Rosenbaum Family; Florence, AL; Lauderdale County, AL
Anna Block Rosenbaum, a native of Lithuania, was born on April 8, 1889, and was brought to the United States at the age of six months. She married Louis Rosenbaum in 1910 and they had one son, Stanley. After living in Denver, Colorado, Casper, Wyoming, and Little Rock, Arkansas, the family moved to Florence, Alabama during the Wilson Dam Boom. Louis opened The Princess Theatre in 1919. Mrs. Rosenbaum, along with her husband, were active in Temple B'nai Israel. They were part of a drive to support the new State of Israel through the purchase of bonds. The couple accompanied Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his wife when they came to tour TVA. She, along with the Sisterhood of the Temple sent clothing and food packages to its citizens. The Sisterhood also involved in helping the victims of Nazi persecution through the adoption of war orphans. Anna Rosenbaum died on August 9th, 1975.
Pam Kingsbury, University of North Alabama
Coleman, Erwin M., A History of Temple B'nai Israel, Florence, Alabama, Centennial Celebration, 1906-2006, Private Printing. Florence, Alabama. 2006
Photograph courtesy of the Archives, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Religion, Islam, Calhoun County, Anniston
The Anniston Islamic Center (AIC) is a non-profit organization that serves the Islamic educational and social needs of Muslims on Northeast Alabama. The mission of the AIC is to promote brotherhood, peace, and family values in the Muslim community. The center offers five daily prayers, weekly congregational prayers, Quran reading lessons, hadith reading after Isha prayers, weekly halaqa, Ramadan services, and family night gatherings. The center also has other events which are listed on its website. In 2007, the AIC added a Sunday school for ages four to fourteen. The AIC has a list of missions and goals that includes but is not limited to representing and serving the interest of Muslims in Anniston, AL, to promote Islamic principles among Muslim and non-Muslims, to conduct religious, social, cultural, and other activities in the traditions of Islam, and to promote friendly relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. The website for the Anniston Islamic Center is http://annistonic.org/index.php
Annual Historical Fair: Syrup Sopping Saturdays
Lee County, AL; Loachapoka, AL; Festival
Annual festival celebrating local food, music, and crafts. http://www.leecountyhistoricalsociety.org/fair/index.html
Historic Markers; Florence, AL; Lauderdale County, AL
This marker is located on Appleby Blvd. east of Cypress Mill Road, Florence, Alabama. The text on the marker reads: "About one mile west of here is the site of the Globe Cotton Factory which was erected on Cypress Creek in 1840, By 1857 its operations included three cotton mills, a flour mill, and two corn mills, all powered by the use of three dams. By 1860 the factory employed 310 people,, including a large number of women and children, at average salaries of $2.50 per week. These mills were burned by the Union Army in May 1863. One factory called Cypress Mill, was re-built after the war, but its operation was never successful." The marker was erected by the Florence Historical Board.
Dylan Tucker, University of North Alabama
“Ante-Bellum Cotton Mills 1840”. Accessed 09/21/2015. http://www.lat34north.com/historicmarkersal/
Located in Bleecker, Alabama on Lee County Road 240 Coordinates: 32.5195831, -85.2221628
To reach Antioch Cemetery, travel to Cloverdale on Alabama Hwy. #157 and continue 4 miles north. Turn right onto County Rd. #10 and travel 2.3 miles to the cemetery. The cemetery is located on the left behind the church.
Montgomery, David L. "Antioch Cemetery." Cemeteries Only. January 29, 2015. http://cemeteriesonly.com/AntiochChCem.html. Accessed April 25, 2015.
Salem, AL; Lee County, AL; Religion; Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
This early Lee County Methodist church was built in 1837.
Image: brmeadows, Panoramio.com. http://peopleofonefire.com/chattahoochee-river-indians.html#more-2031
National Register of Historic Places; Education; Florence, AL
National Register of Historic Places - F.T. Appleby Junior High School – originally Coffee High School – 319 Hermitage Drive Florence, AL Nomination still listed with the state and on the NPS data base –building destroyed in the 1980s. Now part of UNA.
Missy Brown, University of North Alabama
National Register of Historic Places (#82002045)
Festivals; Ardmore, AL; Limestone County, AL
The Ardmore Crape Myrtle Festival is held on the last Saturday in August at the John W. Barnes Park. Visitors can purchase crafts, plants, candles, and jewelry. The festival also has antique car and tractor shows, food vendors, and musical entertainment. Admission is free for the public.
"Ardmore Crape Myrtle Festival." http://www.renaissancefairepictorial.com/ardmore/ardmore.html. Accessed July 29, 2015.
The Ardmore Renaissance Faire is a fun event for the family to enjoy. Step back in time with different medieval activities such as period workmanship, sword combat, Middle Eastern dancers, puppeteers, and a May Pole. Visitors can also feast on different period foods and modern day items. The event occurs in Ardmore in April.
