Browse Items (963 total)

The Rosenbaum House was built in 1939-1940 with a price tag of approximately $14,000. The Rosenbaum House is located in Florence and serves as the only example of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in Alabama. Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum were the…

George Lindsey was born on December 17, 1928 in Fairfield, Alabama, and grew up in Jasper, Alabama. Lindsey became interested in acting after watching a play when he was fourteen. He later became interested in football and the sport gave him a way…

The statue of a Confederate Soldier stands in front of the Lauderdale County Courthouse on Court Street. It was placed in its current location in 1902 when the new courthouse was finished.

The Hotel Reeder was a staple of downtown Florence during the early twentieth century. The location of the Hotel Reeder was on Tennessee Street, and the hotel was so large that it covered an entire block. The three-story brick building had a…

The 1976 National Register nomination of the Robert M. Patton house states that the property is significant in terms of architecture as a classic example of a North Alabama Georgian plantation house, and for political history as the home of the first…

The Hotel Negley was one of the more modern hotels built in the early twentieth century in downtown Florence. The Hotel Negley was constructed on the empty lot of the former Jefferson Hotel in 1925 after the Jefferson Hotel caught fire in the early…

Florence, Alabama’s first official City Historian was William Lindsey McDonald, a man who did much to research, preserve, and promote local history. Born in 1927, Mr. McDonald served in the U.S. Army for thirty-eight years before retiring with the…

T.S. Stribling graduated from State Normal College in 1903. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Due to his significance to UNA and the literary world he earned UNA the first Literary Landmark in the state in 2006.

Hill Auto Company, located on the southwest side of the traffic circle at Royal Avenue and Huntsville Road, is believed to be the second filling and service station built in Florence. The owner of the service station, Fred Hill, also ran the Hill…

National Register property – Forks of Cypress

Forks of Cypress plantation house is now a ruin. A fire resulting from lightning destroyed the home in 1966. However, the 23 remaining standing brick columns are still significant for what they can…

Early Baptists settlers in Waterloo, Alabama, met in a two-story log meeting house. This building was erected in 1845. The structure was 40 x 60 feet. During the week, children in the Waterloo community attended school in the church’s main floor,…

Methodist settlers first entered the northwest region of Alabama during the early 1800s during the Second Great Awakening. The lot of land that Tabernacle Methodist Church sits on was used for religious camp meetings during the Second Great…

The federal building is located at the corner of Seminary and Tombigbee and its address is 210 North Seminary Street, Florence, Alabama. The building is currently named in honor of Alabama’s first Supreme Court Justice, John McKinley. The United…

Established during the 1830s, the Canaan United Methodist Church is the oldest Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County. Land for the church’s building and cemetery were given by an early settler in the county named Edmond Noel. Established for…

The 1976 NR nomination documents a 400 foot unpaved section of the original Natchez Trace not covered by the Natchez Trace Parkway. The original Natchez Trace was a network of trails established by Native Americans that stretched roughly from what…

On May 22, 1852, the Liberty Baptist Church congregation organized the oldest existing Baptist congregation in Lauderdale County. In fact, it was the only Baptist church erected in the county until the First Baptist Church of Florence was built over…

The Florence Times was the predecessor of the current newspaper for Lauderdale County, The Times-Daily. The Florence Times began in the nineteenth century by the O’Neal family. The O’Neal family of Florence produced multiple governors of Alabama…

Robert Miller Patton was one of five Lauderdale County residents to serve as governor of Alabama. Patton was born in Virginia in 1809. He and his parents came to Alabama in 1818 and he took up residence in Florence in 1829. In 1832, he became a…

National Register property – Rosenbaum House

The Rosenbaum house was built for Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum in 1940 from a late 1930s Usonian design by Frank Lloyd Wright, the only house designed by Wright in the state of Alabama. Usonian…

The Center Star Methodist Church congregation is the oldest Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County. Throughout its history the congregation has moved over five times. Its origins began in 1818, when the Methodist Richland Circuit of Giles…

The Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company is another company that the Ashcraft family of Florence either owned or had a stake in. In 1897, a year before he founded the Florence Cotton Oil Company, Lee Ashcraft founded and incorporated the Tennessee…

The Mars Hill Church of Christ, established in 1871, is one of twenty-nine Churches of Christ in Florence. The Church of Christ denomination emerged out of the American Restoration Movement, a movement to reestablish America’s Christianity on the…

Courtview was built as the two story brick townhouse of successful planter and businessman George Washington Foster. The 1854-55 Greek Revival house faces the Tennessee River (southwest) down the length of Court Street in Florence. According to the…

Established in 1872, St. Michael’s Catholic Church was the first Catholic Church in Lauderdale County. The church was organized in St. Florian, Alabama, a community founded by German Catholic settlers. A prominent Catholic minister in the southwest…

Another lumber company located in the downtown Florence area, W.E. Temple Company and Planning Mills was a fixture in Florence at the beginning of the twentieth century. W.E. Temple was well known for his architectural ability because he constructed…

