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Shady Dell
Dr. A.W. Davis and his wife had a home built called Shady Dell in 1920. The home is located across from where his former office stood. Dr. Davis was the first black physician in northwest Alabama. He arrived in Tuscumbia in 1903. He practiced…
Nitrate Plant Village No. 2
The Tennessee Valley is filled with minerals, including the materials needed to produce nitrates. Nitrates can be used for many things, most importantly for TVA to help add nutrients to fertilizer. This helped to increase crop production. Another…
Tags: Nitrate Plant No. 2, TVA, Wilson Dam
Thompson and Son Funeral Home
The Thompson and Son Funeral home was originally built in 1912 for a doctor and his family. The Thompson family along with Tim Ricks converted the house into a funeral home. Ricks left the business in 1922. The house was then renamed Thompson’s…
Nitrate Plant No. 2
The Tennessee Valley is filled with minerals, including the materials needed to produce nitrates. Nitrates can be used for many things, most importantly for TVA to help add nutrients to fertilizer. This helped to increase crop production. Another…
St. Paul African Methodist Church
St. Paul African Methodist Church was established in the early 1840s. A group of African Americans from a congregation called First Methodist left to form what is now known as the St. Paul African American Methodist Church. The original name of the…
The First Muscle Shoals Canal
The first canal built in the Muscle Shoals was built by the state of Alabama, assisted by the United States government, between 1831-1836. To fund the canal the US Congress gave the state 400,000 acres of public land to sell. The proceeds were used…
Chickasaw Indian Agency
The Chickasaw Indian Agency oversaw the removal of Native Americans during the forced relocation known as the Trail of Tears. The agency specifically dealt with the removal of the Chickasaw Nation in both Alabama and Mississippi. This agency was…
Church of Christ
The church is located near Lagrange College and the home of Abraham Ricks. The church no longer holds regular services. A former slave, Parson George Ricks, established the church. After gaining his freedom, Parson Ricks took work as a cotton picker.…
Ococoposa
Ococoposa, also known as Cold Water, was the site of a French trading post and was the home of Chickasaws and the Cherokees. The Chickasaw’s lived at the top of a hill near the Ocacapoosa spring. The Cherokees lived in the western portion of the…
Oka Kappasa Festival
Oka Kapassa festival is a festival held every year to remember the Native American presence in Tuscumbia. The festival is allows visitors to learn about Native American culture both past and present during. The festival is free to the public on both…
The Powerhouse
The powerhouse controls Wilson Dam. The building is connected parallel to the dam on the south side. It houses the generating machinery for producing electricity from the dammed water. It also controls the overflow water flowing out of Wilson lake.…
Helen Keller Festival
This popular festival pays tribute to America’s “First Lady of Courage” with four days of activities: parade, fine art & craft show, art exhibits, Keller Kids, staged musical entertainment, history programs and tours, two performances of “The…
African Heritage Festival
The African Heritage Festival provides an opportunity to explore African culture – art, fashion, craft, music, dance, food. It is held annually on the 1st Saturday in June. Admission is free. The event is held at the Willie Green Center at 609 S.…
Muscle Shoals Street Rod Festival
The Muscle Shoals Street Rod Festival is held every year in Spring Park, Tuscumbia, Alabama. It is a show of over 200 gleaming street rods and classics dating from 1972 and older. The festival is held on the 1st Sat. in June. Admission is free.
Lesley Temple CME Church
Lesley Temple CME church is a Methodist church first formed in 1880 under Pastor Lesley. The church was first located at a site called Gin Hill on what used to be Highway 43. The church was rebuilt in 1927. Because building paper which was placed on…
Muscle Shoals Middle School
At its opening in 1970, the current MSMS building housed grades nine through twelve. These grades remained in this building until 1999 when the new high school was built. Middle school students previously attended McBride Middle School (now…
Muscle Shoals Career Academy/ Muscle Shoals Center for Technology
In 1975, The Muscle Shoals Board of Education conducted a needs assessment in conjunction with the Alabama State Department of Education to determine the business and industry employment needs in the Shoals area. As a result of the needs assessment…
Caney Creek Chikasaw School
Caney Creek Chickasaw School was a Native American school that was originally founded by Presbyterian ministers. The school officially opened January 15, 1827 and was located on Red Rock Rd five miles away from Cherokee on the McWilliams' property.…
Howell & Graves Junior High School (Historical)
The Howell & Graves Junior High School was designed by architect Harry J. Frahn and built in 1927 in the neoclassical style and the neo-Tudor Gothic tradition, symbolically associated with the Ivy League schools. Decorative brick work, which…
Wilson Dam Lake
Wilson Dam Lake was created from the damming of the Tennessee River by the construction of the Wilson Dam. The lake's normal elevation is 505 feet. The average depth is 97 feet. The distance of the backwater upstream is 17 miles and the area of the…
Tags: fishing, Florence Alabama, Wilson Dam, Wilson Lake
Colbert Heights Elementary School
In December of 1938 the small school of Melrose, at the foot of Colbert Mountain, burned. Interim classes were held at Colbert Heights Baptist Church while the new school located at the present site of Colbert Heights High School was built. The…
Colbert Heights High School
In December of 1938 the small school of Melrose at the foot of Colbert Mountain burned. Interim classes were held at Colbert Heights Baptist Church until construction was complete at the present site of Colbert Heights High School. The name was…
Leighton Training School
Leighton Training School was a trade school established with the help of a grant provided by Julius Rosenwald. Like other Rosenwald schools, the African American community was required to raise additional funds for the school to be built. The African…
Colbert County High School
The history of Colbert County High School dates back to the year 1910. The school is located in the historic town of Leighton, Alabama, which is located in eastern Colbert County at the intersection of U.S. Highway 72 and Colbert County Highway 48.…