"Ardmore Renaissance Festival." www.ardmorerenaissancefestival.com. Accessed July 29, 2015.
Auburn, AL; Lee County, AL; Industry; Manufacturing; Automotive
This manufacturing company produces automotive components. It is the first US based manufacturing operation for the Israeli owned Arkal company. This business opened in 2012 and still operates today. The Auburn branch of Akral is located at 2490 Innovation Dr., Auburn, AL.
Image: http://www.auburnalabama.org/ed/BuildingsSitesView.aspx?id=53
Historic Homes; Birmingham, AL; Jefferson County, AL; Greek Revival Style; National Register of Historic Places; Hall, Stephen; Mudd, William S.; Mudd, Florence Earle; Wilson, Gen. James H.; Debardeleben, Henry F.; Munger, Robert S.; Montgomery, Ruby; Montgomery, Alex; Lee, Gen. Robert E.; Moore, Gov. Andrew Barry; Bibb, Gov. Thomas; Belle Mina
Image Sources: Satterfield, Carolyn Green, "Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens," Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-6678 Satterfield, Carolyn Green, "Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens," Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-6682 Text Sources: Satterfield, Carolyn Green, "Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens," Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2417 Satterfield, Carolyn Green. Historic Sites of Jefferson County, Alabama (Birmingham, Ala.: Jefferson County Historical Commission, 1976). 46-49.
Since 1986, the city of Florence has hosted an annual two day festival dedicated to highlighting the local area’s rich art culture known as Arts Alive. Each year, the event has is organized through the hard work and efforts of a volunteer committee. During the event local, regional, and national acclaimed artists set up booths at Wilson Park and the Kennedy Douglas Center for the Arts in downtown Florence.The festival does not focus on one particular style of art. Instead, the festival showcases artworks from various categories—painting, stained glass, jewelry, sculpture, pottery, fiber art, needle work, photography, music, and more. One local artists claimed that the festival is both unique and important for the artist and community because provides the two different spheres an “opportunity to meet and talk.” In addition, the festival stresses the importance of art among the younger generation with the inclusion of a dedicated area for children artwork. Overall, the admission is free and the art is beautiful.
Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
Text: Arts Alive Alabama, “Information,” Arts Alive, www.alabamaartsalive.com/information (accessed May 2, 2015). “Arts are Alive: Annual Festival Returns to Downtown,” Times Daily, May 12, 2014. “This Year The Arts Live,” Courier Journal, April 22, 2015.
Athens Courthouse Square Commercial Historic District
Historic Districts; Athens, AL; Limestone County, AL
The Athens Courthouse Square Commercial District is located in Athens, Alabama, near the Limestone County Courthouse. Due to the destruction of buildings during the Civil War and major fires that occurred in the late-1800s, this district largely dates from the early twentieth century. Between the 1910s and 1920s, Athens saw a rise in development due to increase in manufacturing, and in 1930s the electricity provided by the TVA. There are notable buildings located within the district such as the current post office building.
Thomas, Phil. "Athens Courthouse Square Commercial Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Accessed August 5, 2015.
Limestone County, Athens, Schools, Athens Elementary School
The south wing of Athens Elementary School was constructed in the 1930s. In 1954, the east and west wings were added on to the school. The school was originally constructed for Athens Junior High School and was later used for elementary students. There were 320 students enrolled in kindergarten through fourth grade at the time it was established. The curriculum served children with mental disabilities ranging from mentally challenged to the gifted. The school is located at 515 North Madison Street, Athens, Alabama.
Taylor, Betty Lindsay. "History of the Schools in Athens and Limestone County, Alabama."
Athens Female Academy / Athens State University
Education; Athens State University; Athens, AL; Limestone County, AL
The city of Athens was founded in 1818 by Robert Beaty and associates, and shortly afterward these same founders persuaded Judge John McKinley to give the land for a female academy. They then recruited Daniel Perrin Bestor of Connecticut to preside over it. In 1822, they obtained a charter from the new legislature of the state of Alabama. During the first few decades, Athens Female Academy's presidents were Baptist, Presbyterian, or Methodist ministers. In 1842 the Methodist conference voted to accept the academy, and local supporters built Founder's Hall. The first president, Reverend Richard Henderson Rivers revised the curriculum, giving the collegiate degree a more regular status, while maintaining elementary through secondary levels. Madame Jane Hamilton Childs, who was president before, during, and after the Civil War, was one of the college's most unique presidents. She not only furnished the campus elegantly and turned out excellent female graduates, she also kept the college open during the war and prevented occupying Federal troops from coming onto the campus. Two women have presided over the college - Madame Childs for eleven years and Mary Norman Moore McCoy, two terms for a total of seventeen years. In 1908, President Moore oversaw the elimination of the elementary level, the establishment of Rivers Hall as the secondary level, and the national recognition of Athens Female College. In the 1930s President E.R. Naylor began admitting male students and obtained a name change to Athens College. He also oversaw the creation of a work/study program for students in the area during the Depression. In 1975, the Methodist conference gave the college and its property to the State of Alabama. The state recreated it as a degree-granting upper-division college, the only one of its kind in the state. Students complete their junior and senior years at Athens State. In 1998, Athens State College's name was changed to Athens State University.
