The Diocese of Mobile was established in 1829, with Michael Portier appointed its first bishop. During his thirty-year tenure he began many of the projects that led to what remains of Mobile's Catholic architectural and historical legacy. He was responsible for the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception that still stands today and his own house. He also founded Spring Hill College, the oldest Catholic college in the Southeastern United States and the third-oldest Jesuit college in the United States.[3] Catholicism remained the dominant form of Christianity in Mobile until the American Civil War.[4] Protestantism grew in the city from then until World War II, when more than 89,000 people, mostly Protestant, moved into the city to work for war effort industries. From that point on Catholicism was a minority, although still sizable, denomination.[5] The structures listed in this multiple property submission reflect the best-preserved reminders of this Catholic legacy.[1]