Browse Items (1493 total)

This image is a watercolor painting of the Old Mobile Court House in Mobile, Alabama done by Albion W. Knight sometime between 1917 and 1942. The courthouse was built in 1824. The painting shows the front exterior of the courthouse with its doors,…

The 1976 NR nomination documents a 400 foot unpaved section of the original Natchez Trace not covered by the Natchez Trace Parkway. The original Natchez Trace was a network of trails established by Native Americans that stretched roughly from what…

In 1835, William Young and his brother Isaac Smoot, a contractor, bought a lot on what is today the corner of Fourth and Main Streets in Tuscumbia for the purpose of opening a carriage factory. They constructed a large red brick building with a porch…

Group of people standing outside of the War Eagle Supper Club waiting to be allowed in.

Constructed in 1833, the Old State Bank in Decatur, Alabama, served as the Decatur Branch of the State Bank of Alabama. The Alabama General Assembly passed legislation to create the State Bank of Alabama in 1830. Formed in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa…

Old Town Cemetery is the earliest know cemetery in Athens. Records indicate that the first burials date from the 1820s and continue through the mid-1800s, with some burials past 1900. Many markers in the cemetery are sunken below ground, while others…

The water tower has served as a landmark for the city of Florence since its construction in 1889 by the Jeter and Boardman Gas and Water Association. The stone buttressed masonry tower is seventy feet high and topped by a 282,000 gallon cast iron…

A summary of the requirements and steps needed to set up Omeka.

Opelika Baptist Church established a school in 1873. Local members of the denomination opened the Baptist Female College inside Opelika Baptist Church and named Professor J.J. Langham as principal. It later moved to a new two-story brick building…

The first major industry in Lee County and the first textile mill in Opelika. It opened in 1900. Today, it is most well known as the backdrop for the 1979 film "Norma Rae" about a woman who become involved in the Labor Union Activities at the North…

In 1911, the Alabama State Legislature allocated a disbursement to fund a public high school in every county in the state. Opelika solicited private funds to meet the state in the middle, and Lee County’s first stand-alone high school, Opelika High…

In 1969, U.S. District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson ordered the Opelika to desegregate its school system. Observing that African Americans comprised 30 percent of the students enrolled in Opelika city schools, Johnson demanded that all of Opelika’s…

After Opelika’s 1854 town incorporation, citizens concerned with the educational prospects of the hamlet’s youth opened several private academies. Two of the early private schools were the Opelika Male School and the Opelika Female Academy, both…

In 1959, Henry G. Clift High School relocated to a new facility at 1206 Denson Drive and rechristened itself Opelika High School, the institutional name it bore from 1911 to 1918. U.S. District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson gave the Opelika city…

On November 23, 1869, Opelika citizens petitioned the City Council to create a public high school. A Board of Trustees formed, and in 1873 the Alabama State Legislature empowered the city government to collect taxes to subsidize public education. The…

The city of Opelika, Alabama was incorporated on February 9, 1854. Because of the many rail lines that snaked through the city, warehouses were built during the war to store cotton and other goods. When General Lovell Harrison Rousseau’s men stormed…

Vol. I, No. 1, November 7, 1894 issue of the Orange and Blue, the student newspaper of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now known as Auburn University.

This historic marker is located at the intersection of Tennessee St and Seminary St, Florence, AL.

The text on the side one of the marker reads: "This marks the site of the pioneering music company of Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME), a…

Orradio produced magnetic tape. Major John Herbert Orr founded Orradio in 1949 using information given to him by German scientists during World War II. This business became the first producer of commercially available audio, video, and computer tape.…

Overton Farm is one of the earliest remaining pioneer sites in Northwest Alabama. The farm is located four miles northwest of Hodges. Abner Overton, who was a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, visited Alabama in 1815. During his visit to Alabama, he…

P.B. Swoopes Dry Cleaners was a business run by P.B. Swoopes in Sheffield Alabama. Swoopes was a graduate of Sheffield school. He would go on to open his dry cleaning business in downtown Sheffield. Swoopes started his dry cleaning business in 1927.…

