Generations 2015

Generations Chilton County people, places and events

A Special Publication of

CONTRIBUTED

The 1938 Vacation Bible School class at Clanton First United Methodist Church. See more historical photos and read about the history of Chilton County and its towns inside.

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Chilton County

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From Native Americans to present day

By Derric Scott

The land currently known as Chilton County was occupied by Native Americans when Europeans “discovered” it. Probably the first Europeans to pass nearby were Hernando Desoto and his expedition in 1540. After that, except for a few traders (mostly Scottish), very few other Europeans passed this way for several hundred years.

By 1800, the current state of Alabama still consisted mostly of Native American lands (of the Five Civilized Tribes) with the southernmost part making up some of the Mississippi Territory. This strip was named Washington County.

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 got ownership of the part of western Florida that included current-day

The Creek Session of 1814 created a huge Monroe County that included everything from southern Alabama up through current Chilton and north nearly to Huntsville. The Coosa River was the major dividing line between this Monroe County and the Creek Nation on the east side of the river. To the west were Choctaw and Chickasaw lands. Monroe County was essentially the central corridor of the state, surrounded by Native American nations on three sides. This part of the new state became populated by settlers first.

Heading toward statehood, the westward boundary of the state was established and other counties formed as the Alabama TerriMobile. As 1810 approached, some and the huge Washington County tory was recognized (1817). There scattered settlers in of the Native American lands in the has been broken up and other coun- were north had become Madison County, ties defined.

See CHILTON, Page 4

TIMELINE OF CHILTON COUNTY COURTHOUSES 1872 1872. A two-story frame structure at the crossing of Sixth Street and Second Avenue is constructed.

The facility is sold to Dr. Sam Johnson in 1894.

1870 1870. Log house in Grantville serves as courthouse until it burns before April 1871. The County Commission votes on April 29, 1871 for new site to be in Clanton. A rented house at Dake’s Old Mill, three miles northeast of Clanton, serves as the courthouse temporarily.

1868 Dec. 30, 1868. Baker County was formed from parts of Autauga, Bibb, Perry and Shelby counties.

1869 Spring 1869. Court was held once in Walnut Creek Church.

1894 1894. A courthouse is built at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Sixth Street (the same intersection as before). The structure is built of brick and stone with a steeple/tower. The courthouse burns on Aug. 30, 1918.

1874 Dec. 17, 1874. Baker County is renamed Chilton County.

1918 1918-1919. A courthouse is built at the same corner as before. The brick structure has four columns on the front.

The building is demolished in February 1962 after the current courthouse is built.

1962 1962. The current courthouse is built of concrete and glass. It occupies the entire middle of the block including the site of the old Evans home that burned. The old courthouse stood on the corner until it was demolished. Construction began on Sept. 6, 1960, and the courthouse opened and was dedicated on Feb. 18, 1962.

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CHILTON

the area of the county at this time – some of the earliest areas to be settled were around Maplesville and Chestnut Creek (Coopers).

Even so, about half of the state consisted of Native American nations. At the time Alabama became a state in 1819, the Chilton County area consisted of parts of Shelby, Autauga, Bibb and Perry counties.

The 1830s saw the last of the Native American nations in Alabama as the Creek, Cherokee, and other sessions occurred and culminated in the “removal” via the Trail of Tears. Subsequently, the exact county lines were fluid for several years. On December 30, 1868, the state Legislature was persuaded to carve a new county out of the junction of the above counties and name the new one Baker. Again for the next few years, the exact county lines were changed slightly by the Alabama Legislature. In 1874, the county’s name Baker was changed to Chilton, and by 1875 the county lines had solidified.

