy to increase diversity, is ideally to have a 50/50 black white mix. The county is majority white and the school is 98% African-American, making it one of the least diverse schools in the state of Alabama.

30°42′48″N 88°05′05″W / 30.713434°N 88.08471°W / 30.713434; -88.08471

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History	Timeline Formation Battle of Fort Charlotte Civil War era Battle of Mobile Bay Battle of Spanish Fort Clotilda Magazine explosion
Geography	Africatown Airport Boulevard Blakeley Island Brookley Air Force Base Dog River Fowl River Government Street Mobile Bay Mobile River Mobile–Tensaw River Delta Old Shell Road Pinto Island Spanish River Spring Hill Toulminville
Politics	Mayor (list)
Economy	Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley Port of Mobile Mobile Downtown Airport Mobile Regional Airport Austal USA BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards Continental Motors, Inc. Signal International Volkert, Inc. VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering
Culture	Azalea Trail Maids Bayfest Mardi Gras in Mobile Mobile Arts Council Mobile Civic Center Mobile Opera Mobile Symphony Orchestra Mystic society People from Mobile Saenger Theatre
Architecture	Tallest buildings in Mobile RSA Battle House Tower RSA–BankTrust Building Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel Mobile Government Plaza Regions Bank Building Wachovia Building Providence Hospital Van Antwerp Building The Battle House Hotel
Historic sites	NRHP (list) Ahavas Chesed Cemetery Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company Boyington Oak Duffie Oak Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery Church Street Graveyard Fort Charlotte Magnolia Cemetery Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery
Green spaces	Bellingrath Gardens and Home Bienville Square Cathedral Square Langan Park Mobile Botanical Gardens Mardi Gras Park
Education	K–12 Mobile County PSS Davidson High LeFlore Magnet High Murphy High B. C. Rain High Williamson High Baker High Alabama School of Mathematics and Science Faith Academy McGill–Toolen Catholic High St. Paul's Episcopal School UMS-Wright Preparatory School Tertiary Bishop State Community College Spring Hill College University of Mobile University of South Alabama
Museums	Battleship Memorial Park USS Alabama USS Drum Fort Conde Mobile Carnival Museum Mobile Museum of Art Museum of Mobile National African American Archives and Museum Oakleigh Historic Complex Richards DAR House
Media	Lagniappe Mod Mobilian Press-Register WALA 10 WFNA 55 WKRG 5 WPMI 15
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