Video about sailing on an older sailing boat, underlined with a version of La Paloma
Images of life on a larger sailing boat, with a youth group that is learning how to set sail, clean the ship and other necessary tasks.
Found on Youtube when specifiying Creative Commons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sbVd-mDtn8
Architectural drawings; Watercolors; Houses; Dwellings; Doors & doorways; Windows; Shutters; Porches; Columns; Balconies; Hand railings; Woodwork; Roofs; Chimneys; Moldings; Men; Trees; Landscapes (Representations)
This image is a watercolor painting of the William A. Dawson House, also known as the Dawson-Wilson House, in Spring Hill, Alabama done by Martin Lide, Jr. sometime between 1917 and 1942. The house was built in 1834. The painting shows the front exterior of the house with its doors, windows, shutters, columned porch, steps, columned balcony, hand railing, sloped roof, and two chimneys surrounded by trees and landscaping. There is a man in period dress on the steps. The house is placed within framing art showing its architectural features including the molding under the roof and the second floor balcony, side and top views of the columns, a rear view of the house, floor plans, and the wooden railing from the porch and balcony. In the lower right corner, there is an Alabama Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture stamp with a handwritten inscription "1st Mention/HC." The painting is in good condition, missing only a small piece of the lower right corner, and is encapsulated.
Lide, Martin James (rendering); Dawson, William A. (house)
Auburn University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives Dept. Architecture, School of -- Architectural Renderings Student Projects
This image is the property of the Auburn University Libraries and is intended for non-commercial use. Users of the image are asked to acknowledge the Auburn University Libraries. For information about obtaining high-resolution copies of this and other images in this collection, please contact the Auburn University Libraries Special Collections & Archives Department at archive@auburn.edu or (334) 844-1732.
Library of Congress (Historic American Buildings Survey): http://www.loc.gov/item/al0418/
Spring Hill -- Mobile County -- Alabama ; 76 South McGregor Avenue, Spring Hill, Mobile County, AL (just off Old Shell Road, 9 miles from Mobile)
Altadena Valley Community; Rocky Ridge Cumberland Presbyterian Church; Acton Memorial Church; Acton, Zephaniah William Henry; Presbyterian Church of America; PCA;
Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church began in 1854 under the name Rocky Ridge Cumberland Presbyterian Church, near the current facilities of Briarwood Presbyterian Church. AVPC moved to its current facilities in 1912 as the result of a church split over whether or not the church should maintain its affiliation with the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination or establish a new affiliation with the northern Presbyterian Church. The group that moved to the church’s current location chose to be members of the northern Presbyterian Church. The name of the church was changed to Acton Memorial Church, in honor of Zephaniah William Henry Acton, a charter member and founder of the church. The rolls of the church were dominated by the Acton name in those days. Until the late 1960’s, the church struggled in different ways, with any limited prosperity always being followed by some crisis that caused significant numbers of the congregation to leave. With the community beginning to grow around it, and with the blessing of God through some excellent pastoral leadership, the church began to grow in the late 1960’s. The name was changed in 1968 (by a congregational vote of 17-7) to its current name, reflecting the determination of the church to reach its community. Several building programs were initiated and completed during the 1970’s and early 80’s, including the 1983 razing of the old sanctuary and the construction of our current sanctuary as a replica of that old building. On June 4, 1978, the congregation voted unanimously to change its denominational affiliation to the PCA.
Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church Website
Killian Cemetery Records at Findagrave.com Killian Cemetery Records USgenweb Archives
Shelby County Historical Society; Cemeteries; Moses Johnson
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 33.21580, Longitude: -86.55420 Johnson Cemetery Listing on Findagrave.com Johnson Cemetery Listing on Rootsweb
Liz Clayton, Shelby County Historical Society
Johnson Cemetery Listing on Findagrave.com Johnson Cemetery Listing on Rootsweb
The Columbiana City Cemetery represents over 200 years of history in the Shelby County area. Many recognized names are interred in this old cemetery and deserve to be remembered. In 2006 Eagle Scout Robert Justice took on the major task of logging all of the names in the cemetery and then publishing that list on the Shelby County Historical Society website. In 2011 The Columbiana Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints undertook an extensive refurbishment of the cemetery. Thereafter, using Robert Justice’s compilation of names, they created a grid system map to locate all names interred here. They also went completely through the grounds looking for and finding additional graves that had either been lost in the landscaping or added since Robert’s work. Located in Columbiana, Alabama on both sides of Shelby County Highway 47 South. Rootsweb Census of Columbiana Cemetery Columbiana Cemetery listings on Findagrave.com
Shelby County Tax Records 2015 Parcel #21 7 26 4 001 001.000
Shelby County; Civil War; Iron Industry; Iron; Ware, Horace; blast furnace; Historic Shelby Association; industialization
Shelby Iron Works began when Horace Ware purchased land south of Columbiana, Alabama from Green B and Sarah Seale on December 29, 1842. Ware acquired other properties in the area with available timberland and hematite ore. The Shelby Iron Works Company was started with the building of a cold blast iron furnace. The lone furnace stack was built out of brick and stone and only stood 30 feet high. During The American War between the States the iron works was useful in outfitting the CSS Tennessee, CSS Huntsville and the CSS Tuscaloosa. A detachment of Union General Emory Upton's division of Wilson's Raiders attempted to destroy the ironworks on March 31, 1865. The ironworks was rebuilt and continued to operate until 1923 when production stopped. The majority of the Ironworks was dismantled for scrap in 1929. Shelby Ironworks Website
Shelby Springs Hotel & Confederate Cemetery
Shelby Springs; Mineral Springs; Hotel; Resort; Hospital; Cemetery; Civil War