County, Ala. The Heritage of Limestone County, Alabama. Limited 1st ed. Clanton, AL: Heritage Pub. Consultants, 1998.
In mid-September, Athens holds their Athens Grease Festival. During this event citizens of the area come together with fried foods of all types. Proceeds from the event benefit downtown restoration and revitalization projects.
“Athens Grease Festival.” Accessed July 27, 2015. http://www.northalabama.org/
Limestone County, Athens, Schools, Athens High School
The Athens Post of July 1880 noted that the Donnell place had become the property of the city and was used as a Male College. By October, sixty elementary and high school students had enrolled for classes. The different courses offered were math, natural science, English, German, French, and a complete commercial course in typing. A search for property to locate an agricultural experimental school was launched in June 1889. Athens was chosen after being the highest bidder of 15 possible places in North Alabama, offering $14,800 in cash and land. Athens was one of two pioneer agricultural schools in the State. It was established by legislative act in 1888-1889 and was known as the North Alabama Agricultural School. When the school ceased operation in 1937, the property was returned to the city board and was established as Athens High School on North Madison Street.
Taylor, Betty Lindsay. "History of the Schools in Athens and Limestone County, Alabama." pp. 193
Limestone County, Athens, Schools, Athens Intermediate School
Based on the findings of a committee appointed in 1995, a recommendation was made to build a new intermediate school for the fifth and sixth grades. In August 2002 a transition was made for all fifth and sixth graders to begin their classes in the new building. The mission of the Athens Intermediate School is to provide opportunities for all children to become confident, successful leaders. The school is located at 1916 Highway 72 West, Athens, Alabama.
Limestone County, Athens, Schools, Athens Middle School
After Athens High School moved into their new building on Highway 31 North, the old campus became home to Athens Middle School and serves the seventh and eight grade students. The mission of the school is to provide a high quality education to all students based on clearly defined learning standards. The school is located at 601 S. Clinton St., Athens Alabama.
In 1909, Elizabeth Duncan and Miss Mary Nance Fair opened a private school for girls through the fifth grade and boys though the age of ten. The school was first located in the old Masonic Building. By September 1912 the school had relocated to Westmoreland Hall where classes there reached forty students. Other teachers who joined the faculty included Nonie Chandler and Myrtle McGuire. By 1918, the school had nearly eighty pupils enrolled. Athens residents purchased property from Mr. S. A. Davis and constructed a building for the school. The Athens Preparatory School opened its new building on East Bryan Street in September the following year. The school closed in 1922 when only forty students registered.
Limestone County, Alabama; Athens, Alabama; Athens Presbyterian Church; Historic Churches
Athens First Presbyterian Church was organized in 1829. After meeting an interdenominational building, the church was built on Washington Street. The building was badly damaged during the Civil War and the Presbyterians met at the First Baptist Church while trying to organize and raise funds to replace the church. The current building - located on the square in Athens - was completed in 1895 and has added several wings,while maintaining the architectural integrity of the original building, in the last 100 years.
Festivals; Athens, AL; Limestone County, AL
During the winter months in Downtown Athens, the Athens Sippin Cider Festival takes place. Participants are able to taste different ciders,enjoy music, special activities, and door prizes. Santa also makes an appearance for the children. Admission is free.
“Athens Sippin Festival.” Accessed July 16, 2015. http://www.northalabama.org/
The Athens State College Historic District is located on 202 N. Beaty St., and the central campus area by Hobbs St. The area was listed to the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1985. The district includes Founders Hall, which was constructed in 1842.
National Register Information System. Accessed August 5, 2015.
During mid-October Athens holds its annual Athens Storytelling Festival at the Courthouse Square. People can also visit a mix of antique and gift shops, eat gourmet foods, and purchase clothing. Food vendors will be present for quick meals. Admission is free for this festival.
"Athens Storytelling Festival. http://www.athensstorytellingfestival.com/about/. Accessed July 29, 2015.
Limestone County, Alabama; Athens, Alabama; Libraries
The Athens-Limestone Public Library solved two problems very creatively with their 2014 move to the old Kroger building at 603 South Jefferson Street. The old library (located near Julia Newman School) was approximately 10,000 square feet and the new building has almost 40,000 square feet.
