Music; Festival; Culture; African American History; Lauderdale County, AL; Handy, W.C.
William Christopher Handy, born in Florence, Alabama, on November 16, 1873 and is considered to be the “Father of the Blues.” His musical legacy is a prime part of the music culture in the Shoals region, especially in his home town of Florence. To celebrate Handy’s role in America’s blues music, the W. C. Handy Music Festival was organized by the non-profit organization called Music Preservation Society, Inc. The Music Preservation Society, Inc. established in 1982 in order to “preserve, present, and promote the musical heritage of Northwest Alabama.” While the organization puts on numerous events throughout the year, the W. C. Handy Music Festival each July is the most prominent. The music festival has been recognized as a top twenty summer event by the Southeast Tourism Society. The first Handy Music festival, organized in 1982 by the Music Preservation Society, lasted for a summer weekend and musician Dizzy Gillespie headlined. Over the past decades, the annual festival has evolved into a ten day event that consists of over two hundred musical shows and concerts. The music showcases music in Florence and the surrounding cities in various parks, restaurants, libraries, museums, sidewalks, and lawns. Some of the musicians and bands that have headlined the festival throughout the years are The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Drive By Truckers, Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge, Donnie Fritts, Bonnie Bramlett, and Roy Ayers. The funding for the festival comes from grants, sponsorships, donations, and sales from festival memorabilia. Numerous corporations and businesses that team up with the Music Preservation Society and help sponsor the annual music festival are: Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa, Florence/Lauderdale Tourism, Lauderdale County Commission, University of North Alabama, Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
Text: Music Preservation Society, Inc., “About US,” http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/about.htm (accessed May 1, 2015). Music Preservation Society, Inc., “History of the Festival,” http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/history.htm (accessed May 1, 2015). Music Preservation Society, Inc., “Our 2014 Sponsors,” http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/sponsors.htm (accessed May 1, 2015).
The Rogersville Public Library is located just off Highway 72. It offers genealogy services, test proctoring, and Wi-Fi access. The library is open 9am-7pm Tuesday-Thursday, 9-5 on Fridays, and 9-3 on Saturdays.
Ashley Pentecost, University of North Alabama
"Rogersville, AL Public Library." Rogersville, AL Public Library. Accessed April 25, 2015.
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. Continue on the road for 2.5 miles until the cemetery is in view. The cemetery is on the left side of the road. The cemetery is labeled as Pearson Cemetery on maps. Ten graves have been documented. This source contains a full description of the graves: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~allauder/cem-peerson.htm
Dylan Tucker, University of North Alabama
Irons, Olan. "Peerson Cemetery." Rootsweb. September 12, 1990. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~allauder/cem-peerson.htm. Accessed April 11, 2015.
The Killen Public Library is located off Highway 72 on JC Maudlin Highway. The library has a genealogy room, DVD rentals, as well as a summer reading program. The library is open Monday-Friday.
"Killen Public Library." Killen Public Library. Accessed April 25, 2015.
The Tennessee Valley Historical Society (TVHS) was established in 1923. Since that time, TVHS has served to educate the public and promote the region’s local history. The Journal of Muscle Shoals History is published by TVHS, and includes articles about historic places, people, and events that are important to the Muscle Shoals Area. TVHS participates in various forms of community outreach, including the Helen Keller Festival and the North Alabama State Fair. Quarterly meetings are held each year. TVHS and the University of North Alabama’s Public History Center recently began work on an oral history interview project. The UNA Public History Center is also assisting with the digitization of out-of-print volumes of the Journal of Muscle Shoals History. TVHS sponsors yearly scholarship competitions in conjunction with UNA’s history department.
Kayla Scott, University of North Alabama
The Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (MSNHA) encompasses the six counties of North Alabama’s Tennessee River water basin, which includes Lauderdale County. An act of Congress established the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area in 2009. Since that time, MSNHA has worked hard to help preserve and promote the history of the Muscle Shoals Region. It is the only Heritage Area in the state of Alabama. MSNHA is sponsored by the University of North Alabama and operates under the National Park Service. MSNHA partnered with UNA to sponsor a successful Civil War conference in 2014. Other partnerships include living history events that were co-sponsored by the Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library. University of North Alabama graduate students help to create educational resource packets, driving tours, walking tours, brochures, and other educational materials for the Heritage Area. MSNHA and UNA Public History Center share offices near UNA’s campus in Florence, Alabama.
The Florence-Lauderdale Public Library is located across from Wilson Park, one block north of its old location. The library features many educational programs and classes including genealogy classes and computer technology classes. The library has a local history room and a digital archive, making it a center for local history work in the county. The library also has a café and a book store sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
The Children’s Museum of the Shoals is located on Darby Drive in Florence and is part of Deibert Park. The museum offers hands-on exhibits, which allow children of different ages to explore the arts, science, and the history and culture of the Tennessee Valley. The purpose of the Children’s Museum of the Shoals is to promote education and learning. School and group tours are offered by the museum.
http://shoalschildrensmuseum.org Destination Shoals Magazine, 2011. Images courtesy of Kayla Scott
Forks of Cypress Plantation Site; James Jackson; Greek Revival Style; Tourism; Alabama Historical Commission
Originally owned by James Jackson, one of Florence’s founding fathers, the Forks of Cypress was one of the earliest Greek Revival homes built in Alabama. The home featured a temple-type veranda supported by massive columns that surrounded the exterior of the house. The Forks of Cypress plantation house burned on June 6, 1966. A severe thunderstorm produced cloud-to-ground lightening that struck the mansion, setting it on fire. The fire destroyed everything except the twenty-four Ionic columns that had surrounded the foundation. Forks of Cypress had been a part of Florence and Lauderdale County for 145 years. The Forks of Cypress was owned by Mr. Rufus B. Dowdy at the time of the fire in 1966. The Forks served as a museum that housed around a million dollars worth of antiques. Imported china, silver and glassware, pioneer artifacts, and other museum pieces were lost in the fire. The Forks of Cypress had been the number one tourist attraction in Florence. While the historic ruins are owned by the state and presided over by the Alabama Historical Commission, the access road is privately owned. The ruins are viewable from a distance via a public road.
Bob Martin, “Mid-Morning Today: Historic Forks Burns.” Tri Cities Daily, June 6, 1966. Florence Herald “Historic Forks of Cypress Burns to Ground Monday.” June 9, 1966, p. 2. Personal Interview with Lee Freeman, November 24, 2014. Images courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
Collier Library was built by the Works Project Administration and opened to students in 1930. It was built in the Gothic Revival architectural style, like many of the WPA buildings on the University of North Alabama campus. In 1963, an expansion doubled the size of the original library and in 1982, another expansion again doubled the square footage of the library.
"Collier Memorial Library." Department of History & Political Science. Accessed April 15, 2015.
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 name was changed to Veterans Memorial Park in 1983. The Veterans Memorial Fund Raising Campaign began in May of 1971. Anson Cooper, a disabled veteran of World War II was the driving force behind the establishment of the memorial. His idea was taken by Reverend Rowe Wren, a World War II veteran who came up with architectural drawings for the memorial. Wren’s drawings were used by Ebbe Kindahl to design construction layouts that were used by the building contractor. The memorial features a Cobra helicopter and a plane. War-era guns, ammunition, and memorabilia are displayed inside the memorial, which is open to the public from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on weekends.
