Oxford: 150 years by Consolidated Publishing Co.

July 2010

oxford

150 YEARS

The Anniston Star

Oxford Lake A Part of Everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Life BY PHILLIP TUTOR

INSIDE famous in a small town lick skillet the man-leon smith

Exclusively at

813 Snow Street Oxford, AL 36203 (across from Dillardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) Phone & Fax

256-831-5357

2500 Hwy. 431 North Anniston, AL 36206

4414 McClellan Blvd. Anniston, AL 36201

465 George Wallace Gadsden, AL 35903

(across from Winn Dixie) Phone & Fax

(across from Anniston Star) Phone & Fax

256-543-0802

256-237-5115

256-237-3882

Store Hours: Monday - Saturday / 10:00am - 6:00pm Oxford 150th Anniversay

EDITOR’S NOTE

AN EXIT TO PROSPERITY BY BOB DAVIS

Starbucks has 40 or so standalone coffeehouses in Alabama. They are mostly scattered across the four large metro areas of Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville. For the coed crowd, there are locations near the campuses in Auburn and Tuscaloosa. The remaining standalone outlet in the state is in Oxford, a city of 15,000 celebrating its 150th birthday this year. Welcome to this special examination of Oxford, its people, its powerbrokers, its history, its celebrations and its disappointments. A good place to start might be the Starbucks off Alabama 21. Near the upscale coffee shop is a lovely city-owned green space, with ball fields, a water park, a gymnasium and a walking track around a scenic lake. On the other side of the road and just up a stretch from the Starbucks is an impressive-looking high school campus, stocked with top-notch appointments and practically every amenity an educator, coach or student could desire. East of the high school sit two retail giants, a mall with 72,000 square feet of space and a couple miles past it is a newer outlet anchored by Target and other big-name sellers of sporting goods, clothes, and home and garden supplies. At City Hall, elected officials do business with the comfort that they are sitting on nearly $100 million in cash reserves. And never too far from all this prosperity and its spoils sits Interstate 20, the east-west highway that connects travelers and goods across the South. Welcome to a town nurtured by its proximity to an interstate highway, the U.S. system of roads commenced in the 1950s under the Eisenhower administration and completed some 20 years later. While the U.S. Interstate System is blamed for urban sprawl and continuing Americans’ reliance on automobiles, it has also had a tremendous economic impact on cities like Oxford.

“I-20 has affected our growth … it has created a venue for industry and retail,” Oxford Councilwoman June Land Reaves told Anniston Star reporter Patrick McCreless in a story beginning on Page 24. “People come to Oxford to shop.” It’s a testament to the modern ways of moving goods and people. The story was different when railroads were in vogue. In the 1880s as the railroad was spreading west from Atlanta, planners faced a dilemma when they reached the area around Anniston and Oxford. The line would have to make a detour around Coldwater Mountain, either to the north and through Anniston to the south and through Oxford. The matter became so contentious that it eventually landed before the U.S. Supreme Court. One version of events claims that Anniston’s city fathers had promised engineers money and real estate worth $50,000 to move the line through The Model City. The railroad builders’ offer: Take it or leave it. Actually, according to court documents, the builders said: Take it or the railroad line would move to the “rival Town of Oxford, to the exclusion of the Town of Anniston,” according to court documents. The Supreme Court of 1882’s ruling hardly mattered anymore to passengers; the railroad was already constructed to include a northward turn toward Anniston, where its existence helped grow the town from the 1880s onward. With the rise of automobiles and the national highway system, the tables turned. Anniston missed out on the interstate and Oxford found itself in the driver’s seat with a major thoroughfare to deliver prosperity.

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Roofing • Siding • Windows Tools • Gutter • Accessories

57 Depot USA Dr.

Snow St.

Interstate 20 photos by Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Oxford 150th Anniversay

Hwy 78

I-20

Hwy 78 I-20

Pace St.

57 Depot USA Dr • Oxford, AL 36203 Hwy 431/21

256-831-0749

EDITOR’S NOTE

AN EXIT TO PROSPERITY BY BOB DAVIS

Come Visit Our Oxford Location Hwy 431

Roofing • Siding • Windows Tools • Gutter • Accessories

57 Depot USA Dr.

Snow St.

Interstate 20 photos by Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Oxford 150th Anniversay

Hwy 78

I-20

Hwy 78 I-20

Pace St.

57 Depot USA Dr • Oxford, AL 36203 Hwy 431/21

256-831-0749

CONTRIBUTORS PATRICK McCRELESS Patrick McCreless, a Tuscaloosa native, has been a reporter for nearly five years and is an alumnus of Jacksonville State University.

SHEA ZIRLOTT Shea Zirlott, a native of Irvington, is a graduate student in the University of Alabama’s Masters in Community Journalism program at The Anniston Star.

CHRISTA TURNER Christa Turner, a native of Jacksonville, is the assistant sports editor at The Anniston Star

BILL EDWARDS Bill Edwards, a native of Anniston, has written for Consolidated Publishing Co. since January 1983.

TABLE of CONTENTS From Lick Skillet to Oxford.........................5

OXFORD

Oxford Gold................................................10

150 Years

OHS Sports Timeline.................................14

Alabama Home Builders Parade of Homes Expo: August 14-22

Visit with area dealers and celebrate the Parade of Homes with the Alabama Home Builders.

A Mystery in the Foundation....................30 The Man: Leon Smith................................36

Then & Now...............................................50

Dan Whisenhunt, a reporter for The Star from 2004 until 2010, now works at the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Oxford 150th Anniversay

Enjoy tax savings at our stores. Plus, register daily at Guest Services for a chance to win GREAT prizes!

Rolling Along..............................................24

DAN WHISENHUNT

Phillip Tutor is commentary editor at The Anniston Star, where he has been a reporter and editor since 1989.

Tax Holiday Weekend: Friday, August 6 – Sunday, August 8

Oxford Milestones......................................18

BRETT BUCKNER

PHILLIP TUTOR

TO OXFORD

Famous Faces with Oxford Ties................ 8

A Part of Everyone’s Life...........................44 Brett Buckner is a freelance features writer for The Anniston Star who currently lives in Columbus, Ga.

FROM LICK SKILLET

Let’s Celebrate Together!

Cover photo by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star Special thanks to Teresa Kaiser at the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County for her help with archive photos. Archive photos courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and the Library of Congress. Designed by: Jessica Stephens, a Munford native and a graduate of Jacksonville State University, and Angela Reid, news editor at The Anniston Star.

One city’s journey from sleepy outpost to retail mecca

BY PATRICK McCRELESS

he Oxford of today is a city laced with major traffic-laden highways connecting bustling shopping centers, restaurants and expanding subdivisions. Construction projects for public facilities, school buildings and businesses are a routine affair. The Oxford of 150 years ago was little more than a single dirt road lined by a few modest buildings. Oxford is experiencing unprecedented economic prosperity — a far cry from its beginnings more than a century ago as Lick Skillet, a small village and trading center for the early settlers of Choccolocco Valley. Oxford was officially incorporated on Feb. 21, 1860, an act that nullified an earlier — and what officials at the time deemed an inadequate — incorporation of the town in 1852. While an exact account of the name’s history may be lost to time, what is documented is that a post office with the name Lick Skillet was established in the area, but by petition of residents, the name of the building was changed to Oxford in 1848.

Labor Day Weekend Clearance Sale: Friday, September 3 – Monday, September 6

Our stores are clearing our their summer merchandise, so don’t miss our last big sale of the season!

70’s Fashion Show: Saturday, September 11th

Break out your bell bottoms and platform shoes! It’s time to hit the runway with the grooviest fashion show around.

Art Festival: Saturday, September 25 – Sunday, September 26

Get ready for the Art Festival at Quintard Mall! Professional artist and crafters will have their art displayed throughout the entire mall. For details contact JC Morgan at 256-835-5654 or visit ShopQuintardMall.com.

FearFest Blood Drive: October 28 and 29, 10am-8pm daily

We want to take your blood. Join us at the largest two-day blood drive in Alabama to help save lives and have a chance to win GREAT Prizes including a Quintard Mall Shopping Spree. Register online at RedCrossBlood.org, enter sponsor code: fearfest. Sponsored by: 97.9 WVOK, CableOne, AMC and Quintard Mall.

www.ShopQuintardMall.com

You could win Mall Gift Cards and benefit from special offers and discounts!

Oxford 150th Anniversay

CONTRIBUTORS PATRICK McCRELESS Patrick McCreless, a Tuscaloosa native, has been a reporter for nearly five years and is an alumnus of Jacksonville State University.

SHEA ZIRLOTT Shea Zirlott, a native of Irvington, is a graduate student in the University of Alabama’s Masters in Community Journalism program at The Anniston Star.

CHRISTA TURNER Christa Turner, a native of Jacksonville, is the assistant sports editor at The Anniston Star

BILL EDWARDS Bill Edwards, a native of Anniston, has written for Consolidated Publishing Co. since January 1983.