Northwest-Shoals Community College
Northwest-Shoals Community College was formed in 1993 by the Alabama State Board of Education through the merger of Northwest Alabama Community College's Phil Campbell Campus and Shoals Community College. The merger was enacted in order to provide…
Cherokee High School
Cherokee High School was founded in 1925 as Cherokee Vocational High School as it was the first designated vocational school in Colbert County. The original high school building was located where the current gymnasium stands. As the school…
New Bethel Elementary
New Bethel Elementary is part of the Colbert County School System. New Bethel was built on its present site in 1915. The original structure was a two room wood constructed building. The original building burned in February, 1924. A new building was…
Deshler High School (1950-Present)
The current Deshler High School was opened in 1950 on the site of the antebellum Winston plantation located across the Commons from the Deshler Stadium. In 1954, Tuscumbia added a cafeteria, auditorium, and Junior High building. In 1966, work began…
Historic Deshler High School (1924-1950)
Deshler High School was built in 1924 on the location of the former Deshler Female Institute. The school lasted until 1950 when the city opened the present Deshler High School on the site of the antebellum Winston plantation located across the…
Deshler Female Institute (1874-1918)
The Deshler Female Institute was named in memory of Brigadier General James Deshler. The land and building, previously a home, was donated on December 6, 1871 by James Deshler’s father, Major David Deshler. David wanted to donate the land and home…
Tuscumbia Female Academy (1826-1868)
The Tuscumbia Female Academy was also known as the Tuscumbia Female Seminary. It was established around 1825-26, as a means of education for women. The Academy was destroyed by arson between 2 and 3 a.m. on the morning of September 13, 1868. It was…
Recall LaGrange
Recall LaGrange is an annual living history festival at the LaGrange College and Military Academy site. The living history recalls the days and life around LaGrange College and Military Academy, from the cadets of the academy and organization of…
Zion First Missionary Church Cemetery
When the Zion First Missionary Church was sold to the African American congregation, the land next to the building found use as a cemetery for the African American congregation. As such, the cemetery is strictly filled with only African American…
LaGrange Military Academy (1857-1862)
After LaGrange College moved to Florence in January 1856, a group of LaGrange citizens organized a college in the vacant buildings under the old name, LaGrange. To increase patronage, a military feature was introduced in 1857. The college reopened in…
LaGrange College (1830-1855)
LaGrange College was located on LaGrange Mountain. In 1830 it became the first State chartered college in Alabama. Within two months of its opening, there were seventy students enrolled at LaGrange College. The school year lasted for ten months.…
Zion First Baptist Missionary Church
Zion Church used to be an white Baptist church prior to the Civil War. During the war, the church was used as a hospital by Union troops. After the Civil War, the white parishioners no longer wanted to use the church as it had become defiled. Because…
Cane Creek Nature Preserve
Cane Creek is a privately owned nature preserve cooperating with the Nature Conservancy of Alabama. This is a 9.1 mile out and back hiking trail near Tuscumbia. The main feature of the trail is the waterfall. The trail has a moderate hiking rating…
Tags: camping, Colbert County, hiking, pet friendly, Tuscumbia Alabama
High Street Church of Christ
Former members of the Church of Christ in the Ricks community originally founded the High Street Church of Christ. The congregation first met in the home of one of its members to worship. The congregation continued to grow and moved to the Art…
Sterling High School
Sterling High School was another prominent school for African Americans in Colbert County. The origin of the school is in a Baptist Church on East 20th St. Originally, the school only served five students and a man named Henry Hopkins was hired as…
The Civilian Conservation Corps Company 4499
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works relief program set up as a part of the New Deal Program. The last Company of men sent to the Muscle Shoals area in 1936 was the 4499 company. These men originally worked under the United States…
Tags: Colbert County, Company 4499, Muscle Shoals, New Deal
Tuscumbia Shed Church
This church was located close to what is now downtown Tuscumbia. The original buildings were cotton gins sheds. It has been said that these cotton gin sheds were used as a church as far back as the year 1870. The church served as a place of worship…
Cherokee High School
Cherokee High School was one of seven Rosenwald School built for African Americans in Colbert County. The Julius Rosenwald Grant provided the funds for the building. The local African American community provided the remaining funds and land for the…
Mount Zion School
Mount Zion was a Rosenwald school located in Florence, Alabama. The local community was provided a grant from Julius Rosenwald to build a school for the African American community. Like other Rosenwald schools the local community had to provide…
Trenholm High School
Trenholm High School was originally founded as the Osborne Colored Academy in 1877. From there it became Tuscumbia’s Colored School, which lasted until 1921. The Tuscumbia’s Colored School changed its name to Trenholm High School in 1921. The…
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded by Morris Dees, Joe Levin, and Julian Bond in Montgomery, Alabama in 1971.
A non-profit, public interest law firm the a Southern Poverty Law Center specializes in civil rights cases that include hate…
A non-profit, public interest law firm the a Southern Poverty Law Center specializes in civil rights cases that include hate…
Rick Bragg
Rick Bragg, who was born on July 26, 1959, in Piedmont, Calhoun County to Charles and Margaret Bundrum Bragg, is a noted journalist, teacher, and writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for his work with the New York Times. His most lasting contribution to…
Sheffield Water Tower
Montgomery Avenue, in Sheffield, Alabama, has maintained several spots along the street for the citizens of the area to enjoy the natural beauty of North Alabama. A water tower marks the end of the street and a small park with an overlook allows…