Sources: Robert S. Steen. Florence State Teachers College: Heroes of World War II (1941-1945). University of North Alabama, no date. Destination Shoals Magazine, 2011 Images courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
University of North Alabama Archives and Special Collections
The University of North Alabama’s Archives and Special Collections is located on the second floor of Collier Library on UNA’s campus. The archives’ primary goal is the collection and preservation of records regarding the University of North Alabama. The secondary goal of the archives is the preservation of materials concerning Florence, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, and Tuscumbia. Lauderdale and Colbert County historical materials are also housed at the archives, as well as the university’s collection of rare books. The UNA Archives also houses “special collections” of documents and memorabilia. The William Lindsey McDonald Collection is an invaluable tool for researchers interested in local history. McDonald was the official Florence historian for many years, and wrote several books, newspaper articles, and journal articles during his lifetime. His collection features books, research materials, pictures, and copies of newspaper articles and documents on Muscle Shoals history. The Sallie Independence Foster Collection features photographs of the Foster family as well as letters and two Civil War era diaries. The George Lindsey Collection includes movie scripts, pictures, and memorabilia associated with the UNA alumni’s acting career. Other collections housed by the archives include the T.S. Stribling Collection, W.C. Handy Collection, and TVA Collection.
http://libguides.una.edu/unaarchives http://libguides.una.edu/unaarchives/archivescollections Images courtesy of Kayla Scott
Lauderdale County, AL; Florence, AL; Handy, W.C.
The W. C. Handy Home and Museum located in Florence is dedicated to telling the story of “Father of the Blues” William Christopher Handy’s life and musical career. The museum’s main building is the cabin Handy was born in. The home was in a state of disrepair in 1954 when Handy donated the funds for its purchase to the city of Florence. Because the original site was in the way of a housing development, the cabin was painstakingly dismantled and each piece was labeled and put into storage. In 1970, the W.C. Handy Home was reassembled and restored at its present location at 620 West College Street. A separate building for the museum houses furniture, pictures, and musical instruments that Handy owned. The cabin is furnished with items donated by Florence citizens that are representative of the era during which Handy lived in the cabin. The W.C. Handy Museum is the location of an annual W.C. Handy Birthday Celebration each year on November 16. The W. C. Handy Music Festival is held each year during the last week of July.
www.florenceal.org Barbara Broach, “W.C. Handy Birthplace, Museum, and Library,” Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3147#sthash.XJAPN575.dpuf Images courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
Florence, Alabama, established on March 12, 1818, is nicknamed the “Renaissance City.” It is named after Florence, Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance (a time period in which a cultural movement in the arts, religion, science, and politics emerged, began during the fourteenth century). The connection between Florence, Alabama, and the Renaissance time period is through Ferdinand Sannoner. In 1818, Sannoner, an Italian surveyor from Florence, Italy, first surveyed the newly established Alabama land. Therefore, in recognition of Sannoner’s early work with the town, when time came to decide on the city’s name, Florence was chosen. The citizens of Florence, Alabama, acknowledge their city’s ties to the Renaissance and celebrate its heritage in an annual festival—the Alabama Renaissance Faire. Beginning in 1987, the city of Florence, Alabama, has hosted the Alabama Renaissance Faire in October. The event takes place at Wilson Park, located in downtown Florence, and host between thirty and forty thousand attendees. The Southeast Tourist Society in Atlanta, Georgia, listed the event as one of the top twenty fall events in the Southeast region of the United States and it is one the largest non-profit Renaissance Faires in the country. The Faire is an all-volunteer event. Those in the Florence, Alabama community that want to help plan the Faire are put on a committee called the Roundtable. There are no requirements to be placed on the Roundtable and meetings are once a month from January to September. Out of the Roundtable, eighteen individuals are voted onto the Faire’s Board of Directors. The Renaissance event begins on the third weekend in October. During this weekend, a meal is set to a themed Renaissance time period and is attended by two hundred guests who purchase a twenty-five dollar ticket. This meal is known as the Renaissance Feast. Exactly a week after the Feast, the Renaissance Faire begins. During the faire, many of the volunteer workers and public attendees are dressed up in Renaissance attire. Throughout the entire two-day festival, Renaissance themed arts and events take place such as dances, sword fighting, costume workshops, sonnet writing contests, theatrical plays, and musical concerts.
Text: Billy Warren, “Alabama Renaissance Faire,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2486 (accessed May 1, 2015). Bobby Bozeman, “Feast Marks Start of Renaissance Celebration,” Times Daily, September 30, 2014. Bobby Bozeman, “Something Old is New Again: Alabama Renaissance Faire to Celebrate History this Weekend,” Times Daily, October 24, 2014.
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 has had numerous owners, and more than one structure. The first of these buildings is thought to have been erected by Christopher Cheatham, who built an inn and stagecoach stop at the request of Huntsville founder LeRoy Pope. There is no evidence that this building was ever called Pope’s Tavern before the city gave the museum its name. Today the museum holds artifacts associated with the history of Florence. Pope’s Tavern served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War. The museum has a collection of Civil War artifacts on the second floor, including weapons, ammunition, flags and uniforms. The museum also includes antique furniture, dishes, arrowheads, and paintings. A section is devoted to telling the story of Forks of Cypress, the home of Florence co-founder James Jackson. Forks of Cypress burned in 1966, only leaving the columns standing as a reminder of the stately mansion. An antique wagon made by the Florence Wagon Works is displayed behind the museum. Pope’s Tavern is owned and operated by the city of Florence. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday. Florence’s Frontier Days Celebration is held at Pope’s Tavern during the first full week in June each year.
www.florenceal.org Carolyn M. Barske, “Pope’s Tavern Museum,” Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encylopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3669#sthash.N7bRWPGD.dpuf Black and white image of Pope's Tavern courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archvies All other images courtesy of Kayla Scott
A place of business in the Sweetwater area that still exists and serves the community today is Staggs Groceries. Originally, Staggs Grocery was founded as Taylor Wylie’s Meat Market at the turn of the twentieth century. Taylor Wylie moved to east Florence to Sweetwater when Mountain Mills moved from Barton, Alabama to Florence to become the Cherry Cotton Mill. The original Wylie’s Meat Market burned to the ground and Wylie's son-in-law, L.D. Staggs, Sr., continued the business down the street on Huntsville Road. Staggs Grocery’s present location is where it has been since 1937. When L.D. Staggs, Sr. became proprietor of the grocery, he had his brother, Web Staggs, and his sons, L.D. Jr., Jack, and Billy Staggs become working members of the grocery. Staggs, Sr.’s family descendants run the operation today and have made the transition from grocer to restaurant. Staggs Grocery has a reputation for having one of the best hamburgers in all of Florence.
M.C. Fesmire, University of North Alabama
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Sweetwater: The Story of East Florence." Florence, Ala.: Florence Historical Board, 1989. Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Staggs Grocery.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-11.
The Rogers Bros. Surprise Store, eventually Department Store, was a retail fixture in downtown Florence from the late 1890s to the early 2000s. Opened in 1894 as the Surprise Store in downtown Florence by Major B.A. Rogers and his sons, the Surprise Store was famous for its reasonable prices for high quality goods. From the corner of Court and Mobile Street, the Rogers Surprise Store sold almost anything a person needed from hardware to clothing and toys to textiles. The Surprise Store was a full-line merchandising store able to import high quality goods to downtown Florence. Rogers Surprise Store was the first retail store in the area to do something novel and simple to ease the buying experience: they introduced price tags with set prices on their goods. Instead of having customers coming in to haggle and barter prices and goods with the clerks, the owner, Major Rogers, created the price point system for their store. The pricing system was an advancement in retailing in the Florence area. The original Rogers Building for the Surprise Store burned to the ground in 1910, and the original wooden building replaced with a multi-story brick structure. The brick structure stood until 1946 when it was remodeled in the Art Deco fashion and modernized into the Rogers Building that stands today at the corner of Court and Mobile Street.