TABLE of CONTENTS From Lick Skillet to Oxford.........................5

OXFORD

Oxford Gold................................................10

150 Years

OHS Sports Timeline.................................14

Alabama Home Builders Parade of Homes Expo: August 14-22

Visit with area dealers and celebrate the Parade of Homes with the Alabama Home Builders.

A Mystery in the Foundation....................30 The Man: Leon Smith................................36

Then & Now...............................................50

Dan Whisenhunt, a reporter for The Star from 2004 until 2010, now works at the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Oxford 150th Anniversay

Enjoy tax savings at our stores. Plus, register daily at Guest Services for a chance to win GREAT prizes!

Rolling Along..............................................24

DAN WHISENHUNT

Phillip Tutor is commentary editor at The Anniston Star, where he has been a reporter and editor since 1989.

Tax Holiday Weekend: Friday, August 6 – Sunday, August 8

Oxford Milestones......................................18

BRETT BUCKNER

PHILLIP TUTOR

TO OXFORD

Famous Faces with Oxford Ties................ 8

A Part of Everyone’s Life...........................44 Brett Buckner is a freelance features writer for The Anniston Star who currently lives in Columbus, Ga.

FROM LICK SKILLET

Let’s Celebrate Together!

One city’s journey from sleepy outpost to retail mecca

BY PATRICK McCRELESS

Labor Day Weekend Clearance Sale: Friday, September 3 – Monday, September 6

Our stores are clearing our their summer merchandise, so don’t miss our last big sale of the season!

70’s Fashion Show: Saturday, September 11th

Break out your bell bottoms and platform shoes! It’s time to hit the runway with the grooviest fashion show around.

Art Festival: Saturday, September 25 – Sunday, September 26

FearFest Blood Drive: October 28 and 29, 10am-8pm daily

www.ShopQuintardMall.com

You could win Mall Gift Cards and benefit from special offers and discounts!

Oxford 150th Anniversay

By 1862, the Oxford Iron Company had been organized to mine iron ore and manufacture pig iron. However, it was burned when the federal cavalry entered the area in 1865 during the Civil War. The Oxford Male and Female College was established in 1868, which operated for decades until the growth of competing colleges and other schools forced its closing in 1899. The city later purchased the building for use as a high school. The building was torn down in 1953, following the completion of a new Oxford High School. In 1888, the Minnie Lula Lake Co. purchased the W.F. McCulley farm to build a 30-acre lake, a driving park and other recreational facilities. The area became Oxford Lake, which the city purchased in 1965. Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development and population was modest between 1870 and 1960. Census data indicates that in 1870, Oxford had a population of 1,473 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a number that remained relatively steady for decades and then slowly increased in the early 1900s before reaching 4,500 in 1970. Around this point, Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fate of being a relatively small, rural community began to disappear and be replaced by a vibrant, expanding regional mecca of retail consumerism. The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s period of significant growth and expansion was brought about mainly due to the completion of Interstate 20 through the area in the early 1970s. The quick growth of the city is apparent by its population more than doubling between 1970 and 1980. According to the most recent Census data, in 2000 Oxford had more than 14,000 residents. Data from the 2010 Census are not yet available. Successful businesses have flocked to Oxford in the last three decades, a move that is evident in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest economic engine, the Oxford Exchange, which opened about six years ago. In keeping with Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic growth, the city has annexed thousands of acres of land since 1970, including land in Talladega County. According to the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, Oxford controls a total of 20,025 acres, 8,307 of which have been annexed during the last 10 years. As a result of Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic boom, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenue has increased considerably in the last few decades. In 1987, Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating budget swelled to $4.6 million. Today, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budget is $33.47 million. And throughout nearly the entire expansion period, Mayor Leon Smith has been there as a driving force. Elected in 1984, Smith has consistently pushed for more business, construction and expansion â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a drive that in many ways mirrors the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit of Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earliest settlers.

Above: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star. Below: Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

ABOVE: Oxford looking north up Highway 21 from south of I-20. BELOW: Traffic speeds down Interstate 20 near Oxford.

# $ % $

# &'(

Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest economic engine, the Oxford Exchange, opened about six years ago. Oxford 150th Anniversay

Above: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star. Below: Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

ABOVE: Oxford looking north up Highway 21 from south of I-20. BELOW: Traffic speeds down Interstate 20 near Oxford.

# $ % $

# &'(

Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest economic engine, the Oxford Exchange, opened about six years ago. Oxford 150th Anniversay

FAMOUS FACES

WITH OXFORD TIES BY SHEA ZIRLOTT

Ophelia Allen Aderholt

John Lafayette Dodson

Lamar Jeffers

Leon Smith

Claim to fame: Born and raised in Calhoun County, Jeffers was a decorated World War I veteran and was also a U.S. congressman, serving from 1921 until 1935. Leaving his job as Circuit Court clerk in 1917, Jeffers joined the U.S. Army, winning the Distinguished Service Cross while fighting in France. During two of his terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Alabama’s 4th congressional district, he was chairman of the Committee on Civil Service. SOURCE: congress.gov

Claim to fame: Smith has been the mayor of Oxford since 1984, serving seven consecutive terms. Smith was raised in Mississippi. After dropping out of school at age 15, he moved to Chicago to be a steel mill worker. Smith later received his high school diploma. He moved to Oxford in the 1960s. During his tenure as mayor, the city has grown from a sleepy outpost to a bustling commercial mecca. Census data show Oxford went from a population of 4,500 in 1970 to more than 14,000 in 2000. Even more impressively, the city has a reserve of almost $100 million. SOURCE: Star archives

Claim to fame: Dodson was the co-founder and president of Oxford College. According to an Anniston Star article, “Professor Dodson received many salutes for his work at Oxford College and for his contribution to education in the state.” Dodson also allowed students to room at his home free of charge if they lived too far from the school to travel each day. Dodson resigned from Oxford College in 1888. The Presbyterian Church in Oxford was named after him April 10, 1919. SOURCE: Star archives

Mrs. J.H. O’Kelley

Bill Burgess

Kevin Greene

Claim to fame: Burgess is a former coach of Oxford High and Jacksonville State University. He spent 14 years coaching at Oxford High School, beginning in 1971. In 1985, he left Oxford to be head football coach at JSU. He spent 12 years coaching at JSU, with an ending record of 84-49-4. He led JSU to win the 1992 NCAA division II national championship. He is a member of the Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame and the Jacksonville State University Athletic Hall of Fame. SOURCES: Star archives, JSU Athletic Hall of Fame, and Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame.

Claim to fame: Greene, a one-time Oxford resident, is one of its most famous former athletes. Greene played football in the NFL for 15 years following his career at Auburn. Greene had 160 quarterback sacks during his NFL career, third-highest in the league when he retired in 1999. In 2009, Greene took a job coaching outside linebackers for the Green Bay Packers. SOURCE: Star archives and NFL

Jimmy Pettus

Rick Burgess

Claim to fame: Henley played football at Oxford High School and in 1968 was named a high school All-American. He then attended Auburn University where he led the Southeastern Conference in rushing and was named AllSEC his senior year. Henley also tried out professionally for the Atlanta Falcons, the Birmingham Americans, the Washington Redskins and the New England Patriots. He has been inducted into the Calhoun County and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. SOURCES: Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame

Claim to fame: Aderholt was 104 when she died. She had survived the Civil War and remembered it vividly. When she died, she was believed to have been the oldest person to ever live in Calhoun County. She moved to Oxford in 1882 and lived in the same house until her death in 1958. SOURCE: Star archives

Claim to fame: Burgess attended Jacksonville State University, and he worked at the campus radio station, where he met his co-host, Bill “Bubba” Bussey, for his morning radio talk show, Rick and Bubba. He has co-authored multiple New York Times bestsellers with Bill Bussey, including Rick and Bubba for President, Rick and Bubba’s Expert Guide to God, Country, Family, and Anything Else We Can Think Of and The Rick and Bubba Code. SOURCES: Star archives and Thomas Nelson Publishers Oxford 150th Anniversay

Terry Henley

Claim to fame: By 1947, Mrs. O’Kelley of Oxford had four sets of twins and a boy they called “Lost John” because he was the only one of his siblings who did not have a twin. O’Kelley was at least a third generation twin. In a 1947 interview with The Star, she said, “I’d never heard of twins having twins, so the first set was quite a surprise ... when the third set arrived, I didn’t know what to think. And when the fourth set came, I said ‘I hope that’s all.’” SOURCE: Star archives Claim to fame: Don Hudson, with the Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame, called Pettus “the best player to ever come through Oxford.” While a football player with Oxford High, the Yellow Jackets won its first county championship in 1956. He is one of only three Oxford players whose jerseys have been retired. He also played for Auburn, but, due to a knee injury, he had to turn down offers to play professional football. He was inducted into the Calhoun County Hall of Fame in 2009. SOURCE: Star archives

Dudley Snow Claim to fame: Snow is credited as being the “earliest known settler to the Oxford area,” according to a 1957 Star article. Snow, his wife Priscilla and their 12 children moved to Oxford, which was then called Lick Skillet. Snow built his home in the early 1830s on land that he purchased from Indians near a creek that bears his name. His home was Oxford’s first post office. SOURCE: Star archives and 1860 Census