Auburn and Opelika at the End of the Civil War
Lee County, AL; Civil War; Auburn, AL; Opelika, AL; East Alabama Male College
The emancipation of slaves, a widespread labor shortage, and the collapse of the Confederate financial system all coalesced to bring the cities of Auburn and Opelika to ruin at the end of the Civil War. It would be ten years before a new home would be constructed in Auburn and the area’s educational system was completely wrecked. What was once a bustling and growing village would soon fall into stagnation. Though the East Alabama Male College reopened in 1866, it did so with fewer students and many unpaid professors.
Auburn University Sesquicentennial Series: Auburn in the Civil War Era by Ralph Draughon Jr. Book: Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama by Walter L. Fleming Storey, Margaret M., Loyalty and Loss: Alabama's Unionists in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004.
Auburn University, AL; Lee County, AL; Transportation; Railroad; Alabama Register of Historic Place
The Auburn Train Depot was built in 1904, based on a Victorian railroad design by Auburn University architecture student Ralph Dudley. Two previous stations serving the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, located on the same site, had been destroyed by fire. The first such station was incinerated during Union General Lovell Rousseau's 1864 raid across Alabama. A lightning strike in 1904 sparked a fire that destroyed the second station. The depot served as the transportation hub of Auburn during the early twentieth century and continued service until 1970. The building was used as commercial office space before being abandoned in 2003. In order to preserve the depot, the Auburn City Council purchased it in 2013. The site was visited by Jefferson Davis during his inauguration tour in 1861. It was also the scene of an 1896 prank involving Georgia Tech's football team. Auburn students greased the tracks, leading to the train overshooting the station by five miles.
Image: http://www.auburnchamber.net/sites/default/files/resize/SP%20depot-500x313.jpg Text: Alabama Historical Commission. http://preserveala.org/pdfs/PIP/2010/PIP%204-page%202010.pdf Auburn Plainsman, June 12, 2014. http://www.theplainsman.com/view/full_story/25280725/article-City-plans-to-renovate-historic-train-depot
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn, AL; Auburn Female Institute; New South; Duncan, George W.; Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College
Auburn’s first post-Civil War public school, possibly founded as early as 1870, was actually a women’s school. Auburn Female Institute was located on Tichenor Avenue. Under Principal George W. Duncan, Auburn Female Institute offered instruction in English, Latin, history, science, literature, art, and drawing. The institution eventually became co-educational, and boys could enroll at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College as freshmen after completing primary and intermediate courses at Auburn Female Institute. In 1899, Auburn Female Institute closed and its students subsequently enrolled at the new Auburn Public School. In 1931, the city demolished the building, which resided on the site of Auburn’s current City Hall building at 144 Tichenor Avenue, Auburn.
Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auburn_High_School_1870.jpg Text Source: Ralph Draughon, Jr., Delos Hughes, and Ann Pearson, Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs (Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2012), 50-51.
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn, AL; Auburn High School; Desegregation; Civil Rights Movement; Samford Middle School; Lee County High School; Parrish, J.A.; Green v. New Kent County, VA; J.F. Drake High School
In 1931, the institution that would come to be known as Auburn High School opened on Samford Avenue at the site of present-day Samford Middle School. From 1931 to 1959, the institution was known as Lee County High School. Until 1966, the entire public facility served Auburn’s white students from the first to the twelfth grades. The school’s first administrator was the much-beloved Professor J.A. Parrish. In 1959, Auburn City Council voted to break from the Lee County School System, and Lee County High School was thus renamed Auburn High School despite serving all the white public schoolchildren in Auburn for the next seven years. A new high school to serve ninth through twelfth graders was built at 405 South Dean Road for $1.25 million in 1966 as a “Freedom of Choice” school, meaning that any student could opt to attend Auburn High School regardless of race. The persistence of de facto segregation in “Freedom of Choice” institutions led to a legal challenge in the form of Green v. New Kent County, VA. In the 1968 Green ruling, the US Supreme Court declared that school boards must take “affirmative measures” to achieve integration and ordered New Kent to convert to a school system without “white” or “negro” schools, but merely “schools.” In the wake of the Green decision, Auburn High School’s black enrollment increased significantly in 1970 as the school absorbed all of the African-American students from J.F. Drake High School. The enrollment spike forced Auburn High School to temporarily scale back the scope of its operations to the tenth through the twelfth grades, as Samford Middle School temporarily took on the city’s ninth grade students. Upon the completion of the 500 Building Extension in 1973, AHS reabsorbed the ninth grade students. Auburn High added a new high-tech classroom extension and a media center in 1995, and a $14 million performing arts center in 2010.
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_High_School_(Alabama) Text Sources: Auburn High School Band, http://www.auburnschools.org/ahs_band/ahs_history.html. Joseph M. Bagley, A Meaningful Reality: The Integration of the Opelika, Alabama City School System, 1965-1972 (MA Thesis, Auburn University, 2007), 36-37. The Heritage of Lee County Book Committee, The Heritage of Lee County, Alabama (Clanton, AL: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2000), 71.