Shelby Springs Resort Hotel is believed to have been built sometime around 1839 providing accomodations to tourists coming to avail themselves of the mineral waters. In about 1856 Mr. Jasper J. Norris of Selma leased the property consisting of 2,700 acres of wooded land, including the springs, hotel and cottages. During the Civil War, the facilities were used as a training center for the young Confederate soldiers. In 1862 Shelby Springs was known as Camp Winn. Several students in the University of Alabama Cadet Corps were sent there to drill troops for the Army. In 1863, the Confederate Army as a hospital and a soldier's home used the hotel and cottages. Father Leray and the Sisters of Mercy staffed the hospital after fleeing Civil War destruction in Vicksburg, Mississippi. They brought with them by train many wounded and sick Confederate soldiers. The Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery became an extension of an existing cemetery located on a ridge overlooking the springs. Copied from the Shelby County Historical Society Quarterly magazine, dated March 2002: Shelby County Reporter, Thursday, June 10, 1976 Letter to the Editor: With very much interest I read the letter in the "Reporter" about the old cemetery located near, at that time, the old Summer Resort at Shelby Springs. Fifty years ago the Nelson Realty Co. purchased the Shelby Springs and their plans were to build a big Hotel and Club House to be named the "Yamakita Club" but somehow it never materialized. Then a man named Irby procured it and from that the present owner acquired the property, Howard Hall. Since the last two owners acquired it, there were no more good times, such as picnics et cetera at Shelby Springs. People for miles around would come there especially on the 4th of July ball games et cetera, plenty of water of which there were five kinds, three artesian springs of sulphur water. It was meeting place for all the neighbors. Gone is all that now, an iron fence surrounds the old springs "lot" as it was called, but let us get back to the cemetery, it was known as the Old Soldiers Grave Yard. I personally knew of two old civil war veterans buried there, I.C. Miller and his brother William "Bill" then their sisters Miss Nancy Miller and Mrs. Marian [Mary Ann, second wife of Felix James] Seale ... John Roche Gould, 3329 Oakhill Drive, Birmingham, Alabama 35216. More about Shelby Springs Hotel More about Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery Findagrave.com listings for Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery
What remains of the Shelby Hotel, adjacent to Shelby Iron Works, is closed to public and on private property. It is believed to be the first in Alabama to have running water and electric lights. Originally built in 1863, it was totally destroyed by fire in 1898, and rebuilt in 1900. Shelby Hotel by Bobby Joe Seales on Rootsweb Article about Shelby Hotel by Strange Alabama (Beverly Crider) on AL.com
Lindsay Historical Site: David Lindsay, A Revolutionary War Soldier
Shelby; American Revolution; Cemetery; DAR
David Lindsay was born 1750 in Washington County, Pennsylvania and died 1835 in Shelby County, Alabama. He was a private in the American Revolutionary War and a pioneer settler of Shelby County. He married Mary Casey and they had twelve children. On April 2, 1784, in reward for his service to the Commonwealth of Virginia, Lindsay was granted 100 acres of land in Green County, North Carolina. They settled in Shelby County before the 1820 census. He died about 1835 and Mary died about 1847. Both are buried with other family members on a son's former homestead in the Maylene community. The family graveyard has been preserved as the Lindsay Historical Site near Shelby County Highway 17. The David Lindsay Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) was first chartered in Montevallo in 1927 with some members having descended from Lindsay through his daughters. In 2006 the group erected a memorial plaque on a native rock at American Village. In April 2008 they won official recognition of Lindsay's service and genealogy from the National Society of the DAR. David Lindsay Chapter, Alabama Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Lindsay Historical Site David Lindsay by Bobbie Joe Seales David Lindsay B'ham Wiki Clan Lindsay Site David Lindsay on Findagrave.com
Notes from the Teague Memoirs of Shelby County tell of a man who lived on this side of the river at McGowan’s Ferry (just south of the site of the SEGCO Steam Plant). He had an understanding with an Indian friend on the Talladega County side. The Indian has promised to warn his friend when his people were on a rampage. One day, the white man saw the smoke signal and spread the alarm thet the Indians were coming. It was related that ribbons, corsets, and many bits of paraphernalia were strewn along the road from Wilsonville to Montevallo as the residents left in great haste. On 10 November 1840 a James McGowen of Shelby County filed on a parcel of land in the area one mile from Wilsonville on the Coosa River, that would later be known as “McGowan’s Ferry.” Both James W. and George W. McGowan enlisted and served in the American War between the States. George purchased the site of McGowan's Ferry in 1874 from B. Averitt. It is unclear if he and James W. were related to the James McGowin who purchased the land in 1840. James and Julia Johnson McGowan had been living in Columbiana but moved to Wilsonville between 1870 and 1878 and may have made the move when G.W. purchased the land from Averitt. The town of Wilsonville was first incorporated in 1897. G.W. McGowan was the first mayor. He married Mary Jane Blockton and after her death in 1888 remarried Sarah E. Privett of Calhoun Co, Alabama in 1889. He died in 1903 and is buried in Wilsonville Cemetery. The McGowan Ferry ceased operation in 1939. It was an important linked across the Coosa between Shelby and Talledega Counties. ~ from History of Wilsonville, Alabama AL.com 2013 article about potential bridge sites near locations of old ferry sights.
Shelby; Education; Montevallo, University of; Alabama Girls' Industrial School; Alabama State College for Women
In October of 1896, the Alabama Girls’ Industrial School opened its doors to some 150 young women from all parts of the state. They had come to participate in a great experiment, in an innovation in education for Alabama. They had come to be trained as teachers, bookkeepers, artists, musicians, dressmakers, telegraphers and milliners. In other words, at last, there was a school in Alabama whose purpose was to educate women to be self-supporting; at last, here was an opportunity to escape from the drudgery of field work, mill work, or from the ignominy of depending on a father or brother for lifelong support if there was no husband. At last, here was an opportunity for young women to expand their minds and dreams in a state, poverty-stricken by economic circumstances, that could provide little public education for its citizens. In 1911 AGIS became Alabama Girls’ Technical Institute. The phrase “and College for Women” was added in 1919. In 1923, the school became Alabama College, State College for Women, a degree-granting institution. Two men enrolled in January of 1956, and with 33 more arriving by September, a new era had begun for the school. In 1969, in order to reflect this changing atmosphere, the school changed its name to University of Montevallo, and its four distinct colleges (Arts and Sciences, Education, Business, and Fine Arts) were established. Today, UM holds fast to the principles that we were founded upon and the mission that we’ve always upheld. As Alabama’s only public liberal arts university, we take pride in knowing that our curriculum is both challenging and affordable. And while we offer degree programs in more than 70 academic disciplines, our student-to-faculty ratio is a mere 16-to-1, so you’ll know that you’re getting a tailor-made education. It’s no surprise that we’re continuing to ascend the ranks of U.S. News & World Report’s list of America’s Best Colleges when it comes to overall education and lack of student loan debt. Information above from History of Montevallo University
Shelby County; Museum; Archives; Courthouse; Shelby County Historical Society Inc.; Genealogy; Maps; Deeds; Marriage Records;