For genealogical purposes, the locations of the old county lines are important. This is, obviously, because your ancestor may have lived in the same house, but the county name it was in changed, more than once in some cases — you could be researching in the wrong courthouse! A loose verbal description of the old lines would show the Shelby/Autauga line was around Lomax, east to west. Bibb started north/south around Thorsby and went all the

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way to the south county line and almost to the north line. Shelby wrapped around the north part towards Montevallo. Finally, the far southwest corner was a bit of Perry County... See rough map: A note: Since Baker only existed for one US Census (1870), Ancestry.com’s and other electronic search engines don’t find it easily (they often only “know” Chilton and the first counties – so use care when researching).

CHILTON COUNTY COURTHOUSES Alfred Baker was an early resident of the area with a vision. He was instrumental in getting the county formed, and it was named for him, initially. A spot of land for the first county courthouse was selected; the area named “Grantville;” and the courthouse, a log structure, was built there. Prior to the completion of this courthouse, court was held at Walnut Creek Church (18691870).

The area called Grantville was a couple of miles out Pinedale road, east of Clanton, just a few hundred yards from present-day Interstate 65. Specifically, now it would be near the corner of Wyatt Road and Laverne Avenue.

This log courthouse burned sometime before April 1871, and the county commission voted to put the new one in Clanton.

Court was temporarily held in a rented house in the same See CHILTON, Page 5

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CHILTON general area.

Practically all the property in the center of Clanton was owned

by Alfred Baker, his family and friends. He intended to build the town there and gave away many lots or sold them for nearly nothing in order to get churches, city buildings and other parts of the town started.

The second courthouse was a two-story wood frame structure, in Clanton, built in the middle of the intersection of Second Avenue and Sixth Street in 1872.

On December 17, 1874, the county residents succeeded in their request to the state to rename their county. They asked for it to be named Chilton, in honor of William Parrish Chilton Sr. (who had recently died, in 1871).

Mr. Chilton had been Alabama Chief Justice and had represented Montgomery in the CSA Congress. The county people had become dissatisfied with Alfred Baker either because of his infidelities or his close ties to the northern “carpet baggers,” or both.

In 1894, the courthouse building was sold to Dr. Sam Johnson (and probably moved elsewhere).

The third courthouse was built of stone and brick, basically in the area of the west parking lot of the current courthouse. This was the most picturesque of our courthouses and had a striking tower.

It can be seen in some of the old pictures made around the turn of the century, and many pictures

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1540

The land currently known as Chilton County was occupied by Native Americans when Europeans “discovered” it.

Probably the first Europeans to pass nearby were Hernando Desoto and his expedition in 1540. After that, except for a few traders (mostly Scottish), very few other Europeans passed this way for several hundred years. were made from the tower of the downtown area. This courthouse stood until it burned in 1918.

The fourth courthouse was built in the same spot as the previous, over the next year, through 1919. This was a brick structure with four large white columns in front and is also seen on older postcards. Many people today still remember this courthouse.

As it became older and space demands increased, county officials decided to build a new one.

The current (fifth) courthouse was finished and dedicated February 18, 1962, and the old one was torn down; its footprint becoming the west parking lot.

The area of the new courthouse and the eastern part of the block were formerly the property and home of Clanton merchant Gene Evans (maternal grandparents of Helen Evans Parrish). The house had recently burned, and the property was bought by the county for the courthouse and parking lots.

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Y ears

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Name changes mark Jemison’s rocky start

By Colyn Clay Moatts

Located in the north-central part of the county on U.S. Hwy. 31, Jemison was first established in December of 1870 as Langston Station of the South & North Alabama Railroad. The station was named for Louise Langston, who owned practically all the surrounding land; it is unknown whether she was related to R.J. Langston, who built the first residence near the railroad in what now comprises Jemison.

Pioneeer merchants included D.A. Aliston and McChilders, with the first post office located in their store in 1871. The railroad followed through by building a depot for passengers and freight in 1872, with J.P. Hornaday as agent. After establishment, however, it appears that the station’s development languished for a few years. For example, even the post office was discontinued on Jan. 3, 1872, only to be re-established 15 days later. The people in the outlying communities of Dry Valley, Collins Chapel, Union Grove and Minooka initially did not seem too eager to concentrate at Langston

1870

Jemison was first established in December of 1870 as Langston Station of the South & North Alabama Railroad.