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn Junior High School; Auburn, AL; Samford Middle School; Desegregation; Civil Rights Era
From 1931 to 1966, Auburn’s white middle (and elementary) school students operated under the aegis of Auburn High School at 332 East Samford Avenue. During this period, the sub-institution was known as Auburn Grammar School. When Auburn High School opened in 1966, the school on East Samford was renamed Samford Middle School. In 1969, the city school board again renamed the middle school, this time as Auburn Junior High School, the institution’s current title. After the 1970 influx of black high school students to Auburn High School, the newly integrated Samford Middle School took on ninth grade students for three years, and then reverted to serving the fifth through the eighth grades.
Image Source: http://www.realestateinauburn.com/auburn-info/auburn-city-schools-3/ Text Sources: Auburn Junior High School, http://www.auburnschools.org/ajhs/Faculty.html. The Heritage of Lee County Book Committee, The Heritage of Lee County, Alabama (Clanton, AL: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2000), 71.
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn Masonic Female College; Auburn, AL; Freemasons; Scott, Nathaniel; Antebellum Era; Auburn Bank; Masons; Yancey, William Lowndes; Stephens, Alexander; Hill, Benjamin Harvey; Toombs, Robert; Auburn University Archives and Special Collections; Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College; Civil War; New South; William J. Samford Hall; Langdon, Charles; Langdon Hall; Historic American Buildings Survey; National Register of Historic Buildings; Secession
In the early 1850s, Colonel Nathaniel Scott petitioned Auburn’s local Masonic lodge (Auburn Lodge #76) to sponsor a female educational center in town. In 1853, Auburn Masonic Female College became the town’s first women’s educational institution. Colonel Scott served as president of the college’s board of directors. A spacious, two-story frame building located on the corner of North Gay Street and East Magnolia Avenue housed the female college. A plaque on a boulder a few yards west of Auburn Bank, 100 North Gay Street, Auburn, marks the original site of Auburn Masonic Female College. In its first year, the college enrolled 106 students, some of whom boarded. The Masons subsequently built a huge chapel adjacent to the school for the sum of $2,500. The chapel sat eight hundred people and was used by the female college for commencement ceremonies, plays, and concerts. In 1860, the chapel hosted a famous secession debate involving prominent fire-eaters William Lowndes Yancey, Alexander Stephens, Benjamin Harvey Hill, and Robert Toombs. A plaque commemorating the debate now resides in Auburn University’s Archives and Special Collections on the bottom floor of Ralph Brown Draughon Library. Auburn Masonic Female College closed during the Civil War, and in 1883 Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College purchased the building and moved it to its present location next to William J. Samford Hall. In 1892, the college remodeled the building and named it after trustee Charles Langdon. The college used Langdon Hall in many ways over the course of the next century, including classroom, theater, and student recreation center. Langdon Hall, which actually has no physical address, is located about a hundred feet north of William J. Samford Hall at 182 South College Street, Auburn University. The building is listed on the Historic American Buildings Survey and the National Register of Historic Places, and is the second oldest public building in Auburn.
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langdon_Hall Text Source: Ralph Draughon, Jr., Delos Hughes, and Ann Pearson, Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs (Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2012), 48-49.
Education; Lee County, AL; Antebellum Era; Harper, John; Auburn, AL; Methodist Church; Baptist Church; Yancey, Simeon; Flanagan; C.C.
Judge John Harper led a party of Methodists to the future site of Auburn, Alabama in late 1836. The next year, members the new community collaborated to erect a log Methodist church, located on the corner of modern-day East Magnolia Street and South Gay Street. The log church also functioned as a schoolhouse, where the town’s first teacher, Simeon Yancey, held class. Later in 1837, Baptists moved to the nascent community and built a stand-alone schoolhouse across the street from the log church. C.C. Flanagan became Auburn’s second schoolmaster. The Baptist log schoolhouse functioned as a primary school where Auburn’s youth learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. Flanagan became one of Lee County’s most highly regarded antebellum era educators, teaching primary and secondary school in the Auburn area for the following twenty years. Today Auburn United Methodist Church occupies the site of the original Methodist Church and School, and a historic marker notes the exact location of the original log structure.
Image Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/48984044 Text Source: Ralph Draughon, Jr., Delos Hughes, and Ann Pearson, Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs (Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2012), 47.