Our extensive and growing collection of research materials includes books, periodicals, microfilm, microfiche, family folders and much more. We have the index and records from 1957 through 1994 of the Bolton Funeral Home located in Columbiana, Alabama. We maintain the original old Shelby County Alabama courthouse records, including such records as (1) Probate Estate Files through 1915, (2) Probate Minute Books and Will Books, (3) Marriage Records through 1982, (4) Divorce Case Files through 1950, (5) Chancery Court Records, (6) Circuit Court Records, and much more! We have all up-to-date published counties of the Heritage of Alabama Book Series. For easy research, we have on microfilm and/or CD such items as (1) Shelby County Newspapers dating back to 1866, (2) Shelby County Deed Books through 1899, (3) 1908 through 1959 Alabama Death Certificate Index, (4) 1950-1979 Alabama Obituary Clippings, (5) 1907-1908 Alabama Confederate Soldiers Census, (6) Alabama Confederate Pension Applications, (7) Shelby County Alabama World War I Draft Registrations, (8) Shelby County Alabama World War I Service Records, (9) 1936 through 1969 Alabama Marriage Record Index, (10) 1950 through 1959 Alabama Divorce Record Index, and (8) 1820 through 1940 Shelby County Alabama Census Records, with index for each. We have equipment for you to view and copy these microfilm/microfiche and CD items. For your convenience, we also have on microfilm Alabama County Marriage Certificates for (1) Bibb, 1818-1929, (2) Chilton, 1870-1935, (3) Clarke, 1890-1930, (4) Coosa, 1834-1925, (5) Madison, 1809-1820, (6) Perry, 1820-1929, (7) St. Clair, 1819-1933, (8) Talladega, 1833-1929, (9) Tallapoosa, 1830-1911, and the Jefferson County 1818-1940 Marriage Index, including the Bessemer Annex. In addition, we have Death Index for the following states (1) Arkansas, 1914-1950, (2) Mississippi, 1912-1943, (3) Tennessee, 1908-1954, (4) Texas, 1903-1963, and Pre 1900 Georgia Death Certificates. Our library also offers additional researching FREE through "Ancestry.com", "Fold3.com" and "GenealogyBank.com". The Alabama Historical Commission Oral History Project in 1978, and through a grant received in 2011 from Alabama Historical Records Advisory Board and matching public contributions to digitalize this collection, are now available for your private listening pleasure. To see the index Click Here. The Shelby County Historical Society, Inc. accepts and collects materials which provide information on the history of Shelby County Alabama. It is possible that some of these same materials are also available at the Alabama Department of Archives & History and/or public libraries throughout the state. These materials are acquired for researchers' convenience and not with the expectation that they will be kept forever. We also acquire duplicate copies of many items which tend to be heavily used by researchers. The archive's collection consists of books, dissertations, theses, journals, and newsletters, and also contains materials in a variety of formats, such as microfilm, microfiche, and vertical files of unpublished materials. Because the history of Shelby County is closely tied to the history of Alabama, we also collect some Alabama history reference materials. If you would like to offer reference material to the Shelby County Historical Society, Inc. please contact Bobby Joe Seales. We are located in the Old Shelby County Courthouse, built in 1854 in Columbiana, Alabama. This building has been designated a historic landmark by the National Register of Historic Places and is listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage. The Museum displays many old Shelby County photographs and artifacts from the Indian era through WWII; including such items as the bell from the Alabama, a well-known railroad engine during its time, Creek Indian artifacts, the 1906 Shelby County Courthouse cornerstone contents removed 24th June 2006, and three chestnut wood cars and several feet of wood track that were found on the 4th May 1974 in the forgotten Confederate Gurnee Coal Mine in West Shelby County. They proudly display a serving for 12 of the (1) Alabama College Wedgwood 50th Anniversary Reynolds Hall dinner plates, 1896-1946, and (2) serving for 12 tea cups and saucers, introduced in 1949, with the Library (Wills Hall). Effective August 1, 2015 (until further notice) the hours of operation of our Museum and Archives are Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. We are temporarily closed, until further notice, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday and Holidays. Please come and visit us. Information above from Shelby County Museum & Archives Website 2013 AL.com article about updates to 1854 Shelby County Courthouse which houses Museum and Archive. Historical Marker Database record of 1854 Shelby County Courthouse.
Shelby County Musuem & Archives Website
1859: Sick Children; Mental illness; Physical illness; Shame; Meeting; Love; Longing; Visiting; Family Matters; Transcription
Louisa writes to Tom, excusing herself for being in a poor mental/physical state because her recent bouts of illness. Much of her family has been sick, including children and aunts. She hopes that she can come visit him or he can come visit her soon. 3 handwritten pages
P.M.B. Young Collection, Bartow History Museum
2005.36.300: Louisa Young to Pierce M.B. Young, 1860
1860; Walnut Grove; West Point NY; United States Military Academy; Charleston SC; Greenville SC; Mother (Caroline Young); Lollie H.; Robert, Jr.; George; Tom; Sally; Billy; Grandma; Family; Friends; Gossip; Convention Delegates
Louisa wrote to Pierce to share news about family and friends. She commented on her appreciation for her friends welcoming her back home but explained that they seem tame after spending so time much time sojourning in the company of the "fast people" of the West. She mentioned their brothers Robert and George, and a wedding invitation. She asked PMB for his opinion about her marrying Tom. She enclosed "pin money" in the letter and sent best wishes. 1 handwritten envelope and 4 handwritten pages.
2005.36.107: Louisa Young to P.M.B. Young, 1859 June 9
1859; Family relations; Robert Young; Macon; Georgia; Savannah; Georgia; Washington; Tennessee
A brief letter from Louisa Jones to PMB Young. Louisa expresses how she misses her brother and is excited to see him during an upcoming visit. She mentions the condition of their brother, Robert. Louisa discusses family matters as well as mentioning family friends who miss Pierce.
P. M. B. Young Collection; Bartow History Museum
Bartow History Museum Auburn History Department
Peter R. Thomas Jr. Auburn History Department
2005.36.146: Louisa Young to P.M.B. Young, 1857 June 16
1857; Walnut Grove; Robert Young; Dr. Hart; West Point; New York; Social Relations; Entertainment; Colonel Watts; P.M.B. Young; Louisa Young; family affairs; military training; cadet life
This letter from sister Louisa expresses how much she misses Pierce. She discusses a visit from Robert that went well. Louisa also expresses her pleasure at Pierce's bright future by complimenting his position at West Point. Louisa mentions a wedding she attended and how everyone in attendance asked about Pierce.
P.M.B. Young Collection; Bartow History Museum
2005.36.174: Louisa Young Jones to P.M.B. Young, 1857 July 10
1857; Louisa Young Jones; Pierce Manning Butler Young; P.M.B Young; Walnut Grove; Georgia Daloney; Burke County; Mississippi; Cartersville; Marietta; Milledgeville; Pensacola; Florida; West Point; New York; Money; Land Purchasing; Travel; July 4th; Horseback riding; Politics
Although the letter is not signed, it appears to be Louisa writing to her brother, P.M.B. Young. She informs Young of local happenings and gossip. 4 handwritten pages.
