Browse Items (94 total)

  • Tags: Colbert County Alabama

Metal’s Terrace was a project initiated to provide housing for African American workers in the Shoals. This was also known as the War Housing Project Ala 1213. This housing was to be used strictly for African Americans. It became ready to house…

Spring Park.jpg
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…

Horseback trail riding, auction and headliner concerts mark this two-day event. Event is held annually on the 3rd Friday and Saturday in July. This event is a fundraiser for St. Jude. Donations are welcome. $35 donation to ride. $15 donation, if you…

One of Alabama’s most distinguished mansions is opulently decorated for Christmas when “the Old South” is recreated with period music, dancing and refreshments. This is an opportunity to see festivities and decorations of the historical past.…

The Coon Dog Labor Day Celebration is held at the world’s only Coon Dog Cemetery.  Enjoy “old time” bluegrass music, buck dancing, barbecue, and a liar’s contest. Held annually on Labor Day. Admission is free. The Coon Dog Cemetery is on…

The town of Cherokee celebrates with an Independence Day Festival that includes children’s games, bingo, food, street dance, music and fireworks. This festival is held annually on the 4th of July.

STH71025.JPG
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.…

As far back as 1912 there is a record of a fair for African Americans taking place in Colbert County. The fair took place at a location called the Fair Grounds. The fair was popular, with a large turnout for the event. The event officially began on a…

George Colbert’s House was built on the Natchez Trace along the Tennessee River near the ferry he owned and operated. This house was one of the first buildings in the area to have a clear record of its completion. Historians have placed the…

Colbert’s Ferry was a ferry service and an inn run by George Colbert. In 1801, the United States government managed to secure the right to build roads on the Natchez Trace. However, Colbert managed to secure all ferry routes over the rivers for the…

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…

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…

Tuscumbia Landing.png
During Indian Removal, Tuscumbia’s Landing served as the point of disembarkation for the water route used to move Native Americans west of the Mississippi. The train to Tuscumbia brought the Cherokee Nation to Spring Park, where they were held…

The Tuscumbia-Courtland & Decatur railroad was established by a group of investors led by Benjamin Sherrod in 1841. Originally a two-train car, the railroad was established to allow ships to bypass the shoals of the Tennessee River. In 1843, the…

The LaGrange Rock shelter is considered to be where the first natives lived in the southeastern United States. Archaeologists have put the earliest human activity in this area between 11,000 and 9,000 years ago. Researchers have found evidence of…

The battle of Ococoposa was fought between the United States and Native American tribes in the Shoals. The battle took place in June of 1787. Local Native American tribes had been conducting raids on settlements for a period of seven years. In…

STH71019.JPG
Mount Carmel Baptist Church was conceived of and organized in 1929. The original incarnation of the church consisted of a group of men meeting in the home of Mingo White, Sr. The group eventually planned to rent a store for use as a church. The…

McD_10_36B.jpg
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…

Davis001.JPG
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…

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…

Postcards082.jpg
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 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 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…

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, 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 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…

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…

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.…

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 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…

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…

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 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.…

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…

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…

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 before.jpg
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…

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 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 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 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…

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…

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…

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…

LaGrange-College-Brochure.pdf
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…

STH71036.JPG
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-College-Brochure.pdf
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-Brochure.pdf
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.…

IMG_4087.JPG
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…

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…
Output Formats

atom, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2