Browse Items (1493 total)

Tammy Wynette (May 5, 1942-April 6, 1998)

Virginia Wynette Pugh was born May 5, 1942 in Tremont, Mississippi, but she spent much or her childhood just across the state line in Red Bay, Alabama. After her father died when she was nine months old,…

Ernie Ashworth (December 15, 1928 - March 2, 2009)

Even though he had written songs for some of country music’s biggest stars, and that he himself had scored two top 10 hits, it wasn’t until after he had scored his one and only number-one single…

Percy Sledge (November 25, 1940-April 14, 2015)

Percy Tyrone Sledge was born November 25, 1940 in the poor farming town of Leighton, Alabama. Sledge worked on many local farms then was hired as an orderly at the hospital in Sheffield where he…

Curly Putman (Nov. 20, 1930-Oct. 30, 2016)

Claude “Curly” Putman Jr., born in Princeton, Alabama, is best known as a songwriter.

He was born on Putman Mountain, northeast of Huntsville, Alabama. His father was a sawmill worker and his mother…

Alabama

Members:
Randy Owen (Dec. 13, 1949- ) (lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter),
Teddy Gentry (Jan. 22, 1952- ) (bass player, songwriter, and harmony vocalist)
Jeff Cook (Aug. 27, 1949- ) (multi-instrumentalist, singer, and…

William L. Dawson (September 26, 1899-May 4, 1990)

William Levi Dawson was an African American composer, performer, and music educator from Anniston, Alabama.

Dawson graduated from the Tuskegee Institute with highest honors in 1921. He earned a…

Sam Phillips (1923-2003)

Samuel Cornelius Phillips was born January 5, 1923 in Florence, Alabama. He was the youngest of eight children born to Charles Tucker Phillips and Madge Ella Phillips. He was born into a middle-class farming family, but…

Nat "King" Cole (March 17. 1919 - February 15, 1965)

Born Nathaniel Adams Coles, on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama, crooner Nat Cole was known for his smooth, soft baritone and easygoing nature. When Nat was four years old, his father,…

Constance Ortmayer was born in New York City in 1902 and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna, Austria. She returned to the United States in 1932 and was teaching art at Rollins College in Florida when she was commissioned to…

The structure known locally as "Little Brick" was built about 1855 during the railroad construction boom in Stevenson, Alabama. The property was purchased prior to the Civil War by Michigan native Walter Rosser who was in Stevenson working as a…

Sauta was a small Cherokee village established about 1784 on the north side of the Tennessee River near its confluence with North Sauty Creek. The August 13, 1828, issue of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper includes a letter from an acquaintance of…

Alfred Huger Moses and Morris Nathan were the first two alderman of Sheffield, Alabama. Nathan was buried in the Jewish section of Oakwood Cemetery in Sheffield, Alabama before the Jewish community incorporated or built a temple.

Alfred Huger Moses was responsible for the layout of the residential, business, and industrial areas of Sheffield, Alabama, which was incorporated in 1895. He named Montgomery Avenue after Montgomery, Alabama where he and his family had lived (and…

Alfred Huger Moses, the designer and first mayor of Sheffield, built his family home at what is now 1315 North Montgomery Avenue, Sheffield, Alabama. The house burned to the ground circa 1890.

Alfred Huger Moses, founder and first mayor of Sheffield, Alabama (along with his brother, Mordecai) was the owner of the Sheffield Land, Iron and Coal Company, located on Montgomery Avenue.

Most of the earliest merchants in Sheffield, Alabama were of Jewish descent and came to the area in the mid 1880's. The earliest Jewish families were the Spielbergers who owned a dry goods and clothing store, Speilbergers and Sons at 217-219…

Alfred Huger Moses and his brother, Mordecai, were largely responsible for the founding of Sheffield, Alabama. They named the city after Sheffield, England hoping for similar success in industrialization.

The sales of 500 lots for the…

Jacob and Isaac Friedman, brothers who moved to Tuscumbia from Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1840s, established a dry goods store on the main street of Tuscumbia.

The generator for WQLT Radio station, which is owned by Big River Broadcasting - founded by Sam Phillips and now under the management of his sons and grandchildren -- is, whimsically perhaps, painted gold and named Elvis for Elvis Presley, who Sam…

The Reisman-Coffee-Looft House, located at 618 N. Wood Avenue, was the home to Mark Reisman and his family. Mr. Reisman was one of the first Jewish merchants in the Florence area. His business was located the corner of Tennessee and Court Streets. He…

Coleman, Erwin M., A History of Temple B'nai Israel, Florence, Alabama: Centennial Celebration, 1906 - 2006. Privately Printed.

Stanley Rosenbaum, who was a Florence, Alabama businessman, philanthropist, Civil Rights advocate, member of the University of North Alabama's English Department, and original owner of the Stanley Rosenbaum Frank Lloyd Wright House, was interested in…

Jacob Spielberger, who was born in Hungary in January of 1856, came to Alabama around 1888. He opened a dry goods store and clothing store, Spielberger and Sons, at 217 and 219 Mongomery Avenue in Sheffield. His three sons, Jacob, Harry, and Ben…

Samuel J. Israel, who moved to Sheffield, Alabama in 1909 from Lithuania, wrote his memoirs at his daughter's (Beatrice Muhlendorf) request. The manuscript -- which is over thirty pages long -- is titled "From Northern Lithuania to Northern Alabama."…

The Alfred Huger Moses Room, which is located in the annex of the Sheffield Public Library (on Montgomery Avenue ), was made possible, in part, by funding from the descendants of Alfred Huger Moses (founder and first mayor of Sheffield).