Station.

The name of the place was changed to “Jamison” on Sept. 5, 1873, then to “Jemison” in February 1888, next to “Bristol” on March 15, 1890, and finally, back to “Jemison” in the late 1890s. This last name change might have been associated with the desires of the increasing number of families in the vicinity, to include one group that asked L.H. Reynolds to come open a store that became a market for cotton and farm produce. After this store opened, the population began a slow but steady growth, reaching over 400 in 1910.

First published in The Heritage of Chilton County, Alabama, 2000.

Sources: Chilton County and Her People by T.E. Wyatt and Old Schools of Chilton County by Lorene LeCroy.

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Far left: The grave of Elizabeth Rucker of Maplesville could be the oldest in Chilton County. According to the marker, she died April 3, 1833. Left: The photo of the grave marker, along with numerous others, can be found at the museum at the old depot in Maplesville.

Maplesville oldest of county’s settlements From Staff Reports

Alabama was granted statehood in 1819. According to records, a group of families was present in the area that would become Maplesville at the time.

A merchant by the name of Daniel Williams was among the first to settle in the Mulberry Creek area.

Williams and his family arrived prior to 1820.

Williams built a dam across Mulberry Creek to furnish power for his saw mill.

Other merchants began opening businesses in the area. About a

half of a mile from Williams’ mills was the area’s first general store, which was operated by Stephen W. Maples, a “Yankee” from Connecticut. Maples established himself as a leader of the new community, becoming post master in 1823 and marrying Williams’ daughter, Mary Williams, in the same year.

Maplesville enjoyed an advantageous location, as it was at the junction of two important roads: one running from Selma to Elyton Village (later Birmingham) and the other from Coosada (which would become Montgomery) to Tuscaloosa, which at the time was the state

capital.

Both roads were stagecoach routes.

Maples’ store was at the crossroads, and the name of the community eventually changed from Mulberry to Maplesville in his honor.

Maples and his family moved to Selma in 1829, and Daniel Williams died in the same year.

Old Maplesville was a few miles east of the current town and included the communities of Maplesville, Isabella and Mulberry.

Isabella was founded when two churches in the Benson Creek area

combined to form Isabella Methodist Church, which was named after the daughter of the one of the church founders.

Settlers arrived in the Mulberry community around 1816.

Old Maplesville included an inn, a clothing store, a general merchandise store, a tailor, a mill, bar room and race tracks.

Mulberry, meanwhile, was a part of Bibb County for about 50 years and became part of Chilton County in 1868.

Information provided by the Maplesville Historical Society.

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Second Avenue North in early Clanton looking east.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Clanton history tied to that of Chilton County

By Colyn Clay Moatts

It is difficult to separate the development of the city of Clanton (formerly Goose Pond) from the creation and development of Chilton County (originally established as Baker County). Both came about during the troubled era of Union Reconstruction after the Civil War, and both exist largely through the efforts of Alfred Baker Sr., the second son of area pioneers Stephen and Charlotte Popwell Baker.

Alfred Baker was elected as the Radical Republican State Legislator from Autauga County in the infamous “Freedmen’s Bureau election” of 1868. It appears from the records of the Secretary of State that his chief purpose in running for office was to use the political process to create an independent county in north Autauga, which

would be run by local people for the benefit of local people. He succeeded, and Baker County was established by an act of the state Legislature on Dec. 30, 1868.

Much of the acreage that comprised the old Autauga County piece of the new county was owned by Alfred Baker or his relatives, and he took steps to expand his holdings around Goose Pond, where he owned a store. Coincidentally, the place known as Goose Pond happened to be adjacent to the proposed line of the South & North Alabama Railroad that had been planned before the Civil War started. Given the surge in railroad building after the war, this line was a likely candidate for completion, and Alfred Baker used his legislative influence to help make it happen.