Text Sources: UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Vertical History File, “Rogers’ 100th.” Downtown Florence Unlimited, Edition 93, May/June 1994, Florence, Alabama. McDonald Collection: Box 35 Factories and Mills, Factories and Mills Vol.2, Factories and Mills File 2.1, 2. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection, William L. McDonald Collection, “Hotel Negley,” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-46.
Late Nineteenth-Early Twenty-First Century
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 of Tears, and was in the middle of Civil War related events such as the burning of the town. The Edith Newman Culver Museum was dedicated on October 14, 1995.
http://www.visitflorenceal.com/things_to_do/edith-newman-culver-memorial-museum/ http://waterloo.alabama.com/attraction_details.html?detailsListingId=ATTRACTIONS_3c4f68f11454ce067fcf44a2a2da0ef2 Image courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
Milner’s Drug Store was an important part of the downtown Florence area stretching back before the Civil War. The founder of Milner’s Drug Store, Joseph Milner, was an adventurous man who made his home in Florence in 1852 after returning from the California gold rush. Joseph Milner was a descendant of immigrants from Yorkshire, England who moved to Florence in the early nineteenth century. With the money he made from his gold prospecting, Milner bought out Barton’s Grocery Store at 104 North Court Street and established Milner’s Drug Store in 1853. The store was well received in Florence and became highly successful. Milner’s Drugs Store was especially popular with the rural farming community of Florence because Milner was trusted to provide them with a medicinal remedies for their aches and pains as doctors were hard to come by in 1850s Florence. During the pre-war years of the 1850s, Milner’s thrived. Milner had a reputation as an excellent bookkeeper and store clerk and was trusted to keep the people of Florence’s accounts up to date. In his store, he sold turpentine, paints, window glass, whiskey and ale barrels, and other dry goods in addition to the elixirs and medicines he sold as an apothecary. Milner’s was like most stores of the nineteenth century because he sold a bit of everything. Milner’s Drug Store had a reputation as a social center as well, news, politics, and gossip could be exchanged amongst the towns folk of the area in the store. Saturday was the special day for Milner’s and the people of Florence. Saturday was generally the day that all the rural farmers would travel to Florence to buy and sell goods, so the men and women of Lauderdale County would catch up on all of the week’s news. Former governors and mayors would come to Milner’s to sit, chat, and smoke a cigar, and others would arrive to just talk politics, amongst other topics, at the popular Milner’s Drug Store. Since Milner’s was a drug store of course it had plenty of snake oil remedies, elixirs, and medicines ready for the buying customer. In an era when medicine was not advanced, Milner’s carried a multitude of patented medicines for the patients of Lauderdale County. He carried opiates, herbs, tonics, and bitters for use by customers. But as nineteenth century medicine goes, Milner’s Drug Store was like many others of the same era, filled with ineffective remedies for customers whose illnesses could not be cured with the cure-all solutions provided in a nineteenth century drug store. Milner’s Drug Store was family owned and operated through the early part of the twentieth century, but was sold by the family in the 1960s. Today, Milner’s Drug Store exists as Milner-Rushing Discount Drugs in locations throughout Florence. Milner’s moved from Court Street during the 1960s to Sweetwater, leaving the home it had on Court Street for over one hundred years.
Text Sources: Mims, Jobyna. “An Ante-Bellum Drug Store.” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 2 (1974):. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Milner's Drug Store.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-20.
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 Arts in Florence. Three houses were donated to the city of Florence for this purpose by Reverend Hiram Kennedy-Douglass, whose will stipulated the arrangement. The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the arts takes an active part in the community by promoting the arts and educating the public. The Center sponsors a festival called Arts Alive that is held in Wilson Park at Florence, Alabama and at the Center each year.
www.florencal.org Images courtesy of Kayla Scott
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 financial power broker in the industrial boom in Florence. Elting spent many years in Florence, eventually becoming the president of twenty-four businesses. Elting was an ambitious entrepreneur investing in a multitude of businesses in Florence while accumulating a massive amount of wealth. He and his wife, Annie Van Sickler, did not have any children, thus they left almost all of their estate to the First Presbyterian Church of Florence where the two were devout members of the congregation. When the First National Bank was founded in 1889, Elting partnered with Colonel Robert L. Bliss, who already owned a dry goods business, to form the First National Bank. Colonel Bliss was the first President of the bank; whereas, Nial C. Elting was the first cashier of the bank in 1889. When founded by Elting and Bliss, they had a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Elting was an intelligent banker and did not make poor investments with the money he loaned out from the bank, because of his ability to judge proper character in loaning money from the bank, he was able to survive the economic depression of the 1890s in Florence. The original home of the First National Bank was in the Bliss Building in downtown Florence on the corner of Court and Tennessee Street. Then, in 1919, First National Bank moved from the Bliss Building to the corner of Mobile and Court street after building a new bank site. The First National Bank remained at the 1919 location before branching out into the community with new satellite branches in the 1950s. By 1983, The First National Bank was renamed The First National Bank of Florence. In 1985, The First National Bank of Florence moved to the multi-story building located at 201 South Court Street. In 1995, The First National Bank of Florence was renamed SunTrust Bank, Alabama, and became an independent bank associated with the SunTrust Bank organization out of Atlanta, Georgia. By 2000, SunTrust bought the independent branch of SunTrust Bank, Alabama, and merged it into its national organization of banks, therefore ending the First National Bank as an independent entity in downtown Florence.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. “First National Bank Was Organized 1889.” The Florence Herald, 1968, 20, sesquicentennial edition. “Florence As She Is.” The Florence Times, 1903. “Florence Main Branch.” last updated January, 2000. National Information Center. http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/InstitutionHistory.aspx?parID_RSSD=623137&parDT_END=99991231. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “First National Bank.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Downtown Business, 12-53.
Late Nineteenth Century-Early Twenty-First Century
The Lamar Furniture building in downtown Florence has a unique past considering it once held the old Florence Hotel and was the meeting place of the civic group the Knights of Pythias. The Lamar Furniture building’s location was on Court Street in downtown Florence. In 1944, Henry and Edna Lamar bought the building where Lamar Furniture was established from the Knights of Pythias. What led to the discovery for the Lamar’s that the building was a former hotel was the unearthing of sixteen fireplace hearths hidden under layers of walls in 1944. The sixteen fire hearths were indicative of a building that once housed tenants or guests. The Lamar family had a dream to open a furniture company and did so by 1945 once World War II ended and building materials were freely available again. The wife of Henry Lamar, Mrs. Edna Lamar, was the registrar at Florence State Teachers College in the 1930s. Henry Lamar was originally from New Orleans, but the couple liked Florence and did not want to leave the area. Thus, they decided to open Lamar Furniture in downtown Florence. The Lamar Furniture store was an example of modern design in downtown Florence. The store was the first to be fully air-conditioned and electrically heated in downtown Florence. The Lamar Furniture store is believed to be the first store to have an electric-eye door within Alabama. The building had experimental materials from the R.J. Reynolds Metals Company in the interior to coincide with the modern amenities of the store. And the front of the building was covered in black vitrolite, which matched the Art Deco sign. By 1976, Lamar Furniture was no more.
Text Sources: Maness, Maurine. “A History of Lamar Furniture Building, Florence, Alabama.” Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 6 (1978): 121-126. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Lamar Furniture.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-23.