2005.36.151: Lucy Dashwood to P.M.B. Young, unknown
St. Valentine's Day; Love: Romance; Lucy
A love letter from Lucy Dashwood to P.M.B. Young. 1 handwritten page.
The landscape photograph is of the summer time construction at the United States Nitrate Plant Number Two. The photograph shows several facilities under construction at the time and each are marked on the photograph. The history of the nitrate plant's construction was twofold: first, the plant was constructed to produce large amounts of fertilizer, and second, the plant was to produce the ammonium nitrate necessary for explosives at the end of World War I. However, World War I ended before the plant could produce for that purpose. Another reason why the plant was constructed dealt with independence from the nation of Chile and their grip on nitrate production globally.
M.C. Fesmire, The University of North Alabama
Text: History of Muscle Shoals with Views of Wilson Dam by W.R. McKerall The Muscle Shoals Project by State Normal School (The University of North Alabama) Souvenir of Inspection Trip by Officials and Citizens of The Tri Cities Wednesday March 12, 1919 by United States Nitrate Plant No. 2 Photo: UNA Archives and Special Collections
Status Unknown May be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Distribution or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
The Kiddy Hotel/House was the primary hotel for the Sweetwater area of east Florence at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The proprietors of the Kiddy Hotel were the husband and wife couple of James and Harriet Adair Kiddy. The Kiddy Hotel sat atop the East Hill in Sweetwater when the area became the center of the industrial boom in Florence. Before the hotel was on East Hill, it was on Aetna Street within a short distance of the Central Baptist Church in east Florence. After moving the Kiddy Hotel to East Hill, the hostelry was near Blair, Connor, and Cole Streets in east Florence. Shortly after moving the Kiddy Hotel to East Hill, the Kiddy’s sold the property to the Beckman family of the Florence area. During the years of operation for the Kiddy Hotel, Harriet Kiddy was well known for her cooking ability. Colloquially deemed “Aunt Harriet’s” cooking, she made from scratch beaten biscuits for breakfast and buttermilk custard for supper for the guests of the hotel. Her hotel cooking gained her local acclaim as a wonderful cook, to the point where traveling businessman through Florence would stay at her hotel just for her cooking. An interesting fact for the hotel is that the kitchen was in the cellar of the multi-story hotel, so Aunt Harriet would use a hand-operated dumb waiter to deliver the food to the guests in the dining room on the first floor.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. McDonald, William Lindsey. "Sweetwater: The Story of East Florence." Florence: Florence Historical Board, 1989. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Kiddy Hotel/House.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-03.
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. Wood Furnace was one of the first industries in the Sweetwater area, but it was incomplete. John W. Norton of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was hired as its manager. While Norton was manager, he oversaw the completion of the W.B. Wood Furnace in 1891 and the furnace was renamed in honor of his home city of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Furnace could produce 45,000 tons of iron a year. By 1892, the Philadelphia Furnace fell into financial trouble because of the economic depression of 1892 and was subsequently sold to the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company a few years later in 1899. The Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company owned the Philadelphia Furnace from 1899 to 1926 when in 1926 the furnace was blown out. In 1901, the Sloss-Sheffield Company resumed operation after the company upgraded and remodeled the furnace that was ten years old. Under the direction of the Sloss-Sheffield Company, the Philadelphia furnace employed 175 men in 1906 and could produce up to two hundred tons of iron a day. At the peak of production for the furnace, it produced about 70,000 tons of iron a year. Unfortunately, production stopped in 1926. The workers for the Philadelphia furnace lived in a company-owned village along what is now Veterans Drive and what was and is Aetna Street. The Sloss-Sheffield Company provided a two-story brick commissary for food, dry goods, and other necessities for the families of the Philadelphia furnace workers. When in operation, the furnace was a remarkable sight. The furnace had the highest smokestack in all of Sweetwater. The furnace operated around the clock with three shifts per day. When the night shift would clock in, they would be the men who began the process of dumping the molten red slag along the railroad tracks by the furnace. Stories abounded over the sight of the molten red slag being dumped. A story of an immigrant Irish worker to east Florence, Pat McClutchin, described him being awoken from sleep around midnight to the glow of the molten red slag. He was staying at the Kiddy Hotel at the time in Sweetwater and was heard moaning by the other guests in the hotel. According to the story told about McClutchin, he thought he had died and gone to the gates of Hell. McClutchin's fear was not true, but the slag was always that hot.
M.C. Fesmire, University of North Alabama
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Factories and Mills. Box 25, Volume 3, Factories and Mills File 3.1. Florence, Alabama. William Lindsey McDonald, “Untitled Manuscript." McDonald, William Lindsey. "Sweetwater: The Story of East Florence." Florence: Florence Historical Board, 1989. Sheridan, Richard C. “Industrial Growth in the Shoals Area 1818-1933,” Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 7 (1979). Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Philadelphia Furnace.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-29.
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 Minnehaha Street. Richardson built his lumberyard on the old site of the Florence Planning Mill and Manufacturing Company. After some time, Richardson moved his lumber company to downtown Florence on to East Tennessee Street. Richardson had gained valuable experience at Acme Lumber Company as manager before opening up his own lumberyard. He had the unfortunate privilege of being the Acme Lumber manager when the Spanish influenza broke out in Florence in 1918. He had to oversee round the clock shifts to produce the large number of coffins necessary to bury the deceased during the influenza outbreak. The coffins were primarily for the construction workers at Wilson Dam in 1918 and the workers at the Colbert County nitrate plants as well.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Richardson Lumber Company.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-06.
The Foundry/Florence Stove and Manufacturing Company
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 and Range Company/Martin Industries, Inc. As of today, the factory is located on East Tennessee Street. When first established, the Foundry was located on Commerce Street in Sweetwater. The Foundry became the Florence Stove and Manufacturing Company when Henry H. Theole moved his company to Commerce Street in 1888 from Evansville, Indiana. An important businessman in Florence, Thomas Jefferson Phillips partnered with Theole. Phillips owned many entrepreneurial ventures in the Sweetwater area of Florence. When the Florence Stove Company commenced manufacturing, the factory produced stoves, heaters, wash pots, skillets, “sad” irons for ironing, and “dog” irons for fireplaces in a 150,000 square foot warehouse facility. Theole specialized in machine and jobbing work for repairing brass and iron molding and pattern work. Theole would hire local former slaves who became well-known locally for casting. The artisan former slave Pompeii worked at the company and cast sets of dog irons which can be seen at the W.C. Handy Museum in Florence. Workers who worked at the Florence Stove Company lived in a group of red frame houses owned by the company due south of the foundry on “Theole Row”. Theole also employed convicts at the Florence Stove Company as operators and common workers in the foundry. In 1918, the Florence Stove and Manufacturing Company was failing financially and two brothers, Charles and William Martin, Sr., partnered and purchased the company. The two brothers renamed the failing company Martin Stove and Range Company and within two financial quarters, the enterprise turned profits. During the 1970s, the Martin Stove and Range Company was reorganized into Martin Industries, Inc. And by 1987, Martin Industries, Inc., sold the families interest to a partnership of employees at the Florence facility who currently run the company on East Tennessee Street today. As of the late 1980s, the payroll was 1.5 million dollars with annual sells being five million dollars for more than 10,000 tons of gray iron casting.