See CLANTON, Page 9

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CLANTON While the new railroad was being completed, the Baker County Election Commissioners established a county capital at Grantville, which was nothing more than a spot in an open field less than two miles northeast of Goose Pond. Its only advantage seemed to be its name, which implied honor for the leading Union general of the recent war.

One of Baker’s allies was awarded a $5,000 contract to build a new courthouse, and he used the money to build a very nice log cabin— probably at a total cost of less than $50. In any case, this first county courthouse mysteriously burned in 1870, and the county capital was moved temporarily to Dake’s Old Mill on Walnut Creek.

Sometime between late 1870 and early 1871, as political power began shifting in Montgomery, local leaders apparently felt secure enough to rename their town site Clanton, in honor of Confederate General James Holt “Old Red” Clanton. Alfred Baker had been Goose Pond’s first postmaster since Jan. 31, 1871. The Goose Pond Post Office was officially redesignated the Clanton Post Office

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on May 4, 1871.

Alfred Baker hired surveyor G.W. Floyd of Montgomery to lay out the streets and alleys of the town, as well as business and residential lots. Baker donated land for the courthouse building and the town cemetery—as well as land for the Baptist and Methodist churches that still face each other, one east and one west of the railroad line. Most of the land that today comprises Clanton was conveyed to Baker County (for a nominal price of $5) by Alfred Baker and wife Rebecca Mims Baker in a deed dated June 26, 1870.

Baker helped ensure a concentration of commercial activity by opening another store, a stable, a storehouse and a hotel of his own.

After the South & North Alabama Railroad was completed in October of 1871 and Clanton had been selected by the voters as the new Baker County seat of government, Alfred Baker engaged in a lobbying effort to ensure the S&NA made Clanton a designated stop on their north-south line.

See CLANTON, Page 12

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Thorsby founded by Scandinavian settlers

By Colyn Clay Moatts

Thorsby has the distinction of being the only town in Chilton County that can claim it was founded by first-generation European immigrants. Located approximately three miles north-northwest of the county seat, Thorsby was settled

by Swedes and some Norwegians who first came to the United States and settled in the north. After being there only a short time, however, they moved south, purchased land and laid out the town of Thorsby in 1896.

Theodore T. Thorson—for whom the town is named—was a leader of the original group, which included John Peterson and John Hedberg.

Thorsby was incorporated in early 1901, and K.G. Fagre was the first mayor. The early settlers started out in the fruit business, planting substantial vineyards that were used to produce wine. Later, strawberries and peaches would become the more dominant crops.

Churches and schools were established by these early settlers.

An example of the former is the Swedish Lutheran Church, where services were conducted in Swedish for the Scandinavian congregation. The most famous example of the latter is the Thorsby Institute.

Established in 1906 on the site of the 1895 Thorsby Normal and Collegiate Institute--which suffered financial failure after only two years--Thorsby Institute became

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Thorsby’s Swedish Lutheran Church, which today is called Helen Jenkins Chapel. the county’s first high school. And until it closed 51 years later, it maintained some of the highest academic standards in the South and attracted students from all over Alabama as well as from other states.

The Congregational Church of Boston, Massachusetts, provided key financial backing for the non-sectarian school in its early years.

The town of Thorsby suffered a destructive fire in January of 1914, but it was soon rebuilt, an indication of the spirit and perseverance of its people.

Sources: Chilton County and Her People by T.E. Wyatt, Alabama’s Tapestry of Historic Places by the Alabama Historical Commission and Old Schools of Chilton County

by Lorene LeCroy.

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Verbena springs from mineral mining, aristocratic sojourn

By Colyn Clay Moatts

Verbena began as a resort town in the 1870s-1880s, when wealthy aristocrats from Montgomery and other points south began coming there to escape the annual yellow fever epidemics usually brought to the port cities by infected persons traveling on river boats.

Originally called “Summerfield,” the town was renamed when another place with the same name was discovered. The name “Verbena” was suggested by Kate Norton, a relative of one of the first settlers, and it is believed to be derived from the purple flower of the same name that grows in abundance in the area.