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 was the president of W.B. Wood Furnace Company, the Charcoal & Chemical Company, the Florence, Tuscaloosa & Montgomery Railroad Company, the Florence & Chicago Railroad Company, and Secretary of the Alabama Improvement Company, so he was a true mover and shaker for Florence. The Florence Land, Mining, and Manufacturing Company had the Florence Hotel built in 1887-1888. The hotel was the first in the area to introduce both electricity and the telephone in 1888. On March 3, 1888, the Florence Hotel was successfully lighted and the next night at the Leap Year Ball, the Florence Hotel became the center of the social world for Florence. In November of 1888, Charles M. Brandon, founding member of the Cherry Cotton Mill, bought the lease for the Florence Hotel from the Florence Land, Mining, and Manufacturing Company until 1891. However, his lease was prematurely terminated in 1890 for reasons unknown. By 1904, the Florence Hotel had changed hands a few different times until A.D. Bellamy of the Florence Wagon Works bought the hotel and used it for the Florence Vehicle Company. Reports of the number of rooms the Florence Hotel vary, but the largest number seems to be 29 guest rooms for the Hotel. In 1909 or 1910, the Florence Hotel served as the temporary home of Rogers Surprise Store after Rogers experienced a devastating fire to their retail building on Court Street. In addition to serving Rogers, it also served the new owner of the Florence Wagon Works, John T. Ashcraft as an office building and suites for the Wagon Works executives. After the 1910s, the Florence Hotel building became strictly used for business, thus ending the life of the Florence Hotel.
Text Sources: Maness, Maurine. “A History of Lamar Furniture Building, Florence, Alabama.” Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. 6 (1978): 121-126. Picture Sources: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Florence Hotel.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-23.
Late Nineteenth Century-Early Twentieth Century
One of the most talented wood craftsman in northwest Alabama is Robin Wade. His furniture studio in Lexington, Alabama, produces organic “American” wood furniture. Wade attended the University of North Alabama as a young man, and started his wood furniture business during the mid-2000s at the age of forty-nine. His approach to furniture making is not based on money, but instead “is a celebration of nature.” Wade’s process is unique. All of the wood that Wade uses is local Alabama wood that has fallen because of either natural causes or human intervention. His crew is on standby to pick up trees and logs and once the wood has been brought back to the shop it goes through a slow studio process, which can take up to three years. Wade allows for the wood to keep its natural beauty. He frequently donates pieces of wood to local businesses and organizations in the Florence area. For example, the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House, Florence Lauderdale Public Library, and the Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Office building all have a donated piece of wood furniture.
Text: Bobby Bozeman, “Local Craftsman Turn Discarded Wood into Works of Art, Functional Furniture,” Times Daily, August 11, 2013. Robin Wade Furnture, “Welcome,” http://robinwadefurniture.com/#welcome-to-rwf (accessed May 1, 2015). Robin Wade Furniture, “About Us,” http://robinwadefurniture.com/about-us/#about-rw (accessed May 1, 2015). Robin Wade Furniture, “Our Store,” http://robinwadefurniture.com/ourstore/ (accessed May 1, 2015).
The R.M. Patton School became one of the first elementary schools in Florence when it was built in 1891. The school was named for Governor Robert Miller Patton after his instrumental work in the passing of the Public School act of 1954.
Claire Eagle, University of North Alabama
William Lindsey McDonald, A Walk Through The Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama. (Bluewater Publications, 2003), 83-84.
The Kiddy Hotel/House was the primary hotel for the Sweetwater area of east Florence at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The proprietors of the Kiddy Hotel were the husband and wife couple of James and Harriet Adair Kiddy. The Kiddy Hotel sat atop the East Hill in Sweetwater when the area became the center of the industrial boom in Florence. Before the hotel was on East Hill, it was on Aetna Street within a short distance of the Central Baptist Church in east Florence. After moving the Kiddy Hotel to East Hill, the hostelry was near Blair, Connor, and Cole Streets in east Florence. Shortly after moving the Kiddy Hotel to East Hill, the Kiddy’s sold the property to the Beckman family of the Florence area. During the years of operation for the Kiddy Hotel, Harriet Kiddy was well known for her cooking ability. Colloquially deemed “Aunt Harriet’s” cooking, she made from scratch beaten biscuits for breakfast and buttermilk custard for supper for the guests of the hotel. Her hotel cooking gained her local acclaim as a wonderful cook, to the point where traveling businessman through Florence would stay at her hotel just for her cooking. An interesting fact for the hotel is that the kitchen was in the cellar of the multi-story hotel, so Aunt Harriet would use a hand-operated dumb waiter to deliver the food to the guests in the dining room on the first floor.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. McDonald, William Lindsey. "Sweetwater: The Story of East Florence." Florence: Florence Historical Board, 1989. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Kiddy Hotel/House.” Florence, Alabama, Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-03.
National Register of Historic Places; Florence, AL; Lauderdale County, AL; Industry
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 during World War I. The company manufactured and sold other models as well as parts. The company directly employed 175 employees, both white and African American. The Works was said to pay its employees over $100,000 a year and indirectly affected the local economy by as much as $300, 000 a year. Demand for wagons dropped dramatically with the mass production of cars and trucks and the business closed in 1941 leaving the building to slowly deteriorate. Currently only ruins exist where once a thriving industry prospered. Only stonewalls, foundations, and a railroad trestle remain but due to a progression of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps the original configuration of factories, mills and warehouses is known. The site is significant for what the archeological remains may tell us about Florence’s industrial past. The site was placed on the National Register in 1996 and the nomination includes relevant area Sanborn maps. The site is currently owned by TVA.
Missy Brown, University of North Alabama
Ford, Gene A. National Register Nomination “Florence Wagon Works Site” (#96000596) (6/13/96).
The Jefferson Hotel was a massive building for turn of the twentieth century Florence. At three-stories it was a towering downtown business. The Jefferson Hotel opened up for business in 1902 just a short distance away from the Lauderdale County Courthouse. Before the Jefferson Hotel occupied the three-story building, the City of Florence used the building as its city hall for a short period of time. The Jefferson Hotel was located at Court Street and Tennessee Street in downtown Florence. The Jefferson Hotel met a need for Florence in 1902 because the city did not have a large hotel on the scale of the Jefferson at the end of the nineteenth century. The patrons of the Jefferson stayed at a hotel that had furniture of antique oak finish with metal beds that had perfection mattresses and downy pillows for the customers to sleep on at night. In all, the furnishings for the fifty room hotel cost over eleven thousand dollars. The Jefferson Hotel lasted until the early 1920s before the building was destroyed by fire. The modern Hotel Negley was built on the site.
Text Sources: Hamm, Jane Johnson. "Florence Wagons 1889-2002 History & More." Florence, Ala.: Privately Published, 2002. Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. “Florence As She Is." The Florence Times. 1903. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Jefferson Hotel.” Florence, Alabama, Box 13: Downtown Business, 13-9.
Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House ; Florence, AL; Lauderdale County, AL; Museums
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 owners of the house until 1999. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Rosenbaum House using the Usonian architectural style. The house was designed to blend with and rise from the landscape, and features carports, flat roofs, overhanging eaves and a concrete floor. The home is constructed from cypress, glass, and brick. Wright designed a 1,540 square feet floor plan. Storage space was a key component, and every inch of the house was meant to be used to the fullest extent. The kitchen is a tiny workspace that allows for standing room only. There were numerous problems with the home’s construction. The chimneys were not ventilated properly. The flat roofs did not drain, so water leaked in. Despite these problems, an addition was added in 1946-1948, with Wright designing the plans. The addition added an additional 1,084 square feet, adding two wings to the house and enlarging the kitchen. A second carport was also added at this time. The Rosenbaum House was purchased by the city of Florence in 1999 for the sum of $75,000. Termite and water damage had caused extensive structural problems over the years, requiring between $600,000 and $700,000 of renovations. The house now serves as a museum and is open for tours each week Tuesday through Sunday.
www.florenceal.org Ben Berntson, “Rosenbaum House Museum,” Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopdiaofalabama.org/article/h-2397#sthash.Ja3m6yMb.dpuf Image courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
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 to fund his education. Lindsey briefly attended Walker Junior College in Jasper, Alabama and Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, before attending Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama) on a football scholarship. Lindsey majored in biological science and physical education. He received his degree in 1952. Following his graduation from UNA, George joined the Air Force. He was based in Orlando, Florida, and worked as a recreational director while spending his spare time working in theater. Lindsey next worked at Hazel Green High School in Alabama. After a year of teaching, George decided to move to New York to pursue further education in acting. Lindsey’s first career breaks came with theater and his part in two plays: All American and Wonderful Town. After the plays ended he managed to land small roles on shows such as The Rifleman. Lindsey was most famous for a part of Goober that he landed on the Andy Griffith Show. He later played Goober on Mayberry R.F.D. and Hee Haw as well. UNA awarded Lindsey an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in 1992. Lindsey was instrumental in founding the George Lindsey/UNA Television and Film Festival in 1998. Lindsey attended the festival for several years before his death on May 6, 2012. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper, Alabama.
“George Lindsey-Biography” https://www.una.edu/library/collections/george-lindsey---biography.html Cindy Watts, The Tennessean, “George Lindsey, aka Goober Pyle, dies at 83.” http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/story/2012-05-06/goober-pyle-george-lindsey-obit/54787304/1 Images courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
The statue of a Confederate Soldier stands in front of the Lauderdale County Courthouse on Court Street. It was placed in its current location in 1902 when the new courthouse was finished.
The Hotel Reeder was a staple of downtown Florence during the early twentieth century. The location of the Hotel Reeder was on Tennessee Street, and the hotel was so large that it covered an entire block. The three-story brick building had a European-style café for the guests. The Hotel Reeder was so large that it tended to dwarf some of the smaller structures located close to the building. The Hotel Reeder had 97 total rooms for guests in the main building, with 27 adjoining rooms in an annex. The Hotel Reeder originally had the “new building,” which served as the hotel, whereas the "old building" served as a livery where mules would be penned, bought, and sold on the upper floor of the older building. When the livery industry became an obsolete trade the mule pen closed, and the old building became a boarding house and a scrap iron business. Eventually the boarding house and the scrap iron business closed and the building was absorbed by the Hotel Reeder. The building was a part of the hotel until its closure in 1967. During the 1920s through the 1940s the Hotel Reeder was the prestigious hotel in Florence, housing the headquarters of the Democrats in Florence. Many congressional representatives and dignitaries stayed as guests at the hotel. Probably the most famous of these dignitaries were the staff of President Franklin Roosevelt when he came to visit Florence and Wilson Dam in the early 1930s. Other famous visitors included the singers, actors, and actresses of the musicals, plays, and operas that visited the Princess Theatre in downtown Florence- since the Hotel Reeder was across the street from the entertainment venue. Even fox hunting conventions were held at the Hotel Reeder, and the participants would stay at the hotel, wake up very early, and travel to Rogersville to release the hounds and hunt foxes. On in to the 1940s the Hotel Reeder would have many soldiers and their families as guests of the hotel because of the Courtland Air Base in the area during World War II. Unfortunately, after World War II, the Hotel Reeder became less and less popular until the doors of the hotel closed in 1967.
Text Sources: Hamm, Jane Johnson. "Florence Wagons 1889-2002 History & More." Florence, Ala.: Privately Published, 2002. Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Florence/Lauderdale Public Library. Vertical History File. Florence, Lauderdale County, Historic Buildings, Reeder Hotel. “End Of An Area: Reeder Hotel Closing.” The Florence Times. October 11, 1967. Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama, File 2-3. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Hotel Reeder.” Florence, Alabama, Box 13: Downtown Businesses, 13-22.
Early Twentieth Century-Mid Twentieth Century
Sweetwater Plantation (Governor Robert M. Patton House)
National Register of Historic Places ; Political History; Architecture
The 1976 National Register nomination of the Robert M. Patton house states that the property is significant in terms of architecture as a classic example of a North Alabama Georgian plantation house, and for political history as the home of the first elected governor of Alabama after the Civil War. The house also known as Sweetwater Plantation originally sat on 4,000 acres with elaborate landscaped grounds surrounding the house. The two story brick house is the common double pile plan, four rooms divided by a wide central hall on each floor. Small room alterations have been made including a kitchen, side entrance, and second floor bathrooms. The exterior massing is a symmetrical rectangle with simple Georgian detailing seen most clearly in the low hipped roof, one story porch detailing, and ornamental delicate sidelights and transom surrounding the double front doors. The owner Robert M. Patton inherited the partially built house from his father-in-law and completed the house in 1835. Patton served in the Alabama legislature almost continuously from 1837 until the Civil War. He represented Lauderdale County at the State Conference and the Charleston Convention in 1860, which passed the secession ordinance that started the war. In 1865 he served in the State Constitutional Convention and became governor in 1866 until he was replaced by the Reconstruction government in 1867. Patton was then involved with the railroads and various colleges and universities throughout the South. The house remained in the family at the time of the NR nomination in 1976. The nomination needs to be updated. All information and photos for this Omeka entry are from the NA nomination.
Floyd, W. Warner, National Register Nomination. “Sweetwater Plantation (Governor Robert Patton House)”, (#76000335) (6/17/76).
The Hotel Negley was one of the more modern hotels built in the early twentieth century in downtown Florence. The Hotel Negley was constructed on the empty lot of the former Jefferson Hotel in 1925 after the Jefferson Hotel caught fire in the early 1920s. The Negley Hotel was located at the corners of Pine, Tennessee, and South Court Street. The owner of the hotel was Charles Negley, and he wished to construct a hotel that would encourage future in the city. The Negley, when built in 1925, had the most modern amenities for travelers to the city of Florence. With an investment of over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the hotel, the construction of the modern hotel took six months to complete, beginning in 1924. When the Hotel Negley was opened, it had fifty rooms with private baths and special Simonds steel furniture for the guests to use; in addition, plumbing was in every room and all rooms had both hot and cold water. Also, the Hotel Negley had a café and dining room for the guests to order and eat their food while staying there. The construction of the hotel was bided out to all local construction companies to return the investment of the hotel back to the community and its blue-collar workers. Craw Construction Company and Wiley Plumbing Company were the primary builders and Negley purchased the furniture from Young Furniture Company.
Text Sources: Barske, Carolyn. "Images of America: Florence." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Hamm, Jane Johnson. "Florence Wagons 1889-2002 History & More." Florence, Ala.: Privately Published, 2002. Florence/Lauderdale Public Library. Vertical History File. Florence, Lauderdale County, Historic Buildings, Hotel Negley. “Hotel Negley, New, Modern, Opens For Business May 1st.” The Florence Times. April 24, 1925, Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Hotel Negley.” Florence, Alabama. Box 13: Downtown Business, 13-37.
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 rank of Army Reserve Colonel. McDonald was both a World War II and Korean War veteran. His army reserve career included sixteen years as a staff member at the Pentagon. McDonald served thirty-eight years with the Tennessee Valley National Fertilizer Development Center. In addition, McDonald spent thirty-eight years as a Methodist preacher in Colbert and Lauderdale Counties. Mr. McDonald graduated from Florence State Teacher’s College in 1952. He was also a graduate of the Military Police School, the Army’s Command and General Staff College, the Army Finance School, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. His education also included seminary training. McDonald served as Chairman of the Florence Historical Board from 1968 to 1989. He was designated the City Historian in 1989. He had a historical column in the Times Daily for many years, and was a frequent contributor to the Tennessee Valley Historical Quarterly journal. During his lifetime, McDonald wrote over fourteen books on Muscle Shoals area history. McDonald passed away in 2009.