Text Sources: “Martin Industries, Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Martin Industries, Inc.” last modified 2015. Martin Industries, Inc. Forum. http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/45/Martin-Industries-Inc.html. McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “The Foundry/Florence Stove and Manufacturing Company.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-31.
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 because of the success the company had providing clothing for troops. During the 1960s, J.T. Flagg sold his knitting company to Genesco Textile Manufacturers out of Nashville, Tennessee, thereby transferring possession of Sweetwater Mill to Genesco. As the 1970s progressed, the textile operations of J.T. Flagg were moved from east Florence to the Florence Industrial Park before being closed down by the end of the 1970s. Sadly, the Sweetwater Mill, the last facility used from the Cherry Cotton Mill, closed about fifty years ago.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Sweetwater Mill.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-61.
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 1901 Lauderdale County Courthouse and the 1903 Florence First United Methodist Church, which met an unfortunate demise in a fire in 1920, and the Florence Post Office in 1912-1913. Shortly after completing the federal building, the Temples left for Hopewell, Virginia to make a new home. Temple’s Planning Mill was originally located alongside Sweetwater Creek on Huntsville Road between Sweetwater Avenue and Minnehaha Street.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “W.E. Temple Company and Planning Mills.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-15.
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 Valley Fertilizer Company. At the time of incorporation, the Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company had an initial capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, before increasing to one hundred thousand by 1903. The Fertilizer Company was well known for making custom-made guano fertilizers for customers if the fertilizers were needed for a special purpose. Some of the various guano fertilizers they produced were named King Cotton Grower, Three Link, Ashcraft Special, Cotton Seed Meal and Bone, Tiger Cotton Grower, Tiger Guano, Tiger Potash Guano, and Blood and Bone. The factory’s location was on Cherry Street in Sweetwater. On the first day of operation, Lee Ashcraft and an unnamed helper produced eleven bags of fertilizer together. From 1897 to 1904, Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company under Ashcraft produced nineteen different fertilizers at 15,000 tons annually. Lee Ashcraft owned the Fertilizer Company until 1909 when the International Mineral Corporation (IMC) bought the company from Ashcraft. The Fertilizer Company became the oldest running fertilizer plant for IMC in the country into the early 2000s. As of today, it is still in operation under the name of Agrium, Inc. in the same area of Sweetwater right next to Veterans Drive and the Patton Island Bridge. The original factory for the Fertilizer Company stretches back to before the Civil War when the facility the fertilizer plant occupied was a flouring mill for Florence. Unbelievably, the three-story building that existed in 1897 when Lee Ashcraft began the business was not burned to the ground by Union forces in during the Civil War. So the original Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company factory building could trace its industrial genealogy back to before the Civil War.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. “Florence As She Is." The Florence Times. 1903. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “The Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-39.
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 and were pillars of the Florence community in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Florence Times did not become the predominant newspaper in Lauderdale County until the twentieth century. In 1927, a man from Gadsden, Alabama named J.L. Meeks, Sr., after he sold his newspaper in Gadsden purchased The Florence Times from the O’Neal family. A story exists about J.L. Meeks that he had the same kind of open top car as a famous madam in Florence. Little did Meeks know that when he drove down the street that the reason why people would wave and grin at him was not to welcome him to Florence, but to make fun of his lack of knowledge about the preeminent madam in Florence and her car. In addition to owning The Florence Times, Meeks also owned the Tri-Cities Daily based out of Colbert County. In the 1940s, Meeks passed away and the ownership of the papers went to his son, J.L. Meeks, Jr. In the early 1960s, Meeks, Jr., sold The Florence Times to Worrell Newspapers, Inc. About twenty years later in 1982, The New York Times purchased The Florence Times from Worrell Newspapers, Inc. And the publisher at the time, Guy Hankins, changed the name of the paper to the Times-Daily, the newspaper Lauderdale County knows today. The Florence Times was on Court Street for many years during the early to mid-twentieth century before moving to West Tennessee Street where it stands today.
Text Sources: Wade, Gerald compiler. "Facts, Folks, Residents and Rascals: A Tourist Guide & Visitors’ Handbook to the Shoals Area." Florence, Ala.: Cypress Creek Publishing, 1990. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Florence Times.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-51.
Justice John McKinley Federal Building and United States Post Office
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 States Post Office and Federal Court House was erected from 1912 to 1913 at a cost between $120,000 and $130,000 dollars. The structure was built on property owned by the Florence Female Synodical College and bought by the government for around ten thousand dollars. The architect of the federal building was John Robie Kennedy, Jr., a native of Lauderdale County, with the supervising architect being a local contractor, James Knox Taylor, also of Lauderdale County. The architecture of the structure is a mix of Neo-Classical styles and includes elements of Greek Revival with the Ionic columns and Italianate with the cornices, red Spanish clay hipped roof, and white limestone facade. On the inside, the floors are Cherokee, Georgia marble in twelve-inch squares, the stairs are Alabama marble, and the rails are made of oak with wrought iron balusters. Two additions have been added over the years, one in 1946 and another in 1965, both for the purpose of the post office. Even with the additions, the building is still on the National Register of Historic Places because of the original architecture of the building.
Text Sources: UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Florence, Buildings, U.S. Post Office and Court House. Florence, Alabama. Florence Times, exceprt. UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Writings, Articles, WLM: Writings 10.24. Florence, Alabama. McDonald, William Lindsey. “The United States Post Office and Courthouse at Florence." Gamble, Robert S. “Historic Muscle Shoals Buildings and Sites: Muscle Shoals Architecture.” editor McDonald, Mary Jane. Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. X (1983). Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Florence Federal Building." Florence, Alabama. Box 8: Post Office, 8-1.