Local Government; Post Office; Auburn, AL; John Harper; National Register of Historic Places; Education; Lee County, AL; Civil War; Simeon Porter
The land on which this building is situated was owned by Judge John Harper, the founder of Auburn. In 1846, Harper deeded the land to Auburn Academy agent Simeon Porter for the purpose of building Auburn's first schools. The site served as the home of multiple educational facilities over the next 80 years including the Auburn Academy male division, East Alabama Male College Preparatory Department, the Auburn Female College, and the Auburn Grammar School. The Post Office was Auburn’s first public building and was destroyed by Federal cavalrymen during Rousseau’s Raid in July 1864. It was situated across College Avenue from where the University Chapel now stands. In 1931 the city donated the land to the federal government for the creation of a post office. Built in the 'starved classical' design, it was completed in 1933. It served as the city's post office until 1991. The city of Auburn purchased the property in 1992, renting it to the East Alabama Food Bank. After renovations it became Auburn City Hall in 2001. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 as the 'Auburn Post Office.'
Image: Wikimedia, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Post_office_Price_Utah.jpeg Text: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_City_Hall Text:
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn Public School; Auburn, AL; Little, Charles; Gilded Age
In 1899, Auburn Mayor Charles Little and the town council appropriated bonds of $6,000 to build a large public schoolhouse. The 74x58 ½ foot building included a 40x70 foot auditorium on the top floor. Amenities included wood and coal pot-bellied stoves, a packed-dirt playground with no equipment or rides, and an outdoor privy strategically shielded by shrubbery. The absence of a cafeteria ensured that students brought their own lunches. The coeducational institute offered curriculum-based instruction for eleven grades and a high school diploma. After the city built a separate high school in 1914, Auburn Public School remained standing as the seven-grade grammar school until its 1931 demolition.
Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auburn_High_School_1899.jpg Text Source: Ralph Draughon, Jr., Delos Hughes, and Ann Pearson, Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs (Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2012), 51-52.
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn Public School; Auburn Rosenwald Public School; Auburn, AL; Ebenezer Baptist Church; African American Schools; Hutchinson, Rev. J.T.; Rosenwald, Julius; Moton, Dr. Robert; Washington, Booker T.; Tuskegee Institute; Lee County Training School
In March 1915, a group of concerned Auburn citizens held a fund-raising rally at Ebenezer Baptist Church aimed at financing a school for the town’s African-American children. In attendance were over three hundred African Americans and about a hundred whites. The campaign was led by the white Presbyterian minister, the Reverend J.T. Hutchinson. The city’s white and black population collectively raised $1,550 for the building fund. In 1916, Sears CEO and noted philanthropist Julius Rosenwald contributed $300 to the proposed school’s foundation, and construction of the facility commenced. The school building was completed in 1917, and consisted of five rooms that offered seven grades. Dr. Robert Moton, Booker T. Washington’s successor as principal of the Tuskegee Institute, delivered the keynote address at the building’s dedication ceremony and lauded Rosenwald’s contribution to African-American betterment. Auburn Public School became the town’s first African-American grammar and intermediate school. The school would serve as Auburn’s African-American school until 1929, when a second Rosenwald school, Lee County Training School, opened its doors. Lee County Training School offered a high school diploma as well as secondary education, and the students of Auburn Public School all enrolled in the new Rosenwald institution. Auburn Public School’s building occupied the corner of Bragg Avenue and Frazier Street, Auburn.
Text Sources: “Auburn School (C.T.S.),” Fisk University Rosenwald Fund Card Database, http://rosenwald.fisk.edu/index.php?module=search.details&set_v=aWQ9MzEx&school_county=Lee&school_state=AL&button=Search&o=0 Ralph Draughon, Jr., Delos Hughes, and Ann Pearson, Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs (Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2012), 54-55.
Lee County, AL; Civil War; Davis, Jefferson; Montgomery, AL; Confederacy; Confederate Army; East Alabama Male College; Columbus, GA; Rousseau, General Lovell Harrison; New Orleans, LA; Richmond; United Daughters of the Confederacy; Auburn, AL; Wilson, General James Harrison
In February 1861, president-elect Jefferson Davis rode a train from his plantation in Mississippi to Atlanta and then to Montgomery, Alabama for his inauguration as president of the Confederacy. On February 16, at the Auburn train depot, president-elect Davis reviewed the Auburn Guards, a company of cadets from the East Alabama Male College who were reportedly the first of the Confederate Army to be reviewed by Davis. Because the Montgomery and West Point Railroad connected Auburn with the state capital at Montgomery and the vital industrial city of Columbus, GA, the Auburn train depot and tracks were later destroyed under Rousseau and Wilson's raids, in 1864 and 1865 respectively. It was replaced by a second station after the end of the war which was located to the west of the current (and final) depot. In 1893, the Auburn cadets formed an honor guard when former Confederate president Jefferson Davis's body was sent by train from New Orleans to Richmond. In commemoration of the former president's visit to Auburn, on March 30, 1914, the United Daughters of the Confederacy unveiled a marker near the depot that stands today.