William Lindsey McDonald, A Walk Through The Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama. (Bluewater Publications, 2003), ii. Image Courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives Jill K. Garret, History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 1964, 214.
T.S. Stribling graduated from State Normal College in 1903. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Due to his significance to UNA and the literary world he earned UNA the first Literary Landmark in the state in 2006.
T.S. Stribling Literary Landmark file, University of North Alabama Archives and Special Collections,
Hill Auto Company, located on the southwest side of the traffic circle at Royal Avenue and Huntsville Road, is believed to be the second filling and service station built in Florence. The owner of the service station, Fred Hill, also ran the Hill Cab Company from the service station for the people of Florence. Also known as Hill’s Woco Pep Station, the station faced competition from two other automobile services right in that traffic circle area: the Oil Well service station and the Doc Phillips auto repair shop. The Hill family originated in Germany and Fred Hill’s father, Augustus Henry Hill immigrated to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, when Augustus was a young boy. Augustus Hill is said to be the first plumber ever in the city of Florence. During the Great Depression, the Hill family, especially Augustus, had financial problems because the city of Florence could not pay money owed to the elder Hill. As a result, he lost a row of property and turned to barbering as a means of a new income. According to the Hill family, Augustus and Rube Martin, who owned a grocery store next door, are believed to be the first white barbers in Florence. Fred Hill owned and operated the Hill Auto Company, the Hill Cab Company, and was an automobile dealer for Oakland Motor Car Company. Without a doubt, the Hill family was an important part of the automobile servicer business in Florence at Sweetwater.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Hill Auto Company.” Florence, Alabama. Box 13: Downtown Business, 13-41.
National Register of Historic Places Social History Architecture
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 tell us about architecture and more importantly about the social history of the affluent planter lifestyle, in particular that of the owner, planter, and politician James Jackson. The basic core of the house was a two story frame double pile plan much like others of its time period except for the central hall. The central hall at Forks of Cypress was divided into an entrance hall and a rear stair hall. The porch, however, is a different story and is now is all that remains to tell that story. The peristyle porch with 24 two story columns stretched completely around the house. This is the first documented house in Alabama to be so constructed before the war and one of the earliest nationwide outside the lower Mississippi valley. In the lower Mississippi valley peristyle porches were designed as living spaces with the columns supporting second story galleries that ringed the house and provided access to the rooms that opened on to the galleries. The peristyle porch at Forks of Cypress was designed to impress. Though the porch did provide sheltered gathering space and shade from the Alabama sun, the monumental nature of the brick columns with Ionic capitals that matched those on the new State Capitol building were a statement to the wealth and status of the inhabitants of the house. The architect of the house is reported to be William Nichols, State Architect of Alabama and designer of the new Capitol. James Jackson, native of Ireland, was an early investor in the Cypress Creek Land Company that founded Florence. He along with others including John Coffee made up a local elite in the Lauderdale County area. Jackson was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives and the Senate during the 1820s and 30s. He was also a successful businessman and plantation owner raising thoroughbred race horses. He was rumored to be the richest man in the county upon his death. The 1997 NR nomination for Forks of Cypress is extensive and provides a wealth of information about the house, James Jackson, and the history of Lauderdale County. The nomination also includes drawings from the 1935 WPA Historic American Building Survey inventory of the house (#AL-375). Farris, Johnathan A. National Register Nomination, “Forks of Cypress” (#97001166) (10/10/97).
National Register nomination (#97001166)
Early Baptists settlers in Waterloo, Alabama, met in a two-story log meeting house. This building was erected in 1845. The structure was 40 x 60 feet. During the week, children in the Waterloo community attended school in the church’s main floor, while the upper floor acted as a fraternal lodge. However, the church building was destroyed during the Civil War. Under the command of General James Harrison Wilson, the Union Cavalry dismantled the Baptists church. One Waterloo citizen, John W. Till, recalled that he “saw a part of the soldiers of a Michigan Regiment tearing down the church” and they used the materials from the church and “built out of them their quarters.” As a result of the destruction of the church, during the 1870s and 1880s the church’s congregation had to hold services in various homes in the Waterloo community. In 1904, the congregation’s minister, Reverend W. J. Webb, testified that the church building was completely destroyed and probably worth only one thousand dollars. As a result, the Trustees of the Church decided to sue the United States for a total of one thousand dollars for the account of damages by the Union forces. The court rewarded the congregation with six hundred and fifteen dollars. Today, the congregation continues to thrive.
Text: William Lindsey McDonald, “The Waterloo Baptist Church and The Missionary,” located in in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection-Vol. 7: Other Denominations-Baptist, Churches 7.1” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal Of Muscle Shoals Vol. X (1983), 86.
Methodist settlers first entered the northwest region of Alabama during the early 1800s during the Second Great Awakening. The lot of land that Tabernacle Methodist Church sits on was used for religious camp meetings during the Second Great Awakening. The church itself was not erected until the 1830s. An exact of construction date is unknown. The building’s original design was that of a simple log structure. One of the first ministers at Tabernacle Methodist Church was Reverend Henry Hill, who passed away in 1850. The church burned down twice prior to 1869. After the second fire, the congregation built the church building that still stands today. Prominent citizens of Lauderdale County, such as Henry A. Killen, helped furnish and finance the church. Also, in 1874 George Kennedy, who owned the property that the church was located on, gave the congregation legal title to the land. The church building today does not host weekly worship services. Instead, it is used for funerals and memorial services for those buried in the Tabernacle Cemetery.
Text: Jill Knight Garret, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 140. Tennessee Valley Historical Society, “Tabernacle Methodist Church,” Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. X (1983), 146.
Justice John McKinley Federal Building and United States Post Office
The federal building is located at the corner of Seminary and Tombigbee and its address is 210 North Seminary Street, Florence, Alabama. The building is currently named in honor of Alabama’s first Supreme Court Justice, John McKinley. The United States Post Office and Federal Court House was erected from 1912 to 1913 at a cost between $120,000 and $130,000 dollars. The structure was built on property owned by the Florence Female Synodical College and bought by the government for around ten thousand dollars. The architect of the federal building was John Robie Kennedy, Jr., a native of Lauderdale County, with the supervising architect being a local contractor, James Knox Taylor, also of Lauderdale County. The architecture of the structure is a mix of Neo-Classical styles and includes elements of Greek Revival with the Ionic columns and Italianate with the cornices, red Spanish clay hipped roof, and white limestone facade. On the inside, the floors are Cherokee, Georgia marble in twelve-inch squares, the stairs are Alabama marble, and the rails are made of oak with wrought iron balusters. Two additions have been added over the years, one in 1946 and another in 1965, both for the purpose of the post office. Even with the additions, the building is still on the National Register of Historic Places because of the original architecture of the building.
Text Sources: UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Florence, Buildings, U.S. Post Office and Court House. Florence, Alabama. Florence Times, exceprt. UNA Archives & Special Collection. McDonald Collection. Writings, Articles, WLM: Writings 10.24. Florence, Alabama. McDonald, William Lindsey. “The United States Post Office and Courthouse at Florence." Gamble, Robert S. “Historic Muscle Shoals Buildings and Sites: Muscle Shoals Architecture.” editor McDonald, Mary Jane. Journal of Muscle Shoals History, vol. X (1983). Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Florence Federal Building." Florence, Alabama. Box 8: Post Office, 8-1.