The room…

Alfred Huger Moses was responsible for the establishment of Sheffield, Alabama. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he moved to Alabama after serving in the Confederate Army where he achieved the rank of Captain.

HIs wife, Katherine, five…

The Florence-Lauderdale Public Library's local history room has several large files devoted to the study of local places, organizations, and individuals. The Jewish History Collection offers a good cross-section of Jewish owned businesses, the…

A letter to the editor found in the files of the history of Temple B'Nai Israel at the Florence- Lauderdale Public Library suggests that Jewish immigrants to the area were encouraged and welcomed.

Samuel J. Israel immigrated from Lithuania moving to Sheffield, Alabama in 1909. His first venture was a wholesale grocery. He eventually founded Paper and Chemical Supply of Sheffield.

He was known throughout the community for his charitable…

A historic marker, located on North Montgomery Avenue ad 3rd Street in Sheffield, offers a brief overview of Sheffield's history. Alfred Huger Moses, who was from Charleston, South Carolina and who had served in the Confederate Army, is credited…

Louis M. Faulk, who was born in 1839 in Prussia, who died in 1871, and who is buried in Cincinnati, Ohio, established a store and named the town for himself.

Falk's brother, Alexander, is the only Jewish individual buried in the Florence,…

The Special Collections and Archives at Collier Library at the University of North Alabama include many locally published manuscripts about the establishment of the cities of Florence, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Muscle Shoals.

The Rosenbaum Family…

The North Alabamian and Times, now the Standard and Times and the Colbert County Reporter, was published by Captain Arthur H. Keller (who may now be better known as Helen Keller's father). Local Jewish merchants routinely advertised with Captain…

In a W.P.A. narrative, Thomas Cole recounted his time as a slave on the plantation of Dr. Robert Coles in western Jackson County. Thomas Cole was born in 1845 and ran away to join the Union army in 1861. After seeing combat at Chattanooga, Lookout…

On long island near Bridgeport. One of the Five Lower Creek towns.

Planter, tavern operator, newspaper editor, legislator, and land developer, he sought in vain to have the Jackson County Seat moved from Bellefonte to the settlement that bore his name. After his death in 1863, his widow reached an agreement in 1868…

In 1946, Robert E. Jones, Jr. was elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives to fill Alabama's 5th Congressional District seat vacated by John J. Sparkman's election to the U.S. Senate. Elected to 15 consecutive terms, 1946-1976,…

Created by an Act of the Legislature on December 7, 1821, Decatur County was comprised of portions of Madison and Jackson Counties. "Old Woodville," two miles north along County Highway 7, was designated as the County Seat. An 1823-'24 completed…

One of the Five Lower Towns established by the Chickamauga Cherokees in 1782 under the leadership of Dragging Canoe. Territorial Governor William Blount reported to the Secretary of War in 1792 that: "Crow Town lies on the north side of the Tennessee…

Vital Memphis-Charleston railroad, "backbone of Confederacy," spanned Tennessee River here. Bridge burned several times, 1862-63. General Mitchell (U.S. Flag), occupying Huntsville after Battle of Shiloh, seized Bridgeport in April 1862 and held it…

During the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War, a freedmen’s community was established in this area called Averyville, named for the Pennsylvania minister and successful businessman Charles Avery, a longtime and faithful champion of Negro…

The house with the address of 322 Hill Avenue Guntersville Alabama in Marshall County was built in 1957 and is a 1 story single dwelling-non-farm residence that is in very good condition. The house is a brick veneer ranch style dwelling with a side…

The house with the address of 318 Hill Avenue Guntersville Alabama of Marshall County was built in 1947; it is a one story brick veneer single dwelling-non-farm residence with a cross gable composition shingle roof. The building faces east, has a 5x2…

One story frame Craftsman style dwelling with a hipped composition shingle roof with exposed rafter ends and a small side gable ridge monitor, 2 interior brick chimneys, modern gable dormer at its front slope (ca. 1990) with historic dormers at the…

Two story brick veneer Colonial Revival style apartment building with a hipped patterned asbestos shingle roof; faces east, H shaped plan, 1-story attached rear garage extension with a hipped roof; 2 recessed bays at center of facade with an entrance…

One story brick veneer former garage with a replacement industrial metal mansard roof and modern applied plywood siding at its facade, faces east.

Historical Data:
Construction and design details suggest that this building was built circa 1925…

Modern one story frame commercial building with a front-facing gable composition shingle roof, faces south.

Historical Data:
Construction and design details suggest that this building was built circa 1975. A 2-story building is shown at this site…

One story masonry one-part commercial block form building with a modern side gable industrial metal roof addition (ca. 2000); faces south, abuts an adjacent building to the west and an open yard to the east; entrance at the west bay of the facade…

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…