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 Cab Company from the service station for the people of Florence. Also known as Hill’s Woco Pep Station, the station faced competition from two other automobile services right in that traffic circle area: the Oil Well service station and the Doc Phillips auto repair shop. The Hill family originated in Germany and Fred Hill’s father, Augustus Henry Hill immigrated to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, when Augustus was a young boy. Augustus Hill is said to be the first plumber ever in the city of Florence. During the Great Depression, the Hill family, especially Augustus, had financial problems because the city of Florence could not pay money owed to the elder Hill. As a result, he lost a row of property and turned to barbering as a means of a new income. According to the Hill family, Augustus and Rube Martin, who owned a grocery store next door, are believed to be the first white barbers in Florence. Fred Hill owned and operated the Hill Auto Company, the Hill Cab Company, and was an automobile dealer for Oakland Motor Car Company. Without a doubt, the Hill family was an important part of the automobile servicer business in Florence at Sweetwater.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Hill Auto Company.” Florence, Alabama. Box 13: Downtown Business, 13-41.
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 1920s. The Negley Hotel was located at the corners of Pine, Tennessee, and South Court Street. The owner of the hotel was Charles Negley, and he wished to construct a hotel that would encourage future in the city. The Negley, when built in 1925, had the most modern amenities for travelers to the city of Florence. With an investment of over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the hotel, the construction of the modern hotel took six months to complete, beginning in 1924. When the Hotel Negley was opened, it had fifty rooms with private baths and special Simonds steel furniture for the guests to use; in addition, plumbing was in every room and all rooms had both hot and cold water. Also, the Hotel Negley had a café and dining room for the guests to order and eat their food while staying there. The construction of the hotel was bided out to all local construction companies to return the investment of the hotel back to the community and its blue-collar workers. Craw Construction Company and Wiley Plumbing Company were the primary builders and Negley purchased the furniture from Young Furniture Company.
Text Sources: Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Hamm, Jane Johnson. "Florence Wagons 1889-2002 History & More." Florence, Ala.: Privately Published, 2002. Florence/Lauderdale Public Library. Vertical History File. Florence, Lauderdale County, Historic Buildings, Hotel Negley. “Hotel Negley, New, Modern, Opens For Business May 1st.” The Florence Times. April 24, 1925, Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Hotel Negley.” Florence, Alabama. Box 13: Downtown Business, 13-37.
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 European-style café for the guests. The Hotel Reeder was so large that it tended to dwarf some of the smaller structures located close to the building. The Hotel Reeder had 97 total rooms for guests in the main building, with 27 adjoining rooms in an annex. The Hotel Reeder originally had the “new building,” which served as the hotel, whereas the "old building" served as a livery where mules would be penned, bought, and sold on the upper floor of the older building. When the livery industry became an obsolete trade the mule pen closed, and the old building became a boarding house and a scrap iron business. Eventually the boarding house and the scrap iron business closed and the building was absorbed by the Hotel Reeder. The building was a part of the hotel until its closure in 1967. During the 1920s through the 1940s the Hotel Reeder was the prestigious hotel in Florence, housing the headquarters of the Democrats in Florence. Many congressional representatives and dignitaries stayed as guests at the hotel. Probably the most famous of these dignitaries were the staff of President Franklin Roosevelt when he came to visit Florence and Wilson Dam in the early 1930s. Other famous visitors included the singers, actors, and actresses of the musicals, plays, and operas that visited the Princess Theatre in downtown Florence- since the Hotel Reeder was across the street from the entertainment venue. Even fox hunting conventions were held at the Hotel Reeder, and the participants would stay at the hotel, wake up very early, and travel to Rogersville to release the hounds and hunt foxes. On in to the 1940s the Hotel Reeder would have many soldiers and their families as guests of the hotel because of the Courtland Air Base in the area during World War II. Unfortunately, after World War II, the Hotel Reeder became less and less popular until the doors of the hotel closed in 1967.
Text Sources: Hamm, Jane Johnson. "Florence Wagons 1889-2002 History & More." Florence, Ala.: Privately Published, 2002. Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Florence/Lauderdale Public Library. Vertical History File. Florence, Lauderdale County, Historic Buildings, Reeder Hotel. “End Of An Area: Reeder Hotel Closing.” The Florence Times. October 11, 1967. Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama, File 2-3. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Hotel Reeder.” Florence, Alabama, Box 13: Downtown Businesses, 13-22.
Early Twentieth Century-Mid Twentieth Century
The Jefferson Hotel was a massive building for turn of the twentieth century Florence. At three-stories it was a towering downtown business. The Jefferson Hotel opened up for business in 1902 just a short distance away from the Lauderdale County Courthouse. Before the Jefferson Hotel occupied the three-story building, the City of Florence used the building as its city hall for a short period of time. The Jefferson Hotel was located at Court Street and Tennessee Street in downtown Florence. The Jefferson Hotel met a need for Florence in 1902 because the city did not have a large hotel on the scale of the Jefferson at the end of the nineteenth century. The patrons of the Jefferson stayed at a hotel that had furniture of antique oak finish with metal beds that had perfection mattresses and downy pillows for the customers to sleep on at night. In all, the furnishings for the fifty room hotel cost over eleven thousand dollars. The Jefferson Hotel lasted until the early 1920s before the building was destroyed by fire. The modern Hotel Negley was built on the site.
Text Sources: Hamm, Jane Johnson. "Florence Wagons 1889-2002 History & More." Florence, Ala.: Privately Published, 2002. Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. “Florence As She Is." The Florence Times. 1903. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Jefferson Hotel.” Florence, Alabama, Box 13: Downtown Business, 13-9.
The Florence Hotel was constructed by The Florence Land, Mining, and Manufacturing Company, the company owned by Judge William Basil Wood, the father of the Sweetwater and Florence Industrial Boom. W.B. Wood had quite an impact in Florence since he was the president of W.B. Wood Furnace Company, the Charcoal & Chemical Company, the Florence, Tuscaloosa & Montgomery Railroad Company, the Florence & Chicago Railroad Company, and Secretary of the Alabama Improvement Company, so he was a true mover and shaker for Florence. The Florence Land, Mining, and Manufacturing Company had the Florence Hotel built in 1887-1888. The hotel was the first in the area to introduce both electricity and the telephone in 1888. On March 3, 1888, the Florence Hotel was successfully lighted and the next night at the Leap Year Ball, the Florence Hotel became the center of the social world for Florence. In November of 1888, Charles M. Brandon, founding member of the Cherry Cotton Mill, bought the lease for the Florence Hotel from the Florence Land, Mining, and Manufacturing Company until 1891. However, his lease was prematurely terminated in 1890 for reasons unknown. By 1904, the Florence Hotel had changed hands a few different times until A.D. Bellamy of the Florence Wagon Works bought the hotel and used it for the Florence Vehicle Company. Reports of the number of rooms the Florence Hotel vary, but the largest number seems to be 29 guest rooms for the Hotel. In 1909 or 1910, the Florence Hotel served as the temporary home of Rogers Surprise Store after Rogers experienced a devastating fire to their retail building on Court Street. In addition to serving Rogers, it also served the new owner of the Florence Wagon Works, John T. Ashcraft as an office building and suites for the Wagon Works executives. After the 1910s, the Florence Hotel building became strictly used for business, thus ending the life of the Florence Hotel.