Established during the 1830s, the Canaan United Methodist Church is the oldest Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County. Land for the church’s building and cemetery were given by an early settler in the county named Edmond Noel. Established for the rural planters on the bend of the Tennessee River, a tall framed building was constructed. Prior to the Civil War, slaves attended serves with their masters and sat in a designated gallery. The church itself played a role during the Civil War. During the war, soldiers under Union general James Wilson camped nearby and in 1865 Union troops bunked in the church. There was a skirmish between Union and Confederate troops at nearby Gravelly Springs Cemetery, and also a small skirmish took place on the grounds of the church. As a result, bullet holes once peppered the congregation’s pews. However, renovations in the 1970s remodeled the slave gallery and replaced the pews.
Text: William Lindsey McDonald, “Methodist Building in the Area,” in folder “McDonald Collection: The Church Register (Canaan)(Methodist Episcopal), Churches 10.1,” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. “Canaan Methodist Church,”Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal of Muscle Shoals Vol. X, 1983: 91-92. Image: “Canaan Methodist Church,”Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal of Muscle Shoals Vol. X, 1983: 91-92.
National Register of Historic Places; Native American History; Early Settlement; Transportation; National Parkway
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 is now Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi. The trails whenever possible avoided creek and swamp crossings and followed watershed divides. The trails shifted with weather conditions and as population centers changed. The trails appeared on French and British maps in the 1730s and 1770s and were labeled with names such as the Chickasaw Trace and the “Path to the Choctaw Nation”. White trade was documented along the trace as early as 1785. When the Mississippi Territory was formed in 1798 settlers called for improvements to the trace which was authorized by President Jefferson in 1801. Between 1800 and 1830 the Trace was used as a post road and numerous inns and stops were established along the route. Andrew Jackson and his troops traveled the Trace in 1812 to protect New Orleans from a threatened British invasion. In 1938 the National Park Service established the Natchez Trace Parkway extending 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez bypassing this small section of one of the original trails. The Park Service interprets the Trace for its significance to Native American history, European settlement, transportation, commerce, military history and local flora and fauna. The National Register nomination for this small section of the Trace, less than one acre, was written in 1976 and like most nominations from that time period could be improved by additional research. All information and photos for this Omeka entry were taken from the nomination.
Cox, William E. National Register Nomination. “Old Natchez Trace (no. 310-2A)” (#76000156) (11/7/76).
On May 22, 1852, the Liberty Baptist Church congregation organized the oldest existing Baptist congregation in Lauderdale County. In fact, it was the only Baptist church erected in the county until the First Baptist Church of Florence was built over thirty years later in 1888. According to church records, during its first few years the church’s membership was approximately fifty people. These members constructed a white wooden sanctuary in which the congregation held service until the 1890s. The original wooden building had two doors—one for the men and one for the women. Also, the seating in the sanctuary was segregated by sexes. In the same year as its charter (1852), the congregation became a part of the Indian Creek Association and started Baptist missions in the surrounding area. During the beginning of the Civil War the church had a total of one hundred and twenty-eight members. However, due to the war, services were discontinued from 1863 to 1865. Shortly following the war, the first Sunday School was organized in 1877. The present day church building was constructed in 1892 when the congregation built a brick structure to take the place of the original wooden building.
Text: Lorene Frederick, “Church History Actually History of Community: Liberty Baptist Pastor Compiles Interesting Record of Both Church and The District,” Florence Times, April 22, 1960, located in in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection-Vol. 7: Other Denominations-Baptist, Churches 7.1” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama
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 were pillars of the Florence community in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Florence Times did not become the predominant newspaper in Lauderdale County until the twentieth century. In 1927, a man from Gadsden, Alabama named J.L. Meeks, Sr., after he sold his newspaper in Gadsden purchased The Florence Times from the O’Neal family. A story exists about J.L. Meeks that he had the same kind of open top car as a famous madam in Florence. Little did Meeks know that when he drove down the street that the reason why people would wave and grin at him was not to welcome him to Florence, but to make fun of his lack of knowledge about the preeminent madam in Florence and her car. In addition to owning The Florence Times, Meeks also owned the Tri-Cities Daily based out of Colbert County. In the 1940s, Meeks passed away and the ownership of the papers went to his son, J.L. Meeks, Jr. In the early 1960s, Meeks, Jr., sold The Florence Times to Worrell Newspapers, Inc. About twenty years later in 1982, The New York Times purchased The Florence Times from Worrell Newspapers, Inc. And the publisher at the time, Guy Hankins, changed the name of the paper to the Times-Daily, the newspaper Lauderdale County knows today. The Florence Times was on Court Street for many years during the early to mid-twentieth century before moving to West Tennessee Street where it stands today.
Text Sources: Wade, Gerald compiler. "Facts, Folks, Residents and Rascals: A Tourist Guide & Visitors’ Handbook to the Shoals Area." Florence, Ala.: Cypress Creek Publishing, 1990. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “Florence Times.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-51.
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 member of the Alabama State Legislature and served several terms between that time and the onset of the Civil War. He married Jane Locke Brahan the same year, and they made their home at Sweetwater. He and his wife had eight children, two of which died in the Civil War. One of these, William Anderson Patton, was killed at the Battle of Shiloh. Robert Patton became the first president of the Florence Synodical Female College in 1855. In 1865, Patton became Alabama’s twentieth governor. Federal authorities removed him from office in July 1867 by military order because his actions in office did not suit the stringent federal authorities. Following his term in office, Patton worked to establish railroads in the South and served on the University of Alabama’s Board of Trustees. Patton passed away in 1885.
William Lindsey McDonald, A Walk Through The Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama. (Bluewater Publications, 2003), 48-49. Jill K. Garret, History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 1964, 217. Image courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives
National Register of Historic Places Usonian Architecture Jewish History Museum
National Register property – Rosenbaum House The Rosenbaum house was built for Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum in 1940 from a late 1930s Usonian design by Frank Lloyd Wright, the only house designed by Wright in the state of Alabama. Usonian houses were designed as an affordable home for the everyday man. The design for the Usonian house was much smaller than most of Wright’s residential plans and were able to be altered for different settings. In keeping with Wright’s ideals the house is strongly horizontal with deliberate blank walls facing the street and large open windows towards the private family spaces to the rear of the house. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a large addition for the growing Rosenbaum family in 1948. This was the only addition Wright designed for a Usonian house. The house was restored by the Talisen Foundation in 1966. The house remained in the Rosenbaum family until 1999 when it became a city of Florence museum. This property is well known and well documented and is a significant part of Florence’s architectural heritage. The 1978 NR nomination is quite brief and could benefit from additional documentation and research. All information and photographs for this Omeka entry are from the National Register nomination. Rosembaum, Stanley ; Mildred Rosenbaum; and Ellen Mertins. National Register Nomination, “Rosenbaum House” (#78000492) (12/18/78).
National Register Nomination (#78000492)
The Center Star Methodist Church congregation is the oldest Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County. Throughout its history the congregation has moved over five times. Its origins began in 1818, when the Methodist Richland Circuit of Giles County, Tennessee, extended across the Tennessee line into Lauderdale County, Alabama. One resident who lived in Lauderdale County at the time, Reverend Wesley Smith, wrote in a letter: “About the year 1819, my family moved from Tennessee to Lauderdale County, Alabama, and settled on Blue Water Creek. We had not been there long until the ‘circuit-rider’ found his cabin and soon made it a preaching place. I well remember the old cabin with dirt floor and two split-long benches that were used to seat the little congregation of backwoods worshipers.” Two early preachers were G. D. Taylor and J. Boucher. In 1823 the name of this congregation became Driskell Chapel Methodist Church, named after its Reverend Ambrose F. Driskell. Also during 1823, the congregation met in the old Trousdale home in Center Star, Alabama. The congregation kept the name, Driskell Chapel Methodist Church until 1893. During 1893 the congregation relocated approximately one mile east, where the church sits today. When it moved, the church changed its name to Center Star Methodist.