Lady Bird Johnson Claim to fame: The wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson spent time in the Oxford area as a child, staying with her aunt at the home of her mother’s family, the Patillos. Johnson’s grandparents lived on Gray Street so that their children could attend Oxford College. SOURCES: Star archives and New York Times

Dudley Snow’s home; Oxford’s first post office

Oxford 150th Anniversay

FAMOUS FACES

WITH OXFORD TIES BY SHEA ZIRLOTT

Ophelia Allen Aderholt

John Lafayette Dodson

Lamar Jeffers

Leon Smith

Mrs. J.H. O’Kelley

Bill Burgess

Kevin Greene

Jimmy Pettus

Rick Burgess

Terry Henley

Dudley Snow’s home; Oxford’s first post office

Oxford 150th Anniversay

OXFORD GOLD

Photo of OHS Football Team by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

Herringâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s football success 20 years ago set the tone for Yellow Jacket football BY CHRISTA TURNER

10 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 11

OXFORD GOLD

Photo of OHS Football Team by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

Herringâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s football success 20 years ago set the tone for Yellow Jacket football BY CHRISTA TURNER

10 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 11

ust a short time ago, former Oxford High football coach Robert Herring walked around his old haunts, taking in the improvements to the football stadium and the nearly complete new school. As the coach from 1985 to 1999, Herring said he never envisioned the growth of the school, and how it, as well as the athletics, would flourish. “I thought Oxford was sort of pinned in and didn’t think it would grow any, but the city has moved out and taken in more areas,” Herring said. “The new high school reminds me of a college setting with those big columns and all. I’m over here (in Georgia) with big schools that are 2,400-3,000 (students), and I don’t know a school that looks anything like Oxford. It’s real impressive.” Herring has been away from Oxford for more than a decade, but he played a key role in just how far the athletics department has come. In 1985, he took over a successful football program from Bill Burgess. At the time, the football team had a history of success, but it didn’t have a banner. Herring changed all that. He led the Yellow Jackets to backto-back state championships in 1988 and 1989 and then followed it up with a third in 1993. Dr. Jason Jack, now a Birmingham surgeon, quarterbacked the ’88 and ’89 teams, and said Herring’s influence helped get the program where it is now. “Oxford has always had good football and a good reputation and tradition for football,” Jack said. “What was missing

Photo of Robert Herring by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

12 Oxford 150th Anniversay

was that championship to put on walls. When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to play for Oxford because of the tradition. “Hopefully (the championships), rubbed off on some of the young kids, and we were able to influence kids like the ones in the ’80s influenced me to be the best I could be out there playing.” Jack said players typically respect their coaches, but what the Oxford players felt went beyond that. “Coach Herring had such a good relationship with his players, and everybody wanted to play for him,” he said. “… but you wanted to play for coach Herring. He naturally brought that out from you.” Herring took a team already accustomed to discipline under Burgess — one that lost in the state title game — and added the necessary ingredients to get to the top. “Coach Burgess was a great disciplinarian, so the discipline was there,” Herring said. “We added a more college-type program as far as weights and offseason workouts. We sold our players on the fact that everything we did, it was important. “Then every day when we practiced, it was urgent. We carried that right to the football field on Friday nights.” The Yellow Jackets went 14-0 in 1988 to win the Class 5A title against Smiths Station. They repeated it in 1989 despite going 7-2 in the regular season. Again, the Jackets knocked off Smiths Station. In 1993, Oxford beat Greenville for a third Class 5A title. “I won’t forget the night we won the first state championship. That was for every player to put on the gold pants

at Oxford because they worked just as hard,” Herring said. “Then I felt like we represented Calhoun County after that.” Herring praised his fellow teachers and administrators for helping his team achieve success, but pointed to the unity within the community, as well. Essentially, he said, people from all walks of life came together.

Photo of Robert Herring by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

“From doctors to the guy at the filling station, they would all sit together rooting for one cause,” he said. Herring left Oxford in 1999 and spent 10 seasons coaching at Newnan (Ga.) High. He retired a year ago so he could spend more time watching his two sons coach and his grandchildren participate in sports. This past season, Oxford coach John Grass invited Herring back to give a pre-game speech to the team. It was also the 20-year reunion of the 1989 championship. “He got me to give the team a little speech before the game at homecoming,” Herring said. “I enjoyed doing that. It was the only time I’d seen a ball game over there (since leaving).” Herring’s influence can still be found in many areas. One of his first secondary coaches is Dr. Jeff Goodwin, the Oxford Schools superintendent, who also served as the Oxford High principal when Herring coached. “He was a good mentor and coach, not only of X’s and O’s, but one of his real strengths was helping young coaches, and even those who had been in the business a while, as to how to conduct business in the classroom and in the community,” Goodwin said. “One of the reasons we were very successful is that we weren’t bound to one particular way of doing things. And then he kept our strong tradition we’d already had. He never accepted a mediocre performance or anybody letting down.” Goodwin said the championships won by Herring certainly set a tone in the community. “It put into the mind of the community that these championships were possible,” he said. “He set a good foundation for those that came after him and was an excellent complement to those that came before him. I look for those same characteristics in the coaches we’ve hired since then.” Oxford 150th Anniversay 13

Photo of Robert Herring by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

12 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Photo of Robert Herring by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS TIMELINE 1920

• Oct. 2: Calhoun County High School, as the high school in Oxford was then officially named, played its first football game, losing 28-0 to a team called the Anniston Independents. • Oct. 6: Calhoun County High School defeated Pell City High School 58-0, the school’s first win in football.

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1956

• Oct. 3: Calhoun County opened the season in Oxford, its first home football game, and captured a 27-0 win over Talladega. Robert Meigs coached the team. Junior quarterback Frank Monroe was captain and senior Dean (Red) Walker, center and guard, was alternate captain.

1933

125 Davis Loop Road, (I-20 Exit #188), Oxford, AL 36203 Tel 256.835.8873 • Fax 256.835.6997

14 Oxford 150th Anniversay

• Feb 25: Calhoun County defeated Jacksonville 24-20 in the championship game of the Sixth District basketball tournament at Jacksonville State Teachers College. Two weeks later, coach Dwight (Ox) Clark’s team lost to Geraldine in the AHSAA state tournament championship game to finish 20-2. Captain Wilson (Shorty) Waits, John (Sleepy) Rhodes, Levon Self, Jesse Haynes and Braxton Hathorne were the starters with substitutes Bill Johnson, J.C. Coleman and Percy Yeargan. The Yellow Jackets qualified for the state tournament 12 more times, including another eight Sixth District titles, but never reached the state championship game again.

1934

• Oct. 12: Calhoun County dedicated its new football stadium, built at a cost of $8,000 through the New Deal’s Civil Works Administration, with a game against Anniston. Anniston’s first football trip to Oxford resulted in a 7-7 deadlock.

Membership in Fort McClellan Credit Union is now available for anyone who lives, works or attends school in the following counties: Calhoun, Cleburne, Etowah, Cherokee, St. Clair, Talladega, Clay, Randolph and Chambers.

1951

• Nov. 24: Calhoun County High School concluded its initial football season with an 18-0 win over Alabama Presbyterian College, an Anniston prep school. The team finished 4-5-0 for coach Harry A. Adams despite playing all its games on the road.

Calhoun County hired Gilbert F. Hyde, described as a graduate of the University of Mississippi with three years of varsity football experience, as its new coach. The team, with 12 lettermen returning, practiced for two weeks then disbanded.

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• Sept. 10: New Calhoun County coach Gilbert Adams opened his tenure as head football coach with a 20-0 win over Alexandria in a game played at Anniston. Adams, a graduate of Wadley High School and Jacksonville State, remained as head coach through the 1959 season, compiling a 48-53-8 worksheet. • Sept. 14: Playing for the first time officially as Oxford High School, the Yellow Jackets defeated Sylacauga 12-6 to open the season.

1924

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1948

• Nov. 2: Calhoun County High School defeated Anniston High School 27-7.

1925

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• Nov. 23: Calhoun County defeated Jones Valley 21-7 at home to complete a 6-1-1 season. Coach Dwight B. (Ox) Clark left for Fort Walton, Fla., the following season. In 1930, Clark’s first Calhoun County team was 3-6-0. The Yellow Jackets were 23-4-5 in Clark’s last four years.

• Nov. 22: Halfback Jimmy Pettus, a four-year starter for Oxford, capped his career with a 40-yard touchdown pass reception from quarterback Gene Daugherty as Oxford (9-1-0) defeated Alexandria 13-0 in the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving Day and captured the championship of Calhoun County schools. Pettus’ No. 15 jersey is one of three numbers retired by Oxford.

