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Sunny Slope
This historic home that sits on what is now South College Street was the site where the 14th and 18th Alabama regiments were mustered in 1861. William F. Samford, known as the “Penman for Secession” for his nationally published diatribes on…
Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church
After the end of the Civil War, newly freed African-American men and women constructed Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church on what is today known as Baptist Hill, skirting East Thach Avenue. Lonnie Payne, a white land owner, deeded the property to a…
Rousseau and Wilson's Raids
On July 10, 1864, Major General William T. Sherman ordered Major General Lovell Harrison Rousseau to depart from Decatur, Alabama with approximately 2,500 men. Their goal was to sever the Montgomery and West Point railroads - a vital link for…
William Lowndes Yancey
Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Yancey was a fiery orator and politician who ardently defended slavery and secession. Representing Chambers County during the Alabama secession convention, he voted for the state to leave the Union and during the…
James Ferguson Dowdell
James Ferguson Dowdell served during the Civil War as the organizer and commander of the 37th Alabama infantry regiment. After the war, he assumed the presidency of the East Alabama Male College from 1866 to 1870.
William James Samford
When the East Alabama Male College opened its doors in 1859, William James Samford was one of the first eighty students to enroll. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Samford enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army where he was soon promoted…
Sam Phillips
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…
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…
William L. Dawson
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…
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…
Alabama
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…
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…
Curly Putman
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…
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…
Percy Sledge
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…
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…
Tammy Wynette
![twynette[1].jpg](https://omeka.lib.auburn.edu/files/thumbnails/e332a88d0949bdea40a44eec13c8d259.jpg "twynette[1].jpg")
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,…
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,…
William Lee Golden
William Lee Golden
Golden was raised in a farming family in Brewton, Alabama. At age seven he began singing and performing regularly on his grandfather’s weekly radio show, along with his sister. From this experience, Golden grew to love…
Golden was raised in a farming family in Brewton, Alabama. At age seven he began singing and performing regularly on his grandfather’s weekly radio show, along with his sister. From this experience, Golden grew to love…
Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie (June 20, 1949- )
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. was born on June 20, 1949 in Tuskegee, Alabama. He grew up on the campus of the Tuskegee Institute where many members of his family had worked for two generations. While in college at…
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. was born on June 20, 1949 in Tuskegee, Alabama. He grew up on the campus of the Tuskegee Institute where many members of his family had worked for two generations. While in college at…
Freddie Hart
Freddie Hart (December 21, 1926- )
Born Fred Segrest on December 21, 1926, Hart was one of fifteen children. His parents were sharecroppers. He began playing guitar at age 5, and by age 12 he dropped out of school to work for his parents. When…
Born Fred Segrest on December 21, 1926, Hart was one of fifteen children. His parents were sharecroppers. He began playing guitar at age 5, and by age 12 he dropped out of school to work for his parents. When…
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin (August 11, 1914-March 11, 2011)
Hugh Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914. He received musical training at the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. Over the course of his career, he wrote some of our most memorable songs and…
Hugh Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914. He received musical training at the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. Over the course of his career, he wrote some of our most memorable songs and…
Interview with Julianne (Julie) Garner
An oral history with Julie Garner, a graduate student of Auburn University, concerning her participation in the satellite Women's March on Washington that occurred on January 21, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia. Her story is rich in local political context…
2005.36.103: Kate to Unknown, 1859 May 21
Kate describes the courting scene as well as the death of an infant. 8 handwritten pages.