Text: “Center Star Methodist Church,” Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. X (1983): 147. Jill Knight Garrett, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 144
The Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company is another company that the Ashcraft family of Florence either owned or had a stake in. In 1897, a year before he founded the Florence Cotton Oil Company, Lee Ashcraft founded and incorporated the Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company. At the time of incorporation, the Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company had an initial capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, before increasing to one hundred thousand by 1903. The Fertilizer Company was well known for making custom-made guano fertilizers for customers if the fertilizers were needed for a special purpose. Some of the various guano fertilizers they produced were named King Cotton Grower, Three Link, Ashcraft Special, Cotton Seed Meal and Bone, Tiger Cotton Grower, Tiger Guano, Tiger Potash Guano, and Blood and Bone. The factory’s location was on Cherry Street in Sweetwater. On the first day of operation, Lee Ashcraft and an unnamed helper produced eleven bags of fertilizer together. From 1897 to 1904, Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company under Ashcraft produced nineteen different fertilizers at 15,000 tons annually. Lee Ashcraft owned the Fertilizer Company until 1909 when the International Mineral Corporation (IMC) bought the company from Ashcraft. The Fertilizer Company became the oldest running fertilizer plant for IMC in the country into the early 2000s. As of today, it is still in operation under the name of Agrium, Inc. in the same area of Sweetwater right next to Veterans Drive and the Patton Island Bridge. The original factory for the Fertilizer Company stretches back to before the Civil War when the facility the fertilizer plant occupied was a flouring mill for Florence. Unbelievably, the three-story building that existed in 1897 when Lee Ashcraft began the business was not burned to the ground by Union forces in during the Civil War. So the original Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company factory building could trace its industrial genealogy back to before the Civil War.
Text Sources: McDonald, William Lindsey. "Remembering Sweetwater: The Mansions, The Mills, The People." photos by L.D. Staggs, Jr. Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2002. “Florence As She Is." The Florence Times. 1903. McDonald, William Lindsey. "A Walk Through the Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama." Killen, Ala., Bluewater Publications, 2003. Picture Source: UNA Archives & Special Collection. William L. McDonald Collection. “The Tennessee Valley Fertilizer Company.” Florence, Alabama. Box 12: Florence Industry, 12-39.
The Mars Hill Church of Christ, established in 1871, is one of twenty-nine Churches of Christ in Florence. The Church of Christ denomination emerged out of the American Restoration Movement, a movement to reestablish America’s Christianity on the teachings of the New Testament, which lasted from 1801 to 1906. Restoration followers were known as Stoneites and Campbellites, named after the two prominent leaders of the movement, Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. Congregations set up by followers of Campbell called themselves Disciples of Christ, while those established by Stoneites were called Churches of Christ. The beliefs of the Restoration Movement made their way into the Shoals during the 1820s and 1830s through efforts of Restoration ministers, who ultimately shaped the religious culture in the region. The first two Restoration ministers to enter the Shoals were Ephraim D. Moore and James Evans Matthews. Moore, born in North Carolina in 1782, converted after he read and heard about Alexander Campbell’s teachings. Moore settled near Florence, Alabama, in 1823 and established the first Restoration church in the Shoals, known as the Republican Congregation. However, three years after its founding the congregation still had only ten members. In 1826, James Matthews, a Kentucky Christian minister, moved to Florence and helped Moore spread the movement. In the fall of 1827, Moore wrote to Barton Stone of the success he and Matthews had in growing converts in the Shoals region. Recounting a week-long camp which resulted in forty Shoals’ residents professing their faith in Christ, Moore reassured Stone that “the good work is moving on in almost every direction.” However, the Restoration Movement in the Shoals did not take place without opposition. Baptists and Presbyterians entered the Shoals during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and did not approve of the activists’ efforts. For example, in 1830 the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association printed a resolution that defined the Restoration Movement as a “divine operation of the Holy Spirit either disavowed or so obscurely avowed, as to amount to disavowal. We see experimental religion ridiculed and reprobated.” The resolution criticized the efforts of Stone and Campbell’s disciples as “effort(s) by man to pull down the old order of faith and practice taught by our Lord and His apostles, and establish on their ruins a new order.” After converting to a Restoration church, William Henry Wharton of Tuscumbia was “discarded…opposed, calumniated, misrepresented, abused, denied entrance into houses consecrated to the worship of the only living and true God” because of his support for Reformation ideology. In addition to the vocal opposition from various denominations, in his article “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1866-1880,” Shoals historian Wayne Kilpatrick argued that the Civil War ultimately hindered the Restoration Movement in the Shoals region. Kilpatrick claimed that many churches in the Shoals, including Restoration congregations, experienced a drop in membership during the war, which Kilpatrick defined as the “silent years” of the Restoration Movement. Nevertheless, the silent years in the Shoals ended with the arrival of Theophilus Brown Larimore in 1868. T. B. Larimore was born on July 10, 1843, in Jefferson County, Tennessee, where he grew up fatherless and in poverty. Despite these challenges, Larimore enrolled in Mossey Creek Baptist College (present day Carson Newman University), a theological institution, at the age of sixteen. During his time at in college he did not experience a spiritual conversion. As a result of his lack of personal experience with religion while in college, when the war began Larimore enlisted in the Confederate army and served as a scout in the Company B of the 5th Tennessee Cavalry. After serving in the war, Larimore became a member of a Restoration church in 1864, and thereafter, the church became the center of his life. Shortly after becoming a member of a Restoration church, he taught theology at Franklin College in Nashville, Tennessee, for two years, and accepted a position as a teacher at Mountain Home Academy, a Restoration institution located in Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1868. Larimore’s early efforts to expand the Restoration Movement in the northwest region of Alabama, however, did not succeed. For example, as Larimore remembered, the congregation at Hopewell Church located in Lauderdale County, “let me try to preach once, and were so well pleased with that ‘sarmint’ that they let me off—suddenly!” Also in 1868, Larimore married Julia Esther Gresham, who had inherited twenty-nine acres in Lauderdale County from her family. On this land, Larimore established Mars Hill Church of Christ. Larimore and others purchased land for a new building and in 1904 a new structure was built. The congregation continued to worship in this building until the current building was completed in 1969. In addition to Larimore, some prominent ministers of Mars Hill Church of Christ were Paul Simon, Robert Walker, and Kenneth Davis.
Text: Wayne Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. xi (1986), 32-34. Barton Stone, The Christian Messenger Vol.2, no. 1, 16-17. Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” 36. Wayne Kilpatrick, “ History of the Church of Christ in Lauderdale County, 1866-1880,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. xi (1986), 67-85. Lee Freeman, “A Brief Study of the Life of Elder Theophilus Brown Larimore “, in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection: Other Denomination-Church of Christ,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Frank Richey, “T. B. Larimore—The Preacher,” The Alabama Restoration Journal Vol. 4, no. 2 (April, 2010), 3. Bill McDonald, “Story of Mars Hill’s first lady,” Time Daily, October 12, 2003, in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection: Other Denomination-Church of Christ,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Mars Hill Church of Christ, “A Brief History,” Mars Hill Church of Christ, http://marshillcc.org/a-breif-history.html (accessed May 1, 2015).