Browse Items (1493 total)

Ferdinand Sannoner was born in Leghorn, Italy, in 1793. He graduated from the French Polytechnic Institute at Paris. Sannoner worked as a surveyor for Napoleon in France. He came to America around 1816. In 1818, John Coffee appointed him to…

J.T. "Fess" Whatley (c. 1895 - January 12, 1972)

If Alabama's musical heritage were to have a conductor, a teacher, that person would have to be J.T. “Fess” Whatley. In his tutelage of musicians, first at The Tuggle Institute in Birmingham, of…

The First Baptist Church of Tuscumbia was originally formed by a small group of African American worshipers. The church was established in 1866 shortly after the Civil War under the guidance of Elder W.E. Northcross. The church members did not have…

First Baptist Missionary Church was originally founded in 1886. The first church consisted of two wooden buildings. These buildings would later be destroyed in a fire. The congregation was then forced to use the Masonic Hall as their new meeting…

Photo of the first Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge class; the first fraternity on Auburn's campus founded in 1878

On the first Friday of each month from March through December, Florence residents come together at historic downtown Florence to celebrate the town’s rich culture in the arts. The scene is a festive atmosphere and the admission is free. Streets are…

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…

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

Chi Omega was founded at Auburn as the first sorority on campus in 1921

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

The present building of the First United Methodist Church was built in 1914 although the congregation dates back almost a hundred years prior. The Methodist church is the oldest church in Jasper, Alabama with the first formal organization occurring…

This historic marker is located at the church on the corner of East Tuscaloosa and North Seminary Streets, Florence, Alabama.

The text on the marker reads: "Established September 8, 1822 in a log house on the west side of town by Revs. John Cox…

A golden eagle purchased for 10 dollars in 1930, this was Auburn's first ever live eagle

Samuel Gideon Flanagan opened a sawmill in the community of Pleasant Hill in 1904. The sawmill operated as S.G. Flanagan Lumber until 1940, when it became more of a retail lumberyard. In 1960, the company was eventually incorporated as Flanagan…

The Flat Creek Cemetery is a church cemetery maintained by the Flat Creek Missionary Baptist Church. The cemetery is accessible by car. From Decatur, travel 2.4 miles on Highway 24. Turn right on to County Road 354. The cemetery is behind the…

Located in Smiths Station along Lee Road 254.

Coordinates: 32.648746, -85.174384

This historic marker is located on E, Alabama Street, Florence, Alabama.

The text on the marker reads: "The "Mother Church" of the Presbytery, Florence Cumberland Colored Presbyterian Church originated in 1898 on property deeded by the city. Led,…

The oldest river bridge in Alabama connected Florence to Sheffield for more than one hundred and fifty years. The Florence Bridge Company was authorized by the Alabama legislature in 1832. It was founded for the purpose of realizing a dream for the…

Established in 1818, Florence Cemetery was the first city cemetery. The marker reads, "When the city was surveyed, this land described as 'outside city limits' was designated as the burying grounds for the new town. It contains the graves of early…

This historic marker is located on East College Street, Florence, Alabama.

The text on this marker reads: "When the city was surveyed this land described as "outside the city limits" was designated as the burying grounds for the new town. It…

The Ashcraft Cotton Mill began not as a cotton mill for the weaving of textiles, but as a refinery for cotton oil. In the spring of 1898, C.W. and Erister Ashcraft founded and incorporated the Florence Cotton Oil Company. The distance of other…

The Florence Main Street Program, a non-profit organization, strives to renovate the downtown sector of Florence, Alabama. One of the organization’s recent projects is the beautiful mural located on the exterior wall of Fred’s Super Dollar store…

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

The 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…

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

The Florence Indian Mound Museum is located at the foot of the Florence Indian Mound. The Florence Mound was built by early Native Americans and dates back to the Woodland period. The museum has display cases that house arrowheads, spearheads,…

This historic marker is located on Clayborn Liles Drive, Florence, Alabama.

The text on the marker reads: "Plans for the Florence Little League Baseball program for youth in ages ranging from eight to twelve years were completed in April 1951.…

The Florence Lumber Company was established in the early 1910s. Today, Florence Lumber Company is located on East Tennessee Street in downtown Florence. The company has been a mainstay in Florence for around a century and is one of the earliest…

This company was founded in the East Florence area of Sweetwater. The initial founders of the company were R.M. Martin, President, Colonel Noel F. Cherry, Vice-President (and founder of the Mountain Mills and Cherry Cotton Mill), and S.S. Broadus,…

According to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, an opera house operated in Florence during the late 1880s and permanently closed its doors during the early twentieth century. Between 1894 and 1905 the venue was known as Turner Opera House. During the…

This historic marker was located on Alabama Highway 17. It is now located on the University of North Alabama's campus.

The text on the marker reads: "Oldest state-supported teachers college south of Ohio R. 1830-opened as LaGrange College…

In 1855 by the Presbyterian Synod of Nashville opened the Florence Female Synodical College. Zebulon Pike Morrison, who constructed Wesleyan Hall, also built the two buildings that housed the college. Young women of any religious denomination could…

This historic marker is located at the intersection of North Wood Avenue and Tombigbee Street, Florence, Alabama.

The text on side one reads: "The Cypress Land Company reserved this block for education purposes. In 1847 the Florence Female…

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…

Florence University for Women was also known as Baptist University and Hawthorne's College. Work began on the college in 1890 by the Florence Educational, Land, and Development Company headed by J.B. Hawthorne. The building had three floors, 88…

This historic marker is located at the intersection of Richards Street and Veterans Drive, Florence, AL.

The text on the marker reads: "Moved here from Atlanta in 1889, this industry made Florence a household word throughout the South. It was the…

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

The 1889 Florence Wagon Works was the largest wooden wagon manufacturer in the United States producing 15,000 wagons a year. The most popular, the Florence Light Running Wagon helped settle the West, especially Texas, and was important in France…

Florence Wesleyan University began when LaGrange College's students and teachers sought a new location in Florence. The majority of the faculty and students left the original site of LaGrange College - across the river from Florence (4 miles south of…

Louis and Stanley Rosenbaum were instrumental in building and integrating the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. In August of 1945, Louis Rosenbaum gave $25,000 toward the building of a new library. They also pledged, at the onset of the public…

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…

The Florence-Lauderdale County Veterans Memorial was dedicated during a Veterans Day ceremony on May 30, 1977. The memorial serves to honor all Lauderdale County veterans of all wars. The memorial’s location was originally named Point Park, but the…

This historic marker is located on Seymore Avenue, Florence, Alabama.

The text on the marker reads: "Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this tower of native stone was completed in 1890 as the foundation for a wrought- iron tank…

"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…

First opened by W.H. "Bud" Ingram in the Clement Hotel in Opelika in 1910, it moved to the Montgomery Brothers' Building in 1911 and to its own building on S 8th St. in 1914. Ingram sold the business to Jim Tom Hamilton in 1923 who moved the…

Flowers Hall first opened in 1972 and still continues to be used today. It is the home court for the volleyball team and the men’s and women’s basketball teams. It was named after Hubert A. “Eddie” Flowers, who was a long time head of the physical…

To reach the Ford Mill’s Cemetery from Florence, Alabama, travel west on Alabama Highway 20. Turn left onto County Road 14 and travel approximately 22 miles. Turn right onto County Road 1 just before crossing the bridge into Waterloo. Travel north on…

National Register property – Forks of Cypress

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

Jackson Cemetery is located about four miles northwest of Florence. The cemetery is due east of the ruins of the Forks of Cypress, located on the Old Jackson Road, which stretches from North Florence to the Savannah Highway. Separating the ruins…