Religion; Auburn, AL; Lee County, AL; Education
Judge John Harper and 33 other residents of Harris County, Georgia were the first settlers of Auburn in 1836. One year later they completed construction of a Methodist church, which served as the settlement's first church and school. Church leaders worked with the Methodist Conference to establish the East Alabama Male College in 1856, which later was turned over to the state and would become Auburn University. Initially constructed as a log cabin, the church has been remodeled on several occasions. In 1855 a white frame church replaced the log structure. This was remodeled in 1899, including the installation of a pipe organ which is still in use. A new sanctuary was completed in 1955 and between 1971 and 1975 an education wing and office complex were added. Finally, in 2000 a separate education center was completed. The church is located at 137 South Gay Street.
Images: Historical marker: Kenny Smith, kennysmith.org. http://www.kennysmith.org/markers/img/marker67.jpg Founder's Chapel: user xp2, waymarking.com, http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=9669e825-af6e-4fb2-95a3-631c50d6f99a Text: Auburn United Methodist Church, Church History, http://www.aumc.net/OurMission/ChurchHistory.aspx
Education; Lee County, AL; Auburn, AL; Auburn University; East Alabama Male College; Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College; Alabama Polytechnic Institute; Glenn, John Bowles; Old Main Hall; American Civil War; Confederate Army; Morrill Act; Dowdell, James Ferguson; Hatch Act; Broun, William Leroy; Smith-Lever Act; Agricultural Extension; Duncan, Luther N.
Established by charter in 1856 as East Alabama Male College, the academic institution that would come to be known as Auburn University was founded ten years before Lee County’s inception. Local residents, such as John Bowles Glenn, the pastor of Loachapoka Methodist Church and president of East Alabama Male College’s first Board of Trustees, comprised much of the institution’s early leadership. Erected in 1859, Auburn’s original facility was a four-story building in which six faculty members serviced a student body of 80. This building, known as Old Main Hall, served as a convalescent hospital for Confederate veterans during the Civil War. Most of the young men enrolled at the nascent institution enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861. Closed for the duration of the Civil War, East Alabama Male College reopened in 1866. In 1872, under the auspices of the Morrill Act, Auburn was named Alabama’s land-grant college and was renamed the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College. Also, during that year President James Ferguson Dowdell and the Board of Trustees voted to turn ownership of the college over to the State of Alabama. A state tax on fertilizer in 1883 and the 1887 Hatch Act provided President William Leroy Broun with funds to purchase land for institutional expansion and the foundation of a scientific research facility. In 1887, Main Hall burned down. The following year, private contractors rebuilt on the site of Main Hall, and Auburn’s administrative brass decided to name the new building Samford Hall, in honor of Governor William J. Samford, a resident of nearby Chambers County. Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical College’s first female student matriculated in 1892, and the institution’s first football team also took the field that year. The institution was renamed Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1899 via a proposal by President Broun. In 1908, Smith Hall and several other buildings on campus were equipped with electric lighting. The 1914 passage of the Smith-Lever Act made API the headquarters of the agricultural extension system in Alabama. Under the leadership of future API President Luther N. Duncan, the extension system became a seminal educational tool. Extension agents at Auburn were instructed in the techniques of better farming through the implementation of scientific research, and in turn disseminated that knowledge to rural Alabama farmers. From 1941 to 1945, the university grounds served as a training area for the Army and Navy. In 1960, the board of trustees renamed the institution Auburn University, a nod to the sobriquet that generations of students had already bequeathed to the school.
Image Source: http://mikebozack.com/images/ Text Sources: Alexander Nunn, Lee County and Her Forebears (Montgomery, AL: Herff Jones, 1983) 62-70. Auburn University, http://ocm.auburn.edu/presidential_installation/history_tradition.html.
A picture of where the seal sits outside Langdon Hall
Hisotoric Buildings; Historic Business; Commercial Row; Tuscumbia; Colbert County; Alabama; Women's Clothing Store
The building that now houses Audie Mescal Womens Clothing is one of the oldest commercial buildings in Colbert County, belonging to the original seven buildings that made Commercial Row in the 1830s. It was in this building that Helen Keller's father, Arthur H. Keller edited his newspaper, "The North Alabamian."
Jacob Grandstaff, University of North Alabama
Colbert County Tourism, December 4, 2015.