The son of Edward A. O’Neal, Emmet O’Neal was the thirty-sixth governor of Alabama and a resident of Lauderdale County. He served as governor from 1911-1915. Emmet O’Neal was born on September 6, 1853, in Florence, Alabama. After graduating…

Prior to 1898 the Catholic population in Florence, Alabama, traveled to Tuscumbia’s Our Sacred Heart. The pastor of Our Sacred Heart, Father Bassen, characterized Florence as a mission of the Catholic Church. As a result, St. Joseph Catholic Church…

Coffee High School opened in 1916, becoming the first public high school in Florence. The building cost $96,000, a very large amount for the early 1900's. The school was named Coffee High School after Mrs. A.D. Coffee, the daughter-in-law of General…

Sweetwater Mill has a relationship to the Sweetwater area because it is an old part of the Cherry Cotton Mill plant. The J.T. Flagg Knitting Company purchased the mill after the conclusion of World War II because the company was looking to expand…

First United Methodist Church is one of Florence’s oldest congregations. The congregation’s first meeting took place in a log home on September 8, 1822, and consisted of eight people. The log home was the property of the congregation’s first…

Along with thirty-five members, Reverend Felix Johnson organized Goodsprings Cumberland Presbyterian in Rogersville, Alabama, on September 18, 1839. During its history the church’s congregation has had to deal with two historical events—the Civil…

The Foundry/Florence Stove and Manufacturing Company played an important role in the history of the Sweetwater area of Florence, and as of today, the remnants of their factory still operates under a partnership of former employees as the Martin Stove…

Nashville architect Adolphus Heiman designed the Gothic Revival building and Zebulon Pike Morrison, a native of Virginia, who migrated to Lauderdale County constructed the building. Wesleyan Hall was reportedly his finest work. The three story…

Wood Avenue Church of Christ is one of the oldest Churches of Christ in Lauderdale County. The Church of Christ denomination emerged out of the American Restoration Movement, a movement to reestablish America’s Christianity on the teachings of the…

Edward A. O’Neal was born on September 20, 1818, in Madison County, Alabama. His parents were Edward and Rebecca Wheat O’Neal. O’Neal graduated from La Grange College and worked as a lawyer in Florence. He served as a solicitor of the Fourth…

William McDonald Richardson owned the Richardson Lumber Company. Richardson had served as the first manager of the Acme Lumber Company. The Richardson Lumber Company was located on Sweetwater Creek on Huntsville Road between Sweetwater Avenue and…

The First Presbyterian Church of Florence is the oldest continually operating congregation in Florence, Alabama. Early Presbyterian settlers of Florence bought land lot 84 from the Cypress Land Company in 1818 for a total of $1,600 and built a…

The University of North Alabama traces its roots all the way back to LaGrange College and its charter in 1830. The college moved to Florence in 1855 and renamed Florence Wesleyan University. The college closed during 1861-1869 due to the Civil War.…

The Philadelphia Furnace was located on Sweetwater Creek to the south of present day Veterans Drive. Originally owned by the father of the Sweetwater boom, Judge William Basil Wood, the furnace was known as the W.B. Wood Furnace in 1889. The W.B.…

Theophilus Brown Larimore constructed the two story frame house in 1870 to serve as a home and school. The house is significant for its association with religion, education, and social history. Larimore served as headmaster and Church of Christ…

The Episcopalian movement in America began in the late 1700’s and spread into northwest Alabama during the 1800s. The oldest Episcopalian parish in the area is Trinity Episcopal Church in Florence, Alabama. In the 1820s the early congregation met…

Two separate ice and coal companies merged to create the Florence Ice and Coal Company. The first company was Chapin Ice and Coal Company. The second company was H.J. Moore Coal Company. Chapin, before the merger, boasted that the company could…

The shape-note notation was an American pedagogical tool designed to increase the music education of the average citizen who did not have the financial resources or time to learn the traditional round note notation. New Englanders William Smith and…

This company was the leader in fuel production for the people of Florence. The old Florence Gas Light and Fuel Company/Florence Gas Works operated on Old Huntsville Road, west of the Florence Steam Laundry in Sweetwater. The main office of the…

The State Normal School began in 1872 after Florence Wesleyan University closed and the building was deeded to the State. This university was the first normal school south of the Ohio River. The college consisted of a two year program to train…

F.H. Foster Manufacturing served a multitude of roles in manufacturing in the Florence area. The F.H. Foster complex was built in between Sweetwater Creek and the Tennessee River along the Louisville and Nashville railroad tracks that ran through…

During the 1960s and 1970s the music industry in the Shoals earned national recognition through the success of FAME Recording Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Musicians such as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, and Percy Sledge…

Between the 1950s and 1980s the success of Shoals recording studios, such as FAME Recording Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, earned the Shoals region’s music industry national attention. Artists such as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and…

Before the city of Florence, Alabama gained renown for its world famous Florence Wagon Works, the wagon company operated in the area of Atlanta, Georgia. One reason why the company moved to Florence was the infrastructure of industry within the…

During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s (years generally known as the “recording years”), the success of FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, brought national attention to the region. Musicians such as the Swampers, Joe Tex, Aretha…