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1960

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1962

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• Sept. 16: Jack Grizzard, Oxford’s captain during Gilbert Adams’ first season and more recently an assistant to Adams, replaced Adams as head football coach. Grizzard’s first victory came over Jacksonville 26-7 a week after opening the season with a 19-14 loss to Anniston. Over 11 seasons, Grizzard coached Oxford teams to a 53-46-7 record. • Sept. 14: Oxford defeated Anniston 13-7, ending a winless streak in the rivalry that dated to 1921. Oxford scored midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Ray Vinson on a fourth-and-goal play and led 6-0 at halftime. Early in the fourth quarter, Max Heitt scored on a 4-yard run and Doug Cotton kicked the extra point to put Oxford ahead 13-0. Losses to Anniston cost Oxford perfect seasons in 1931 (7-1-0), 1944 (7-1-0) and 1956 (9-1-0). Vinson’s No. 11 jersey is one of three numbers retired by Oxford.

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1968

• Nov. 15: In the Anniston Quarterback Club’s Crippled Children’s charity game, Oxford defeated Cobb Avenue of Anniston 12-6. Running back Terry Henley scored early in the second quarter to put Oxford ahead 12-0. It was Henley’s 21st touchdown of the season, an Oxford record. The win over Cobb Avenue made Oxford’s final record 8-2-0 and gave the Yellow Jackets three consecutive winning seasons for the first time in school history. Henley’s No. 12 jersey is one of three numbers retired by Oxford.

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1971

• Sept. 3: Bill Burgess began his career at Oxford with a 35-21 victory over Jacksonville. During Burgess’ 14 years at Oxford his teams were 107-41-4. • Nov. 19: Oxford defeated Lanett 10-7 in the opening round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s eight-team Class 3A football playoffs. Running back Mike Henley capped a 74-yard drive in the fourth quarter with a 1-yard scoring run as Oxford overcame a 7-3 deficit and improved to 10-0-1. Oxford’s first AHSAA playoff appearance and first playoff win came in Bill Burgess’ first season as head coach.

1988

• Dec. 2: Oxford downed Smiths Station 21-14 in the Class 5A state championship game and completed its season 140, the first undefeated and untied season in Oxford’s football history. Quarterback Jason Jack passed for 156 yards and three touchdowns. Revy Higgins had touchdown receptions of 28 yards and 22 yards. Jeremy Sewell grabbed a 51-yard scoring pass. Higgins’ 22-yard catch broke a 14-14 tie. Sewell kicked all three extra points. Playing with a dislocated shoulder, fullback Jermelle Pruitt rushed for 126 yards.

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1989

• Dec. 1: Oxford defeated Smiths Station 37-35 to claim its second consecutive Class 5A state championship. Oxford took a 37-28 lead with 1:41 to play on a 40-yard field goal by Jeremy Sewell. Oxford had finished the regular season 7-2.

1993

Photo of Bill Burgess courtesy of The Anniston Star archives

1977

• March 4: Playing in Heflin, Oxford defeated Jacksonville 58-53 in the championship game of the Class 3A, Area 11 basketball tournament, improving to 31-2. The following night, Scottsboro defeated Oxford 70-65 for the region championship and a place in the state tournament. Leading the Yellow Jackets to the most wins in school history in coach Larry Windsor’s final season at Oxford were Kenny Cunningham, Tim Kirby, John Lyons, Keith Smelley, Eric Stringer and Ronald Townes.

1981

• Jan. 24: Seeded No. 4, Oxford defeated No. 2 Alexandria 63-61 in overtime to capture the Calhoun County basketball tournament championship in Larry Davidson’s first season as head coach. One night earlier, Oxford downed No. 1 Anniston 58-57 in the semifinals – also in overtime. Mike Simpson, Vance Snow and Jay Stephens were all-tournament for Oxford. Davidson’s teams won a total of six county tournament titles, the most by any Oxford coach.

1985

• Aug. 31: Oxford defeated Woodlawn of Birmingham 14-6 in its first game under new head football coach Robert Herring. Herring remained at Oxford for 14 seasons and guided the Yellow Jackets to a place in the AHSAA playoffs each year. Herring’s Oxford teams combined for a 118-42 record. 16 Oxford 150th Anniversay

• Dec. 10: With its 35-21 win over Greenville, Oxford captured its third AHSAA Class 5A state championship in six years and finished 14-0 for the second time. On the first play from scrimmage, Ryan Herring intercepted a Greenville pass. Oxford opened a 21-0 lead on scoring runs by Chauncey Teague, Paul West and Travis Montgomery. Late in third quarter, Greenville blocked an Oxford punt for a touchdown that made the score 21-21. Delano Ball returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and Oxford led 28-21. Teague’s 79-yard touchdown run with nine minutes to play completed the scoring.

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• Nov. 12: In the final year of Mike Justice’s three-year stay as Oxford’s head football coach, Oxford defeated Walker of Jasper 48-33 in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs and improved to 9-2. • Nov. 19: Buckhorn bested Oxford 21-9, beginning an run of five consecutive playoff losses by Oxford that continues today.

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• Oct. 29: The Alabama High School Athletic Association forces Oxford to forfeit seven wins springing from a violation of the bona fide move rule. The action knocks the Yellow Jackets, which had been ranked No. 8 in the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 6A poll, out of playoff contention. Oxford finished the season 10-0 on the field the following Friday with a 45-16 win over Mortimer Jordan.

2009

• May 14-15: Oxford advanced to the Class 6A state baseball finals in Montgomery only to fall to Auburn 4-1 and 13-3 and finish runner-up. The Yellow Jackets finished the season 28-14. It was the third trip to the finals Oxford had made in its baseball history, with the same result each time. In 1978, the Yellow Jackets were swept by UMS 13-0 and 8-2, and in 1989 lost to Escambia County, 7-6, 8-5. — Rip Donovan

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• Late 1830s: First white settlers into the area name it Lick Skillet. A post office was established at this time. The name “Oxford” was adopted around 1850.

Photo of the old Blue Springs Cotton Mill courtesy of The Anniston Star archives

• February 1852: The town was first incorporated when the county’s name was Benton. (One source gives the date as Feb. 1, another as Feb. 7, another as Feb. 17.)

• Sept. 16, 1960: A “supermodern 100-unit” tourist motel was announced on this date by Mayor Hemphill Whiteside for construction at the intersection of U.S. 78 and Alabama 21. Construction on 52 units was under way by the following February. • Dec. 2, 1962: The U.S. Post Office announced plans to erect a 2,600-square-foot building at the southwest corner of Oak and Main streets. At the time, the post office was at 31 Choccolocco St., to which it had moved in November 1952.

• 1857: Dodson Memorial Presbyterian Church, which had the original name of Oxford Presbyterian Church, opened.

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• September 1965: The Oxford City Council exercised its option to purchase the Oxford Lake property.

• Feb. 21, 1860: Remapping and renaming of Benton County, to be Calhoun, necessitated second charter for the town as approved by the general assembly of Alabama. Oxford’s residents would celebrate the significance of the date 100 years later with a centennial birthday, May 29June 4.

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• May 27, 1862: Around this date, the Dudley Snow Rangers were mustered into service at Oxford as Company D, 51st Alabama Cavalry, by Col. John Tyler Morgan. • 1885: Blue Springs Cotton Mill was built. It stood for many decades, housing an antique mall in the final years of its life. The tower and a portion of the main building still stand south of Interstate 20. • Nov. 14, 1888: A business known as the Minnie Lula Lake Co. bought Oxford Lake and surrounding land from its owners, Mr. and Mrs. W.F. McCulley. • May 30, 1889: A contract was let for creating Oxford Lake. A rail line to transport people between Anniston and Oxford, the “Oxford Lake Line,” was built soon thereafter.

• March 9, 1953: The Alabama Highway Patrol moved into a new building just south of U.S. 78 near its intersection with Alabama 21. The department previously had offices in the courthouse.

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• August 1980: Oxford Lake was drained for cleaning.

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• Sept. 15, 1971: Cheaha Cinema, sporting a modernistic design and 500 rocking chair-style seats, opened at the corner of Florence Boulevard and U.S. 78 East. The first picture: A G-rated Disney flick called Scandalous John. Tom Coleman, second-generation theater owner of Anniston, opened the business, which was the first new indoor theater in the area since the Calhoun opened in 1942. The Cheaha’s manager was Mrs. Nel Lumpkin. Two additional screens were added several years later. • June 21-22, 1975: Its planned existence announced in 1969, Oxford Civic Center opened to the public after nearly two years of construction. Its centerpiece is a combination gymnasium and auditorium with stage. (This was not the first place known as the “Oxford Civic Center,” however. A clubhouse that once was property of the General Electric Co. about five miles west of town bore this name after the city bought the property in May 1963.)

• • • •

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• Aug. 12, 1970: Quintard Mall opened with 16 businesses represented. Today, greatly expanded on the original site, it has approximately 70.

• May 4, 1981: One-of-a-kind for this area, a softball complex consisting of four lighted fields opened near Oxford Lake. • Dec. 3, 1983: Dubbed “The Shopping Center Tornado” in a headline, a twister ripped through and destroyed a WinnDixie near the corner of U.S. 78 East and Florence Boulevard. Two people died, and the adjoining Sky City was heavily damaged.

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• Late 1830s: First white settlers into the area name it Lick Skillet. A post office was established at this time. The name “Oxford” was adopted around 1850.