Text Sources: Maness, Maurine. “A History of Lamar Furniture Building, Florence, Alabama.” Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 6 (1978): 121-126. Picture Sources: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Florence Hotel.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-23.
Late Nineteenth Century-Early Twentieth Century
The Lamar Furniture building in downtown Florence has a unique past considering it once held the old Florence Hotel and was the meeting place of the civic group the Knights of Pythias. The Lamar Furniture building’s location was on Court Street in downtown Florence. In 1944, Henry and Edna Lamar bought the building where Lamar Furniture was established from the Knights of Pythias. What led to the discovery for the Lamar’s that the building was a former hotel was the unearthing of sixteen fireplace hearths hidden under layers of walls in 1944. The sixteen fire hearths were indicative of a building that once housed tenants or guests. The Lamar family had a dream to open a furniture company and did so by 1945 once World War II ended and building materials were freely available again. The wife of Henry Lamar, Mrs. Edna Lamar, was the registrar at Florence State Teachers College in the 1930s. Henry Lamar was originally from New Orleans, but the couple liked Florence and did not want to leave the area. Thus, they decided to open Lamar Furniture in downtown Florence. The Lamar Furniture store was an example of modern design in downtown Florence. The store was the first to be fully air-conditioned and electrically heated in downtown Florence. The Lamar Furniture store is believed to be the first store to have an electric-eye door within Alabama. The building had experimental materials from the R.J. Reynolds Metals Company in the interior to coincide with the modern amenities of the store. And the front of the building was covered in black vitrolite, which matched the Art Deco sign. By 1976, Lamar Furniture was no more.
Text Sources: Maness, Maurine. “A History of Lamar Furniture Building, Florence, Alabama.” Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 6 (1978): 121-126. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Lamar Furniture.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-23.
The First National Bank in downtown Florence had connections to one of the more powerful Northern transplants to the Florence area in founder, Nial C. Elting. Elting, one of the founding partners of the Cherry Cotton Mill in Sweetwater, was a financial power broker in the industrial boom in Florence. Elting spent many years in Florence, eventually becoming the president of twenty-four businesses. Elting was an ambitious entrepreneur investing in a multitude of businesses in Florence while accumulating a massive amount of wealth. He and his wife, Annie Van Sickler, did not have any children, thus they left almost all of their estate to the First Presbyterian Church of Florence where the two were devout members of the congregation. When the First National Bank was founded in 1889, Elting partnered with Colonel Robert L. Bliss, who already owned a dry goods business, to form the First National Bank. Colonel Bliss was the first President of the bank; whereas, Nial C. Elting was the first cashier of the bank in 1889. When founded by Elting and Bliss, they had a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Elting was an intelligent banker and did not make poor investments with the money he loaned out from the bank, because of his ability to judge proper character in loaning money from the bank, he was able to survive the economic depression of the 1890s in Florence. The original home of the First National Bank was in the Bliss Building in downtown Florence on the corner of Court and Tennessee Street. Then, in 1919, First National Bank moved from the Bliss Building to the corner of Mobile and Court street after building a new bank site. The First National Bank remained at the 1919 location before branching out into the community with new satellite branches in the 1950s. By 1983, The First National Bank was renamed The First National Bank of Florence. In 1985, The First National Bank of Florence moved to the multi-story building located at 201 South Court Street. In 1995, The First National Bank of Florence was renamed SunTrust Bank, Alabama, and became an independent bank associated with the SunTrust Bank organization out of Atlanta, Georgia. By 2000, SunTrust bought the independent branch of SunTrust Bank, Alabama, and merged it into its national organization of banks, therefore ending the First National Bank as an independent entity in downtown Florence.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. “First National Bank Was Organized 1889.” The Florence Herald, 1968, 20, sesquicentennial edition. “Florence As She Is.” The Florence Times, 1903. “Florence Main Branch.” last updated January, 2000. National Information Center. http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/InstitutionHistory.aspx?parID_RSSD=623137&parDT_END=99991231. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “First National Bank.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Downtown Business, 12-53.
Late Nineteenth Century-Early Twenty-First Century
Milner’s Drug Store was an important part of the downtown Florence area stretching back before the Civil War. The founder of Milner’s Drug Store, Joseph Milner, was an adventurous man who made his home in Florence in 1852 after returning from the California gold rush. Joseph Milner was a descendant of immigrants from Yorkshire, England who moved to Florence in the early nineteenth century. With the money he made from his gold prospecting, Milner bought out Barton’s Grocery Store at 104 North Court Street and established Milner’s Drug Store in 1853. The store was well received in Florence and became highly successful. Milner’s Drugs Store was especially popular with the rural farming community of Florence because Milner was trusted to provide them with a medicinal remedies for their aches and pains as doctors were hard to come by in 1850s Florence. During the pre-war years of the 1850s, Milner’s thrived. Milner had a reputation as an excellent bookkeeper and store clerk and was trusted to keep the people of Florence’s accounts up to date. In his store, he sold turpentine, paints, window glass, whiskey and ale barrels, and other dry goods in addition to the elixirs and medicines he sold as an apothecary. Milner’s was like most stores of the nineteenth century because he sold a bit of everything. Milner’s Drug Store had a reputation as a social center as well, news, politics, and gossip could be exchanged amongst the towns folk of the area in the store. Saturday was the special day for Milner’s and the people of Florence. Saturday was generally the day that all the rural farmers would travel to Florence to buy and sell goods, so the men and women of Lauderdale County would catch up on all of the week’s news. Former governors and mayors would come to Milner’s to sit, chat, and smoke a cigar, and others would arrive to just talk politics, amongst other topics, at the popular Milner’s Drug Store. Since Milner’s was a drug store of course it had plenty of snake oil remedies, elixirs, and medicines ready for the buying customer. In an era when medicine was not advanced, Milner’s carried a multitude of patented medicines for the patients of Lauderdale County. He carried opiates, herbs, tonics, and bitters for use by customers. But as nineteenth century medicine goes, Milner’s Drug Store was like many others of the same era, filled with ineffective remedies for customers whose illnesses could not be cured with the cure-all solutions provided in a nineteenth century drug store. Milner’s Drug Store was family owned and operated through the early part of the twentieth century, but was sold by the family in the 1960s. Today, Milner’s Drug Store exists as Milner-Rushing Discount Drugs in locations throughout Florence. Milner’s moved from Court Street during the 1960s to Sweetwater, leaving the home it had on Court Street for over one hundred years.