This building was built in 1833. It was originally known as "The Railroad Hotel." and later as "The Major Pope Railroad Hotel." The word railroad was added because the hotel became a popular resting place for rail travelers even before the Civil War.…

“Pathways: Walk through the History of Muscle Shoals” is a corridor of historic displays in the Muscle Shoals City Hall. It covers the history of the city of Muscle Shoals, the Wilson Dam and Lock, and Muscle Shoals Music with exhibits of original…

This historic marker is located on Dr. Hicks Boulevard, Florence, Alabama.

The text on the marker reads: "First school in Florence Public school system built 1890 on land given by Governor Robert M. Patton. It was occupied in 1891. Designed…

Paul Elisha Kelly (born on November 10th, 1924; died on May 25th, 1997) was a broadcast engineer, who built and maintained many of the studios and radio stations (notably WLAY and WQLT, which was owned by Sam Phillips) responsible for the Muscle…

Marion, Alabama
Albert Turner, Jr.

Promotional Graphic for the ISO Peace Dinner 2018 (Original Graphic Created 2014)

This image is a watercolor painting of the Pease Home in Columbus, Georgia done by Elwyn B. Richey sometime around 1934. The year the house was built in is unknown. The painting shows the front exterior of the house with its doors, windows, shutters,…

Pebble Hill was the home of Nathaniel J. Scott and his family from 1847 to 1871. When Rousseau’s men swept through Auburn in July 1864, William Lowndes Yancey’s widow resided at Pebble Hill and Union soldiers looted the building because of her…

Peerson Cemetery was restored in the summer of 1990 by Mason Ingram and more relatives of the Peersons. To reach this cemetery from Florence, turn northwest off Cox Creek Parkway onto Savannah Highway. Then go 2.9 miles and turn left on Mud Road.…

The Pencil Slat Mill, located south of Moulton, operated during the early twentieth century. Northern transplants to the south made up the bulk of the workforce. After factory workers made the pencil slats in Moulton, they shipped the slats to…

Located in Opelika along Spring Villa Road.

Coordinates: 32.5893026, -85.3129995

Constructed in 1925, allegedly after Opelika city officials paid the company a significant sum in bribes, the Pepperell Mill would become one of Opelika's most iconic industrial sites. The mill produced cotton textiles under a number of names until…

A factory community appeared after the opening of Pepperell Manufacturing Company’s Opelika textile mill in 1925. A school founded in the new neighborhood under the aegis of the county school system served the first- through sixth-grade students of…

Percy Casey was born in Florence in 1872 to Willis and Mary Casey. Percy worked two jobs--one as a boss repairman for the Florence Cycle Company and second as a pressman for the Florence Herald until his death in 1902. Percy was also a member of the…

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…

This historic marker is located at the intersection of Wildwood Park Road and Waterloo Road, Florence, Alabama.

The text on side one of the marker reads: "Following an outbreak of the dreaded plaque, smallpox (Variola), at Florence during the…

The Peter Fontaine Armistead Sr. House is significant to Lauderdale County and northern Alabama as an excellent example of migration and settlement patterns in the area in terms of population, plantation economy, and architectural styles. Peter and…

Newspaper article on the 1962 petty larceny case. Auburn students and faculty stole at least 6 rolls of toilet paper from a restaurant in Phenix City, AL.

Pharmavite manufactures soft-gel vitamin tablets under the Nature Made name. The business opened in 2013 and still operates today. The plant employs around 250 people, and is located at 4701 Northpark Dr., Opelika, AL.

Formerly known as the city of Girard, Phenix City, Alabama (along with Columbus, Georgia) was the location of one of the last land battles of the Civil War. On April 16, 1865, Bvt. Major General James Harrison Wilson swept through Auburn and Opelika…

Located in Smiths Station along Lee Road 246.

Coordinates: 32.5159735, -85.0943803

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.…