Photo of the old Blue Springs Cotton Mill courtesy of The Anniston Star archives

• February 1852: The town was first incorporated when the county’s name was Benton. (One source gives the date as Feb. 1, another as Feb. 7, another as Feb. 17.)

• 1857: Dodson Memorial Presbyterian Church, which had the original name of Oxford Presbyterian Church, opened.

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• September 1965: The Oxford City Council exercised its option to purchase the Oxford Lake property.

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• March 9, 1953: The Alabama Highway Patrol moved into a new building just south of U.S. 78 near its intersection with Alabama 21. The department previously had offices in the courthouse.

• August 1980: Oxford Lake was drained for cleaning.

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• • • •

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• Aug. 12, 1970: Quintard Mall opened with 16 businesses represented. Today, greatly expanded on the original site, it has approximately 70.

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• Feb. 27, 1984: A courier dispatched from Oxford took to the Alabama Highway Department an agreement to let Oxford build the proposed new I-20 interchange; it was signed by the Oxford City Council, the Calhoun County Commission and three of the county’s four legislators. A contract for engineering work was signed a few weeks later. • July 31, 1984: Leon Smith was elected mayor of Oxford, 1,565 votes to 1,388. “We are going to grow; we are going to be aggressive,” Smith said in one of his first interviews as mayor. • 1985: Oxford’s first Wal-Mart was built, on the west side of Alabama 21 at the U.S. 78 intersection.

• October 1992: The Oxford Independent, a weekly newspaper founded by former Anniston Star executive John Childs, published for the first time. • March 13-14, 1993: A freak blizzard struck Calhoun County with up to 18 inches of snow. Helping hold the county together with a constant broadcast of contact information and news was Chris Wright, the DJ on duty at K-98 in Oxford.

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• July/August 2006: Stores opened for business in the Oxford Exchange.

• Feb. 26, 1985: The state Highway Department decided to drop the requirement that an expensive southern access road be built for the proposed I-20 interchange, which eased the financial burden on Oxford’s share of the construction. • April 9, 1986: Oxford’s first radio station, WOXRAM/1580, went on the air. The city’s second radio station, “born” Feb. 19, 1990, was on the FM dial, 97.9, known first as WKFN but later as WVOK — K98.

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• Oct. 10, 1987: Organized to celebrate the recent renovation and restoration of classic downtown retail space, OxfordFest was held for the first time. Some visitors said it was their first-ever visit to downtown Oxford. • 1988: In December, the end of the high school football season brought Oxford High School its Class 5A state championship. The Yellow Jackets repeated the feat in 1989 and 1993. • Sept. 1989: The three-screen Cheaha Cinemas closed, owing to a corporate decision by its owner, United Artists.

AVALON

Anniston Star archives

• Aug. 20, 1990: The Coldwater Covered Bridge was set into place over a spillway at Oxford Lake, following a slow 10-mile journey by truck from Coldwater Creek. One oldtimer, who said his kin had helped build it, estimated it had been constructed around 1912. • Feb. 24, 1991: Red Lobster opened for business. Acquiring a national chain restaurant had been a goal of government and business leaders for several years. True, O’Charley’s had opened the previous spring, but Red Lobster seemed to have a greater tug on the popular imagination. 22 Oxford 150th Anniversay

• Aug. 31, 2006: A shooting took place outside Oxford’s football stadium on the Anniston side during the Anniston-Oxford football game. No one was hurt, no students were involved and two suspects from Anniston were arrested. And while the crime had nothing to do with the athletic rivalry — it was a domestic dispute that erupted in a public place — Oxford school officials a week later cancelled games with Anniston in all sports, involving all ages. • June 24, 2009: Heavy machinery began removing dirt from a hill behind Target in the Oxford Exchange. Controversy ensued as historians and archaeologists mourned the loss of a site created by native Americans of the Woodland Era. On April 30, 2010, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley signed into law a bill that protects American Indian burial and funerary objects; supporters said the law might have helped preserve Oxford’s mound, had it been in effect.

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• July/August 2006: Stores opened for business in the Oxford Exchange.

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WWW.ANNISTONSTAR.COM

ROLLING ALONG

Development of Interstate 20 key to Oxford’s prosperity BY PATRICK McCRELESS

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ore than 40 years ago, construction began on a highway that would stretch across Alabama to the Mississippi and Georgia state lines. During the 1960s and 1970s, crews routed the highway — dubbed Interstate 20 — through the small city of Oxford. I-20 now stretches 1,500 miles from Texas to South Carolina. Photo of Interstate 20 by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

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Oxford is not so small anymore ...

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ROLLING ALONG

Development of Interstate 20 key to Oxford’s prosperity BY PATRICK McCRELESS

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Oxford is not so small anymore ...

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“Oxford has grown quite a bit,” said Harold Smith of Heflin. “Most towns that are on the interstate grow like Oxford has.” Smith, who is a retired employee with the Alabama Department of Transportation, was a surveyor when work began on sections of I-20 through Calhoun County and Oxford — unaware of the interstate’s eventual impact on the city’s development. “At my level at the time, I didn’t have any idea,” Smith said. In the decades since the completion of I-20 through Oxford in the mid-1970s, the city has experienced nearly continuous growth in business, population and revenue, and has become a driving economic engine of the county. In addition, the city has grown in size, annexing thousands of acres of land since 1970, including land in Talladega County. According to the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, Oxford controls a total of 20,025 acres, 8,307 of which have been annexed during the last 10 years, and stretch east and west along the interstate. To Pat Shaddix, director of the Center for Economic Development at Jacksonville State University, Oxford is a template for how a community can take economic advantage of an interstate. “They are a very pro-business, progressive government,” Shaddix said. According to U.S. Census data, Oxford’s population doubled within 10 years after the interstate’s completion. Businesses soon flocked to the area, beginning with the expansion of Quintard Mall in the 1980s. Construction on the WalMart Super Center began in the late 1980s. Many businesses and restaurants later opened at the I-20 Golden Springs exit, culminating in the opening of the Oxford Exchange about six years ago. “I-20 has affected our growth … it has created a venue for industry and retail,” said Oxford Councilwoman June Land Reaves. Thirty years ago, many residents from Oxford and other parts of Calhoun County went to Anniston to do their shopping, but that is no longer the case, Reaves said. “People come to Oxford to shop,” she said. The infusion of sales tax dollars has given Oxford operating revenue to spare. “Tax revenue in Alabama is based on sales taxes,” Shaddix said. “If you don’t take care of that, you’re not going to be able to do anything.” In 1987, Oxford had an operating budget of $4.6 million. Today, the Oxford Board of Education alone has an operating budget of $4.8 million. Oxford currently has a $33.47 million budget and more than $90 million in reserves. The current construction of the new Oxford High School is a recent example of the city’s financial power. Unlike many other school systems in the state, Oxford has little trouble finding funding for projects and is not relying on state money for the $19 million high school. “The city government is paying for that 100 percent,” said Oxford School Superintendent Jeff Goodwin. “Our city government has, as a priority, funded the school district. I can’t complain.” 26 Oxford 150th Anniversay

However, Tony Harris, bureau chief for media and community relations at ALDOT, said there was no validity to the rumor. “Largely, the routes built were decided by Congress and highway planners,” Harris said. “Construction was based on the easiest routes to build, trying to serve population centers, environmental factors, contours of land and waterways. A lot of factors go into how routes are made.” Interstate 20 was but a small part of a massive national highway system project the federal government began more than 50 years ago to improve traffic safety, reduce travel times and increase the nation’s economic productivity. According to TRIP, a Washington-based, national nonprofit group that researches and distributes economic and technical data on highway transportation issues, the national highway system has become the backbone of the nation’s and Alabama’s economies. “Since its creation, it has allowed commerce to flow more freely, and it has made travel and mobility much easier,” said Carolyn Bonifas, associate director for research and communications at TRIP. Industries like Oxford’s Kronospan, which makes woodbased products, is located near I-20 to take advantage of the efficient transportation system. TRIP statistics indicate that about $126 billion in goods

are shipped annually from sites in Alabama, while another $124 billion in goods are shipped to sites in Alabama. Eighty percent of the goods shipped from Alabama are carried by trucks, while 77 percent of goods shipped into Alabama are carried by trucks. Bonifas said the figures include the goods for businesses located on interstates, such as the Target and Best Buy at the Oxford Exchange, where I-20’s steady traffic is clearly visible from the sea of nearby parking lots.

In 1987, Oxford had an operating budget of $4.6 million. Today, the Oxford Board of Education alone has a budget of $4.8 million. She noted that travel on the interstate perpetuates business and vice versa. “It’s a cause and effect … people traveling through cause businesses to spring up and then those businesses lure more people,” she said.

Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

Despite proration through much of the state, Oxford has built a new high school that’s set to open this school year.