Text Sources: Mims, Jobyna. “An Ante-Bellum Drug Store.” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 2 (1974):. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Milner's Drug Store.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-20.
The Rogers Bros. Surprise Store, eventually Department Store, was a retail fixture in downtown Florence from the late 1890s to the early 2000s. Opened in 1894 as the Surprise Store in downtown Florence by Major B.A. Rogers and his sons, the Surprise Store was famous for its reasonable prices for high quality goods. From the corner of Court and Mobile Street, the Rogers Surprise Store sold almost anything a person needed from hardware to clothing and toys to textiles. The Surprise Store was a full-line merchandising store able to import high quality goods to downtown Florence. Rogers Surprise Store was the first retail store in the area to do something novel and simple to ease the buying experience: they introduced price tags with set prices on their goods. Instead of having customers coming in to haggle and barter prices and goods with the clerks, the owner, Major Rogers, created the price point system for their store. The pricing system was an advancement in retailing in the Florence area. The original Rogers Building for the Surprise Store burned to the ground in 1910, and the original wooden building replaced with a multi-story brick structure. The brick structure stood until 1946 when it was remodeled in the Art Deco fashion and modernized into the Rogers Building that stands today at the corner of Court and Mobile Street.
Text Sources: UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Vertical History File, “Rogers’ 100th.” Downtown Florence Unlimited, Edition 93, May/June 1994, Florence, Alabama. McDonald Collection: Box 35 Factories and Mills, Factories and Mills Vol.2, Factories and Mills File 2.1, 2. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection, William L. McDonald Collection, “Hotel Negley,” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-46.
Late Nineteenth-Early Twenty-First Century
A place of business in the Sweetwater area that still exists and serves the community today is Staggs Groceries. Originally, Staggs Grocery was founded as Taylor Wylie’s Meat Market at the turn of the twentieth century. Taylor Wylie moved to east Florence to Sweetwater when Mountain Mills moved from Barton, Alabama to Florence to become the Cherry Cotton Mill. The original Wylie’s Meat Market burned to the ground and Wylie's son-in-law, L.D. Staggs, Sr., continued the business down the street on Huntsville Road. Staggs Grocery’s present location is where it has been since 1937. When L.D. Staggs, Sr. became proprietor of the grocery, he had his brother, Web Staggs, and his sons, L.D. Jr., Jack, and Billy Staggs become working members of the grocery. Staggs, Sr.’s family descendants run the operation today and have made the transition from grocer to restaurant. Staggs Grocery has a reputation for having one of the best hamburgers in all of Florence.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Sweetwater: The Story of East Florence." Florence, Ala.: Florence Historical Board, 1989. Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Staggs Grocery.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-11.
2005.36.154: M.L. Chester to Louisa Young, 1857 January 1
1857; Transcription; Lou; M.L. Chester; Oakland; Sabbath; Unrequited Love
This three-page handwritten letter from M.L. Chester to Louisa Young condemns Louisa for not reciprocating love for him. He is clearly angered that Louisa did not agree with the friends he kept. Following Chester's signature is a brief three-sentence handwritten response by Louisa claiming his "accusations are not worth refutation."
2005.36.133: Ma & Mary Thompson to Caroline Elizabeth Jones, (Unknown Year) December 23
December; Ma; Mary Thompson; Caroline Elizabeth Jones; Washington; Kentucky; Uncle Thomas; Col. Harris; Louisa Young Jones; Christmas; Clothing; Pain
Ma authors the first page and writes about Christmas events. Mary authors the final pages to Caroline because Ma is in pain. She goes to write about her desire to travel the world and that Louisa has moved to Kentucky with Thomas. She also writes about the latest fashion. 5 handwritten pages.
Architectural drawings; Watercolors; Houses; Dwellings; Doors & doorways; Windows; Shutters; Porches; Columns; Balconies; Hand railings; Woodwork; Roofs; Chimneys; Moldings; Women; Trees; Landscapes (Representations)
This image is a watercolor painting of the Cole Home in Macon, Georgia (probably the Jerry Cowles House) done by Harry A. MacEwan sometime between 1917 and 1942. The year the house was built in is unknown. The painting shows the front exterior of the house with its doors, windows, shutters, columned porch, steps, balcony, wooden hand railing, sloped roof, and two chimneys surrounded by trees and landscaping. There is a woman in period dress at the base of the steps. The house is placed within framing art showing its architectural features including the molding under the roof, the columns, the wooden railing from the balcony, a side view of the house, and a floor plan. In the lower right corner, there is an Alabama Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture stamp with the handwritten inscription "2nd Medal", a red star, and an artist block which reads: "Measured drawing, Harry A. MacEwan, Alabama Poly. Inst., Auburn, Ala." The painting is in good condition with a minor piece missing from the upper right corner and is encapsulated.
MacEwan, Harry A. (rendering) ; Alexander, Elam (house)
Library of Congress (Historic American Buildings Survey): http://www.loc.gov/item/ga0035/
Macon -- Bibb County -- Georgia ; 4596 Rivoli Drive (moved from 519 Walnut Street (corner of Walnut Street and Vine Street) after WWII), Macon, Bibb County, GA
Bernard LaFayette Jr. (Author, director of SNCC’s Alabama voter registration project)
Co-author of In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma
Emory University While he did not march in Selma, Bernard was an integral part of the movement and it has often been said that it the planning and execution would not have been possible him.
From page 124 In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma Bernard LaFayette Jr. Emory University Kathryn Lee Johnson University of Rhode Island "Other leaders at the front included Rev. Frederick Reese; Mrs. Boynton; Charles Mauldin, a student leader of the Selma movement; and Benny Tucker and James Austin, two of my first recruits in Selma." Tucker was one of MLK's local bodyguards during the Selma protests. Tucker was aligned with SNCC in Selma. He cooperated with SNCC organizers to plan Selma protests.
In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma Bernard LaFayette Jr. Kathryn Lee Johnson
From page 124 In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma Bernard LaFayette Jr. Emory University Kathryn Lee Johnson University of Rhode Island "Other leaders at the front included Rev. Frederick Reese; Mrs. Boynton; Charles Mauldin, a student leader of the Selma movement; and Benny Tucker and James Austin, two of my first recruits in Selma."
American Baptist Theological Seminary (American Baptist College)
"Selma, Alabama Flossie Menifee, 67, who marched on "Bloody Sunday" in 1965, stands in front of the A.M.E. Church where the march started as she commented on a billboard within sight of the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama that is sponsored by a group dedicated to honoring Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest on Friday, March 6, 2015.(Photo By: Jefferson Siegel/NY Daily News via Getty Images)"
Marries Zenobia Robertson SNCC The Selma Campaign 1963-1965 Wally G. Vaughn