2005.36.127: Kate to Unknown, 1859 June 19
A letter from Kate to Unknown, concerning the state of the family and family friends. Cousin Henry, Sally, and Carrie are mentioned. Kate continuously mentions her sadness at the recipient's absence. 3 handwritten pages
University of North Alabama, President's Home
The President’s Home is located on the University of North Alabama campus. Ground was broken for this building in August 1939 when the university was under the name Florence State Teachers College. The Works Progress Administration completed the…
Spring Park
In 1815, Michael Dickson and a group of white settlers sailed in a keel-boat down the Tennessee River and up Spring creek, settling where Spring Park is now. Dickson purchased this land from the Indian chief Tashka-Ambi for two pole axes and five…
Dr. Richard Henderson Rivers
Dr. Richard Henderson Rivers was the first president of Florence Wesleyan University. Dr. Rivers was named the president of LaGrange College in Leighton, Alabama, in 1854. In January of 1855, LaGrange College moved to Florence, Alabama, where…
Florence Indian Mound Museum
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,…
John Coffee
General John Coffee was a Federal surveyor who did work in Tennessee and Alabama and is known as one of the founders of Florence, Alabama. Born on June 2, 1772, in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Coffee moved to Tennessee as a young man. As a…
Alexander Donelson Coffee
Alexander Donelson Coffee was a Confederate veteran of the Civil War and a planter and manufacturer in Florence. He was born on June 3, 1821, to General John Coffee and Mary Donelson Coffee. He attended the Lorance school in Florence, and the…
James Jackson
James Jackson was born on October 25, 1782, in Ballybay County, Monaghan, Ireland. Jackson came to America in 1799 and moved to Nashville in 1801. Upon his arrival in Nashville, James Jackson quickly became acquainted with Andrew Jackson and John…
John McKinley
John McKinley was one of seven trustees that made up the Cypress Land Company and is considered a founder of Florence, Alabama. McKinley was born on May 1, 1780, in Culpepper County, Virginia, and later moved to Kentucky. He came to Alabama around…
Ferdinand Sannoner
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…
Zebulon Pike Morrison
Zebulon Pike Morrison was born in Lexington, Virginia in 1818. He and his wife Bridget had nine children. He was the sixteenth Mayor of Florence, and served in that capacity from 1880-1890. Morrison was also an alderman for the city of Florence…
George Washington Foster
George Washington Foster was born on November 28, 1806, in Nashville, Tennessee. On January 10, 1829, he married Sarah Independence Watkins. They had seven children: Mary Ann, Virginia (Jennie), Watkins (Wat), Louisa (Lou), George Washington Jr.…
Sallie Independence Foster
Sallie Independence Foster was born on October 28, 1848, in Nashville, Tennessee. She was the youngest child of George Washington Foster and Sarah Independence Watkins Foster. From the age of seven she lived in Courtview, a mansion that is now…
William Basil Wood
William Basil Wood was born on October 31, 1820. Wood was a LaGrange College graduate, and practiced law in Florence before the Civil War. Wood served as a colonel of the 16th Alabama Infantry Regiment and was recommended for promotion to brigadier…
Dr. Robert A. Young
Born in 1824, Dr. Robert A. Young was the second president of Florence Wesleyan University and served from 1862 to 1865. Dr. Young, along with Professor Septimus Rice managed to keep the college open throughout the Civil War years. Enrollment was…
Dr. William H. Mitchell
Dr. William H. Mitchell was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Florence during the Civil War. On Sunday, July 27, 1862, Dr. Mitchell was arrested during the church service when he prayed for Jefferson Davis and the success of the…
Edward A. O'Neal
Edward A. O’Neal was born on September 20, 1818, in Madison County, Alabama. His parents were Edward and Rebecca Wheat O’Neal. O’Neal graduated from La Grange College and worked as a lawyer in Florence. He served as a solicitor of the Fourth…
Governor Emmet O'Neal
The son of Edward A. O’Neal, Emmet O’Neal was the thirty-sixth governor of Alabama and a resident of Lauderdale County. He served as governor from 1911-1915. Emmet O’Neal was born on September 6, 1853, in Florence, Alabama. After graduating…
Governor Robert Miller Patton
Robert Miller Patton was one of five Lauderdale County residents to serve as governor of Alabama. Patton was born in Virginia in 1809. He and his parents came to Alabama in 1818 and he took up residence in Florence in 1829. In 1832, he became a…
William Lindsey McDonald, Florence Historian
Florence, Alabama’s first official City Historian was William Lindsey McDonald, a man who did much to research, preserve, and promote local history. Born in 1927, Mr. McDonald served in the U.S. Army for thirty-eight years before retiring with the…
George Lindsey
George Lindsey was born on December 17, 1928 in Fairfield, Alabama, and grew up in Jasper, Alabama. Lindsey became interested in acting after watching a play when he was fourteen. He later became interested in football and the sport gave him a way…
Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House
The Rosenbaum House was built in 1939-1940 with a price tag of approximately $14,000. The Rosenbaum House is located in Florence and serves as the only example of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in Alabama. Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum were the…
Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts
The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts serves as an art gallery and hosts workshops and classes. The Center for the Arts is also the headquarters for the Florence museums.
April 1, 1976 marked the opening of the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the…
April 1, 1976 marked the opening of the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the…
Edith Newman Culver Museum
The Edith Newman Culver Museum features Native American items, Civil War artifacts, and items used by previous owners of the house. The museum also discusses history associated with the town of Waterloo. The house museum is located near the Trail…
Pope's Tavern Museum
Pope’s Tavern Museum has been the site of a stagecoach stop, an inn, and a tavern, besides serving as a private residence. The city of Florence acquired the building in 1965, and it has been used as a museum since that time. The museum’s site…