For many decades, residents of Verbena have bragged that theirs is the only town in the world by that name.

Before the town existed, there already were a few settlers in the area. Peter Cooper obtained a land grant in the vicinity in 1832. Another settler, Captain John Norton, came up from Montgomery in hope that the fresh air and higher altitude might help fight his tuberculosis.

The construction of the South & North Alabama Railroad in 1870 allowed Verbena to grow, and the yellow fever epidemic that hit Montgomery in 1873 caused a number of prominent families to build summer homes in Verbena to escape the disease. Many of these decided to remain permanently.

Among the prominent people who came to Verbena for health reasons were: Josiah Morris, who provided financial backing to John T. Milner, the founder of Birmingham; John Hughes, cotton merchant and one-time mayor of Montgomery; Colonel P.T. Sayre, prominent Montgomery attorney and uncle of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald; William A. Gayle, cotton merchant; the family of Judge John Kohn of Montgomery; and Sidney Lanier, famed Georgia poet. Lanier lived in a tent in a grove of pine trees along Chestnut Creek for nearly a year, where he reportedly received the inspiration for his poem, “A Ballad of Trees and the Master.”

When the Yellow Fever Commission of the U.S. Army discovered the cause of yellow fever in 1900, that brought an end to the epidemic in Alabama. Only a few scattered cases were reported in Selma and Montgomery in 1905 and 1907; however, by this time, Verbena was a permanent settlement, no longer dependent on a summer-resort clientele.

In earlier times, Verbena was well known for mineral extraction, including gold. The nearby Repito Gold Mine on Blue Creek was worked between 1835-1849, and at one time, it was the leading gold producer in the state. A goodly quantity of free gold or nuggets was found, but the “mother lode” or vein was never discovered.

William Lanier, an uncle of Sidney See VERBENA, Page 12

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Far left: Twin Tree Lumber Company was critical in Maplesville’s development.

Above: A view of downtown Clanton in 1949, looking north at the intersection of Seventh Street and Second Avenue North.

Left: A scene from early Thorsby.

CLANTON This latter task was made more difficult by the fact that Baker essentially had renounced the Radical Republican Party and abandoned his seat in the Legislature, spending most of his time helping secure the new county seat. In a letter to the editors that appeared in the July 2, 1872 edition of the Montgomery Advertiser and Daily Mail, Alfred Baker expressed great frustration with the railroad’s failure to establish a stop at Clanton, calling that failure an “evil” and accusing the railroad owners of “gross mismanagement.” According to Baker’s letter, some in the S&NA management (or their relatives) owned land

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around Lomax and therefore preferred that site over Clanton as a county capital.

When Clanton first became the county seat, the town had a population of about 200.

First published in The Heritage of Chilton County, Alabama, 2000.

Sources: Records of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, especially the Secretary of State’s Legislative Journals; newspaper and other files of the Chilton-Clanton Public Library; Chilton County and Her People by T.E. Wyatt; holdings in personal files; family verbal history.

VERBENA Lanier, had been a “forty-niner” during the California gold rush, when he returned to Alabama and panned for gold in the area of Repito in 1866.

Another mineral extracted in the Verbena area was graphite. The old Flaketown Graphite Company mines are located about two miles from the town, and they were operated from 1908 until about 1925.

Apparently these mines produced high-quality graphite, but the extraction process of the time proved too difficult and costly.

Once yellow fever had been conquered, Verbena never again capitalized on its reputation as a health

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resort. Even so, Verbena today is a peaceful and active rural community whose residents take great pride in their hometown and its Old South ambiance.

First published in The Heritage of Chilton County, Alabama, 2000.

Sources: Chilton County and Her People by T.E. Wyatt; Historic Site Survey of Blount, Chilton, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker Counties by the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission; Verbena, A Town Born of Yellow Fever by Sue B. McKinney; newspaper files of the Clanton Public Library; and the Alabama State Archives.