Cemeteries; Florence, AL; Lauderdale County, AL
To reach Austin Cemetery from Florence, Alabama, travel Highway 20 west, turn right onto County Road 5 and continue for 4 miles. The cemetery is located on the right side of the road. David Leon Montgomery states, "The Austin Cemetery originally was located in another location on land that the Indians had cleared. Due to it being in a low wet area, it was moved to it's present location. There are several markers in this cemetery that are very difficult to read due to deterioration of the surface. The cemetery appears to have been targeted by vandals in the past, as many stones are broken or missing. The cemetery is well maintained well otherwise. The Liberty Baptist Church, which sits about 2 miles south, started the cemetery, but as time passed, deceased members were buried in other cemeteries. Mr. Robert Austin, who is buried here, gave the land for the cemetery. A large amount of land along the Natchez Trace Parkway & Big Cypress Creek is still owned by members of the Austin family. This cemetery has approximately twenty-five graves marked only with stones. It is said that there are more that are not identifiable at all, even by way of depressions on the ground." The survey for the cemetery was completed on November 8th, 2003. David Leon Montgomery has checked the graves and foot stones for complete accuracy. A complete list of records can be viewed by using the source.
"Austin Cemetery." http://www.interment.net/data/us/al/lauderdale/austin/index.htm. Accessed August 24, 2015.
Religion, Christianity, Cullman County, Cullman, Saint Bernard Abbey, Brother Joseph Zoettel, National Register of Historic Places
In Cullman, the Ave Maria Grotto is a collection of miniature replicas of shrines and other buildings. The Grotto is located on the grounds of the Saint Bernard Abbey. The Grotto was created by Brother Jespeh Zoettel, a monk originally from Bavaria who immigrated to the United State after being recruited by an American priest. Zoettel began creating his masterpieces in 1918 from leftover construction materials. His crafts were inspired by the Bible and real life historical buildings and accounts. Over fourty years. Zoettel created 125 images including miniatures of St. Peter’s Basilica, Noah’s Ark, the Alamo, and even a representation of the City of Jerusalem. Zoettel created his last miniature when he was 80 years old, the Lourdes Basilica Church. Zoettel died on October 15, 1961. The site was named the Ave Maria Grotto in 1934, after Zoettel’s most unique creation, the Ave Maria Grotto, a wholly original creation. The Grotto is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Alabama.
Jackson County, Stevenson, Civil War, Reconstruction, Alabama Historical Commission Markers
During the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War, a freedmen’s community was established in this area called Averyville, named for the Pennsylvania minister and successful businessman Charles Avery, a longtime and faithful champion of Negro education. Wilmer Walton, a Quaker missionary, moved to Stevenson and Averyville as early as 1865, opening a school financed by the Quaker “Friends’ Association for Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen”. Soon, some seventy-five students, both adults and children, were enrolled in Walton’s school. Another teacher and Quaker missionary, Henrietta Starkweather, succeeded Wilmer Walton at Averyville. This noble and pioneering effort to educate freedmen was short-lived; Ku Klux Klan violence, threats, and intimidation drove the teachers away by the early 1870s, and the school closed. Averyville School’s most notable student was William Hooper Councill (1848-1909), a former slave brought to Alabama in 1857. He attended Averyville School as a freedman, becoming a teacher himself by the end of his third year here. He moved to Huntsville in 1869 and opened the Lincoln Normal School to train black teachers. In 1873, Dr. Councill founded Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, using funds appropriated by the Alabama Legislature to train black teachers. Dr. Councill rose to state and national prominence, becoming an influential leader alongside Booker T. Washington and others. His only formal education was here at the Freedman’s School at Averyville. Here the seeds of learning were planted which grew into Alabama A&M University, educating thousands of students to this day. (From the Alabama Historical Commission historical marker, currently in storage)
http://www.alabamahistory.net/jackson-historical-markers.html http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/2207
Northeast Alabama Community College Archives and Special Collections
Banks Street-Old Decatur Historic District
Morgan County, Decatur, National Register, Bank Street-Old Decatur Historic District
The Bank Street-Old Decatur Historic District is a historic district located in Decatur, Alabama. The district is made up of the original commercial and residential area of Decatur along the Tennessee River. The district contains 340 structures dating primarily between the 1860s and 1940s. The Bank Street-Old Decatur Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Accessed June 1, 2015.
Located in Auburn at South Dean and Old Mill Road. Coordinates: 32.6037457, -85.4646708
Lee County, Auburn, Baptist, Cemetery, African American
Baptist Hill cemetery is a part of Alabama’s first separate black community and is a critical part of Auburn’s black history. According to oral history, a white man gave most of the land in the 1870’s. Currently the cemetery is four acres and has over 500 marked graves and many unmarked. The oldest grave dates back to 1879. Many of the buried at the cemetery were born into slavery but later became teachers or people in business. The cemetery gets its name from the Ebenezer Baptist Church close by.
Limestone County, Cemetery, Barker Cemetery
Barker Cemetery is located near Pleasant Grove Church of Christ. The cemetery has 22 recorded graves that are marked with field stones. It is well maintained and located about 200 yards off the road.
"The USGenWeb Archives Project - Limestone County, Alabama: Cemeteries." The USGenWeb Archives Project - Limestone County, Alabama: Cemeteries. http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/limestone/cemetery.htm. Accessed June 1, 2015.