Shaddix, who is an Oxford native and served on the City Council through the 1960s and part of the 1970s, said while the interstate is a driving force behind Oxford’s economic development, so too is the city’s government and long-time mayor, Leon Smith. “Oxford has a strong mayor and that’s a plus down there,” Shaddix said. First elected in 1984, Smith has consistently pushed for more business and expansion in the city throughout his career. Construction of I-20 was completed in sections during the 1960s and 1970s and into the 1980s. In 1970, a stretch connecting Eastaboga to Oxford opened. The next year, another stretch from Oxford to the U.S. 431 exit for Wedowee was completed. In 1972, the nine-mile section from U.S. 431 to Alabama 9 opened. Finally, in December 1985, the last fourmile stretch between Leeds and Irondale opened, completing the interstate from Atlanta to Birmingham. A rumor that has floated around Calhoun County for years alleges the federal highway department originally proposed routing I-20 through Anniston. However, Anniston city officials complained to highway planners about the interstate, saying it would allow transients and other non-desirables easier access to the city. The highway was rerouted to Oxford as a result.

Photo of Oxford and Interstate 20 by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

Oxford 150th Anniversay 27

Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

Despite proration through much of the state, Oxford has built a new high school that’s set to open this school year.

Photo of Oxford and Interstate 20 by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

Oxford 150th Anniversay 27

28 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 29

28 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 29

A MYSTERY IN THE FOUNDATION BY BRETT BUCKNER

Linda Crow cannot help but imagine what might lie in the cool, waiting darkness below. Anniston Star archives

30 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford’s Dodson Memorial

Presbyterian Church might have once been a stop along

the Underground Railroad

It is the point where history descends into legend and the truth rests somewhere in between. Standing above a metal air conditioning grate only a few steps down from the pulpit of a church she’s attended for more than 20 years, Linda Crow cannot help but imagine what might lie in the cool, waiting darkness below. As the unofficial historian for Oxford’s Dodson Memorial Presbyterian Church, Crow knows the story but proof is harder to come by. During the 1800s, estimates suggest that more than 100,000 Southern slaves sought freedom through the Underground Railroad, a symbolic term given to the various routes black slaves took to gain their freedom as they traveled, often as far as Canada and Mexico. According to local legend, Dodson Memorial Church was once a stop along this perilous journey. “Honestly, it could be anything, but we like the story and hope that it’s true” Crow says, kneeling on the carpeted floor, her thin fingers gripping the grate. “But who really knows for sure … guess there’s only one way to find out.” With that, Crow pulls the heavy grate up from the floor, revealing a trench below the church’s foundation that drops straight down about seven feet. A hole, roughly six feet wide, has been dug out, carving walls out of the stone and Alabama red clay. While the heat outside is sweltering, the space beneath the church is moist and cool. It would make a perfect hiding place, but whether it was ever used as one is open for debate. As the story goes, there was once a door that led to the hole where slaves could hide before sneaking out under the cover of night to another next safe house, which was thought to be near the Baptist church in town. But as the church has undergone various changes and renovations in its 153-year history, the supposed door has vanished, possibly having been replaced with the metal airconditioning grate. Every Sunday, 50-plus Dodson Memorial members gather to worship and sing hymns, few realizing what lies beneath their feet. Rumor had it that the door was somewhere beneath the wooden pews of the choir loft, but evidence of such an opening has never been found. Walking through the small, humble church for a clue, Crow approaches the grate — perfectly hidden in plain sight — realizing what it once could have been. “It makes sense,” she says, looking down in the hole with a flashlight that barely penetrates the darkness. “It would be a great place to hide … could’ve been here all along, and we didn’t even know it.” While the Underground Railroad was active throughout the 1800s, the legend of Dodson being a possible stop along its route didn’t surface until 2000 when the church received

Photos by Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

ABOVE: Pastor Becky Davis and Linda Crow look at a hole in the floor that lead to a dug-out area beneath the floor. BELOW: Pastor Becky Davis looks through a narrow slit in the foundation that leads to the area below the floor.

Oxford 150th Anniversay 31

A MYSTERY IN THE FOUNDATION BY BRETT BUCKNER

Linda Crow cannot help but imagine what might lie in the cool, waiting darkness below. Anniston Star archives

30 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford’s Dodson Memorial

Presbyterian Church might have once been a stop along

the Underground Railroad

Photos by Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Oxford 150th Anniversay 31

Happy 150 Birthday Oxford! th

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an e-mail from a former member who came across a notation listed in a publication on Black Heritage in Alabama published by the Alabama Bureau of Tourism. The e-mail even cited a page number, though no such reference has been verified, and the church is not listed along any officially known route. The member who sent the e-mail has since died. But still the story lingers. “We were all pretty much in the dark,” Crow says. “But we’re really proud to know that something in our past may have helped save lives.” Before the grate was lifted, it was believed the only way to see what lurked beneath the church was through a narrow slit punched out from the grey brick foundation. Guarded by the skeletal branches of a honeysuckle bush, the opening offers little visibility inside, but could have served as a good spot for a lookout.

“We’re really proud something to know something in our past may have helped save lives.” — Linda Crow Slaves who sought to escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad were considered fugitives from the law. As early as 1793, the federal government passed the Fugitive Slave Acts, allowing slave catchers to force runaways back into slavery. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, hiding fugitive slaves became a federal offense, making all Underground Railroad activity subject to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Built in 1857, Dodson Memorial — or, Oxford Presbyterian Church as it was known until 1919 — might have served as a stop for the Underground Railroad. “It just makes sense,” Crow says. “It all fits together, or we like to think that it does, but who can say for certain?”

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280 Colonial Drive, Oxford Alabama 36203 • (256) 831-0083 • www.oxfordanniston.hgi.com Miller Funeral Home and Crematory was established in April 1970 by Toby and Dianne Miller under the name of Miller-Robinson Funeral Home. The Robinson name belonged to James H. Robinson, a licensed Embalmer who agreed to partner with Toby Miller until the time he completed Embalming School and earned his Embalmers License. Toby Miller enrolled into the Funeral Service program and Jefferson State Junior College in 1970 and commuted four nights a week for two years earning his degree. Initially, the business operated with Toby Miller being the only full time person and a couple of part-time people. After receiving his degree in Mortuary Science the business was relocated in 1972 to its present site at 50 Hamric Dr East. The initial building was a modest 6000 square foot facility. In the same year, Congressman Bill Nichols selected him to be Oxford’s Outstanding Young Man of the Year. He purchased Mr. Robinson’s part of the business and officially changed the name to Miller Funeral Home.

Toby Miller was charter members of the Oxford Quarterback Club, the Rotary Club, and organized the Oxford Rescue Squad which operated out the funeral home for a few years. Currently the campus of Miller Funeral Home and Crematory houses a 17,000 square foot facility, the largest in the area and employees 10 full time employees. In 1983 Miller Florist was founded. In 1992, Miller Monument Company was founded; and in 1995, Kids First Day Care Center was founded on the same property by their daughter. In May of 2006 a crematory was added. Recently Miller Funeral Home and Crematory opened an on-site food service area that accommodates over 60 people for their families use. Since the time of being the sole employee, the Miller family is now responsible for employing over 30 full time people in our community.

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In 1974 Toby Miller was appointed to the Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center’s Board of Directors to represent the City of Oxford. Having served six, five year terms. During those 30 years of service, he served on many committees and chaired as Chairman on several committees. When he retired in 2005, he was serving as Vice Chairman of the Board. In 2009, he once again was asked by RMC to serve on another of its Boards. He has the distinguished honor of serving more time than any other appointee. RMC is Calhoun County’s second largest employer.

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Pastor Becky Davis looks under the floor at a dug out are beneath the floor at Dodson Memorial Presbyterian Church in Oxford.

In 2000, Toby Miller joined eight other businessmen in the organization of Cheaha Bank. Cheaha Bank has grown to serve in three locations in Calhoun County and employs over 35 people. Miller Funeral Home and Crematory was recently awarded Calhoun County’s Sustaining business for 2010, and this year we celebrate our 40th anniversary serving the families of Calhoun, Cleburne , Clay and Talladega Counties. At the Alabama Funeral Directors Convention this June, Toby Miller received recognition for his 50 years of service in the funeral industry. Toby began his career in 1960 at Gray Brown Service.

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Organized by its 12 charter members, Dodson was the second church in Oxford and the first Presbyterian church. The land it stands on at 825 Main St. was sold to the congregation by Dudley Snow for $200. John McIver Forbes, who used his own slaves to cut the timber, was instrumental in the construction of what became Dodson Memorial Church. Everything was built by hand and on-site with wooden pegs instead of nails. Soon after the modest, $2,500 church and its steeple were completed, Forbes and another local planter freed more of their slaves at the close of the Civil War than any other planters in the Choccolocco Valley, according to church records. Also, the Rev. William Hall was the pastor from 1856-1864. When he retired from the ministry, Hall moved to Kentucky where it’s believed he might have served as a guide or “conductor” along various stops for the Underground Railroad. “There are a lot of clues,” Crow says, “but nothing is conclusive and it probably never will be.” Legends don’t necessarily have to be true to be inspiring. Becky Davis has only been pastor of Dodson since June, but after spending an afternoon peering into the darkness of her church’s past, she cannot help but find a sense of pride in the role it may have played in leading enslaved souls to freedom. “The church apparently tried to do something to help people,” she says. “And it occurs to me that it’s what we’re still trying to do — risking ourselves by getting out of our comfort zone in order to help people along on their journey. “It’s a nice thought.”

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Editor¹s note: This article was originally published Sept. 21, 2008.

THE MAN:

Area leaders seem ready to follow Oxford mayor’s lead

y all appearances, it’s a good time to be Oxford Mayor Leon Smith. When the mayor won his seventh term in August 2008, Oxford voters rejected two incumbent council members on the fivemember council who had feuded with Smith. It was the end of a four-year-long power struggle that saw the mayor’s powers reduced and the council’s increase as the city’s population grew. In 2004, Oxford’s population topped 12,000 and changed the makeup of Oxford’s government, giving more authority to the City Council. Smith no longer has a vote.

But Smith doesn’t see himself as a powerhouse in the county. While he hasn’t ruled out being involved with McClellan redevelopment, he’s clear about his first priority. “How can you be a powerhouse when you work for 20,000 people,” he said, batting away the question. “You’d be doing good to get by at home without taking care of everybody else’s business.”

Steel Tires

At 68, Smith is a strong-willed man. He speaks his mind: about the City Council, the local newspaper or whatever else is bugging him. Sometimes he speaks in a non-linear way, his mind churning 24 years of city politics.

BY DAN WHISENHUNT

Photo of Leon Smith by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

Anniston Star archives

36 Oxford 150th Anniversay

The population continues to grow and appears likely to eclipse Anniston’s in the future. Smith still controls the city work force. His fiscal management has led Oxford to financial prosperity unmatched in the county. The city has more than $90 million in the bank, a thriving retail sector and a first-rate school system. At least two other county leaders have publicly asked for Smith’s help and leadership. Shortly after the August elections, Anniston Mayor-elect Gene Robinson said he would “jump” if Smith told him to. Calhoun County Commission Chairman Eli Henderson says Smith’s business and leadership skills are needed with redeveloping the former Fort McClellan, a closed military base the county recently took over.

Ask him a question and he’s likely to respond using an example from two decades ago. When Coosa Valley Youth Services recently asked the City Council for more money for its detention center, Smith told them he remembered one instance in which the facility didn’t have beds for juveniles arrested in his city. Coosa Valley’s current executive director didn’t know the details about the incident. It sprang to Smith’s mind in half a second. Smith remembers being 12 years old in Corinth, Miss., living somewhere between that town and Selmer, Tenn. His parents divorced at an early age. He was raised by his grandparents, and always called his grandmother “Momma.” Oxford 150th Anniversay 37

Editor¹s note: This article was originally published Sept. 21, 2008.

THE MAN:

Area leaders seem ready to follow Oxford mayor’s lead

Steel Tires

BY DAN WHISENHUNT

Photo of Leon Smith by Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

Anniston Star archives

36 Oxford 150th Anniversay

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Smith grew up poor and worked for what he had. “If I needed a laxative, my mother would put me on the potty and tell me a ghost story,” he said. He remembers his first job mowing people’s yards. The nicer rubber tires for his push mower cost $2.50; the steel cost $2 and were louder. Smith bought the steel tires. Every dog in the county could hear them as he worked around town, he said. His grandfather, Laney, died when Smith was 10. Raised by his grandmother, Amy, Smith painted porches, raked leaves and did whatever else he could to get by. “I just grew up around people, around businesses,” he said. “A lot of people had small, small businesses then, and I always found business people were pretty nice people. I’d clean up little parking lots for them, whatever they wanted me to do. Whatever funds were made, I took them home to Momma.”

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“Shellmart” in Eastaboga, owns a Jolly Joe’s fireworks store in Oxford, and Papa Joes and “Crazy Joes” fireworks stores in South Carolina, according to his son, Gary, and forms filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission. He also serves on a local advisory board for BB&T bank. Smith did not go into detail about his businesses. He completed his high school degree in the 1980s, but said he picked up most of his business knowledge from his grandfather. “My granddaddy was always a good trader and always trading,” Smith said. “He always kept him an old truck, always hauling for people.”

Anniston Mayor-elect Gene Robinson said he would “jump” if Smith told him to. As mayor, Smith has cut a lot of ribbons with Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce President Sherri Sumners. “He could see around corners early on and has been able to leverage that to a very effective tenure in office,” Sumners said. “There are very few cities that can match what Oxford has done, particularly in terms of economic success.” Whether Smith should be more involved with the rest of the county is up to him, Sumners said. Smith said he’d never thought about running for Oxford mayor before he won his first term in 1984. Before that race, he had run unsuccessfully for the Calhoun County Commission and the state Legislature. He became involved in Oxford politics first by coaching his four sons in youth sports leagues. He was friends with the city’s park director, Earl Martin. Martin ran for mayor and won, but died from a heart attack before running for re-election. “All of his people started trying to get me to run, and I told them I never had a deep thought about being no mayor,” Smith said. Smith did run, winning in a runoff. Now Smith thinks “the good Lord put me where he wanted me.”

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Smith dropped out of school at 15 and left for Chicago, where he worked in a steel mill for a few years. There he met his wife, Delone, a fellow Southerner from Jasper. They moved back to Alabama in the ’60s, and Smith opened a beverage store on Quintard in Oxford. “I’d been to see Jasper and looked that over,” he said. “I had a friend that lived here and said, ‘It’s a pretty good town, a pretty good community.’ I’ve been here ever since.”

A businessman Smith continues to have his own business interests in addition to being Oxford’s full-time mayor. He owns a

Though Smith doesn’t believe any one denomination will get someone into heaven, he does identify himself as a Baptist. He attends the First Baptist Church of Oxford and was re-baptized there by pastor Buddy Nelson, who now preaches at Anniston’s First Baptist Church at McClellan. Smith likes to say God doesn’t put more on him than he can handle. His years as Oxford’s leader have not left the mayor unscathed. Early on, he developed a reputation as a feisty defender of his city. In the early 1990s, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation probed whether Smith used his office for personal gain, but later cleared him of any wrongdoing. He also suffered personal losses over the years. His oldest Oxford 150th Anniversay 39

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son, Johnny, died from diabetes in 2006. His youngest, Danny, died in a car accident on New Year’s Eve 2003. Smith doesn’t like to talk about it. “It was tough, and I don’t know if I can sit here and tell you how you handle all that,” he said. “I don’t know if anybody can tell you that. You just get through it. You ask for the good Lord’s blessing and move forward. Delone and I aren’t the first ones that happened to, and we won’t be the last. Unless you’ve been through it, you don’t know how it is.” Smith admits he’s said some things as mayor he wishes he could take back. Though he didn’t name any specific incidents, in 2006, he launched into a profanity-laden tirade against the City Council over a library contract during a public work session.

Now, Smith thinks “the good Lord put me where he wanted me.”

The playmaker

Shortly after he beat Howell, Anniston Mayor-elect Robinson declared Smith “the No. 1 power in the county.” “If he tells Gene Robinson to jump, I’m going to jump,” Robinson told The Star. Robinson now says he views Anniston and Oxford as equals, competing against one another for business and as co-leaders in the county’s development. He also said he would not impose on Smith to help him with any of Anniston’s development issues.

“I’ve said things I wished I could’ve said over,” he said. “But you’ve got to keep on moving. You can’t back up. You’ve got to keep going and try to better yourself at all times.”

Dean of Mayors

Around the county and the state, Smith is regarded as the best at what he does. Bill Curtis, executive director of the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, called Smith “the dean of mayors.” He said Smith has served in every capacity with the commission, and he considers Oxford’s mayor a personal friend. In particular, Smith is supportive of the commission’s programs for senior citizens, Curtis said. “He’s highly respected by the other local officials in the county,” he said. “They look to him for leadership on a broad number of issues. Mayor Smith was president of the Alabama League of Municipalities and has served in a leadership capacity in the League of Municipalities.” Jacksonville Mayor Johnny Smith said while he doesn’t know Smith that well personally, he envies his success. Anniston Mayor Chip Howell, who recently lost re-election, would not comment for this story. Piedmont Mayor Charlie Fagan said he’s grateful to Smith for his help early in Fagan’s career. Shortly after Fagan was elected mayor, Smith invited him to a meeting with Gov. Don Siegelman. “He told me the story that when he was mayor, he went to Montgomery for eight years and kicked on doors and they wouldn’t open them,” Fagan said. “Then he told me he’d stand in front of the doors until they opened them. He saved me eight years of standing in front of doors and not having them open.” Fagan said Smith has helped the rest of the county as well; when businesses come to Oxford, they create jobs for 40 Oxford 150th Anniversay

people in other cities. No mayor has more power than he’s allowed, Fagan said. But he said Smith’s influence is certainly wide-spread. “I joke with Mayor Smith a lot of times I’m not going to compete with him for his projects, but I just want his seconds and his rejects in Piedmont to help me keep Piedmont moving forward as well,” Fagan said.

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star/File

Leon Smith clowns around for the camera with little Lauren Holder at his victory party.

“We should be competitive,” Robinson said. “On many other levels, we should be joined together and work together toward (solving) community problems.” Commission Chairman Henderson said he wants Smith at the table when it comes to McClellan redevelopment. As Oxford grows, he thinks the city should take a leadership role in the county. He remembers being with Smith when the city closed the deal to bring the Kronospan factory to Oxford, saying the mayor lured them away from other sites. “Whether you like him or you love him or you don’t, you’ve got to get Leon to the table,” Henderson said. “He’s the playmaker. He’s the ball-handler.”

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Now, Smith thinks “the good Lord put me where he wanted me.”

The playmaker

“I’ve said things I wished I could’ve said over,” he said. “But you’ve got to keep on moving. You can’t back up. You’ve got to keep going and try to better yourself at all times.”

Dean of Mayors

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star/File

Leon Smith clowns around for the camera with little Lauren Holder at his victory party.

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But Oxford hasn’t always cooperated with the rest of the county. Oxford is the only major Calhoun County city that does not give money to the Calhoun County Drug Task Force, though the city works with the agency. In 1999, the city purchased hilltop property for $2 million, property the city of Anniston had planned to develop.

Secret Samaritan

Smith does what he thinks is best for Oxford as mayor. But as a man, he opens his heart to everyone, friends and family say. Gary said his father coached youth sports long after his sons stopped playing. He has taken toys to needy families at Christmas and helped elderly residents buy prescription drugs. Smith doesn’t broadcast these things for everyone to know. “If you talk about it, he would feel like it was bragging, and he would never brag about something like that,” Gary said. When it comes to helping the rest of the county with its redevelopment efforts, it’s a different matter to Smith. When asked about the comments from Robinson about the role he plays in the county, Smith was dismissive. “I think he was excited when he got elected and said some things that if he could go back (and think about it), he probably used a bad choice of words,” Smith said, adding that he has worked with Anniston mayors in the past. When asked what role Oxford could play in McClellan, Smith said, “When is Anniston going to play a role?” Smith believes Anniston missed opportunities to take care of the Eastern Parkway. The city could have passed a bond issue to build the road instead of focusing on its downtown area, he said. “They want me to help them with this and that, and then when you try to help some of them, they’ll wet on your leg and tell you it’s raining,” he said. Smith believes the fort was built for people, not industry. If cities want industry, they should look to examples like the Anniston Army Depot, he said. “I didn’t see any of them (other cities) playing a role to get roads built down here,” he said.

Critics and Friends

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star/File

Leon Smith got plenty of hugs from family and supporters after winning the Oxford mayor race.

Henderson knows Smith may be reluctant to take on a leadership role with the McClellan project; but the way he sees it, he has no other options. “I think once we all get around the table and we get some of these other people involved, I think he’ll have a different perspective,” Henderson said. “I hope he will.”

Smith still has his critics. There are some people in his city who would prefer a different leader, according to recent election results. Freddie Hinton, who ran against Smith in 2000 and 2004, is not a fan. “What really gets me is he’s said things to people where most elected officials, it would be easy to pick them off,” Hinton said. “Most people wouldn’t get re-elected after talking to people the way this person has. He’s not a very nice person.” Smith said he thinks he treats everyone with respect. The mayor and City Council feuded publicly over the last four years, mainly about city spending. Smith said the way he manages money — like saving up $90 million in the city’s reserves and raising more than $100,000 in re-election funds without spending much of either — is a product of the way he grew up. Councilman Steven Waits, who won re-election, said he

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star/File

wants the City Council and the mayor to work more closely together, but called the relationship “a shared responsibility.” Councilman Greg Thrower, who lost trying to unseat Smith this year, does think Oxford should assume a leadership role and work more closely with other cities. He criticized Smith’s management style. “I feel as if Mayor Smith micromanages too much as far as the department heads,” Thrower said. “In my opinion, if you hired good department heads, you let them run their business.” City Finance Director Alton Craft, who has known Smith for 24 years, said the mayor doesn’t always let people see the other side of his personality. “I think it’s just because that whole generation of men speak their mind, they tell you the truth, and my generation doesn’t always enjoy hearing the truth,” Craft said. Gary said his father has always been straightforward. “You don’t have to guess where he’s standing,” he said. In his down time, Smith works on his farm in Eastaboga, his wife and son say. According to Delone, what you see with her husband is what you get. “He’s just a good person,” she said. “He loves Oxford and the people in it, and that’s about it.”

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Secret Samaritan

Critics and Friends

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star/File

Leon Smith got plenty of hugs from family and supporters after winning the Oxford mayor race.

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star/File

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“You can’t back up. You’ve got to keep going and try to better yourself ...” 42 Oxford 150th Anniversay

— Leon Smith, Oxford’s mayor since 1984

Vester M Martin III, CFP® Financial Advisor

Sharon Martin, AAMS® Financial Advisor

1419 Leighton Ave Suite C Anniston, AL 36207 256-238-2980

240 Oxford Exchange Boulevard Oxford, AL 36203 256-835-5694

Member SIPC

Oxford 150th Anniversay 43

For 14 decades, Oxford Lake has been a community oasis

A PART OF EVERYONE’S LIFE BY PHILLIP TUTOR

Nown Ope

AOD Federal Credit Union Oxford Office

12 Elm Street

s is the case with Oxford Lake’s dragonflies and afternoon serenity, images of its past can be hard to shake. They are tales often told: of Ferris wheels and boat races, of a 50-animal merry-go-round and an alligator named “Jake,” of vaudeville shows and a bowling alley, of a race track and skating rink. Prescient amid those tales are the nickel streetcar rides that ferried Sunday-best visitors to Calhoun County’s man-made retreat. Oxford Lake photo courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County

44 Oxford 150th Anniversay

(Across from Wal-Mart)

Monday–Friday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Drive thru open until 6 p.m. on Fridays)

Saturday: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

For 14 decades, Oxford Lake has been a community oasis

A PART OF EVERYONE’S LIFE BY PHILLIP TUTOR

Nown Ope

AOD Federal Credit Union Oxford Office

12 Elm Street

44 Oxford 150th Anniversay

(Across from Wal-Mart)

Monday–Friday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Drive thru open until 6 p.m. on Fridays)

Saturday: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Time, like erosion on the lake’s iconic island, represents an unavoidable demon for the 110-year-old lake built on the site of McCulley’s spring in 1889. Long absent are the circus-style rides, the zoo animals, the vaudeville theater, the bowling alley, the trolley tracks. All are gone. But Oxford Lake’s human constant — its community of people — is intact. Though more than a century old, and hardly resembling its past incarnations, the 16-acre lake today remains a destination spot for joggers, picnickers and those needing a dose of its manufactured serenity. To some, the lake still calls their name. If anything, that is Oxford Lake’s legacy. Its place as a social lighthouse is secure. “It’s just always been a part of everyone’s life,” says Shirley Mellon Dewberry, whose family has lived in Oxford for generations. “Everyone has always had a good time there. There was always a lot to do there. “It has kind of grown as people have grown. It has kind of fit the needs of the people.”

‘GREAT PLACE TO GO’

Perhaps it was preordained that one of Calhoun County’s top recreational sites would be built on acreage that Native Americans once inhabited. People have seen that tract of Alabama land as communal soil for hundreds, if

not thousands, of years. Yet, the land’s community of people has evolved along with the lake’s amenities and the ebb-and-flow of its popularity. It’s a community of people without a one-description-fits-all label. From Native Americans of the 1600s, to Victorian Age Alabamians at the turn of the previous century, to iPod-wearing joggers today, they’ve all been drawn

by dissimilar reasons to the same plot of land. To old-timers with grand visions, Oxford Lake harkens to memories of its 1940s wartime heyday. To others, the lake is a story of decline, rebirth and revitalization: The early 1960s and early 1980s weren’t the best eras for the lake’s legacy. Younger residents today know it for its Fourth of July fireworks and its Freedom Park playground. Teens have long seen the lake as a nighttime hangout, often to the chagrin of disapproving adults. Embedded into the lake’s lore are people such as June Land Reaves, the Oxford city councilwoman whose eyes light up when she recalls family outings of her childhood, many of which were spent at Oxford Lake. There, Reaves says, children of the ’50s melted away sweltering afternoons on the rides and attractions. “It was just a great place to go,” said Reaves, who moved to Oxford with her family from Augusta, Ga., when she was 8. “There were so many fascinating things about the lake. The animals, the alligator, the deer, the boat rides. There was a pavilion with a juke box where you could dance.” Imagine the thoughts of Mr. and Mrs. W.F. McCulley, who sold their spring and farmland to the Minnie Lula Lake Co. for $20,000 on Nov. 14, 1888, if they were to hear

of teens jigging to the jukebox on their former land. Of course, times were different when the Alabama Electric and Gas Co., which acquired the land through foreclosure, built the lake with its irregular shape and center island in the summer of ’89. They were different times, indeed. Jacksonville was the Calhoun County seat. The Civil War’s end was only 24 years old. Benjamin Harrison was president. In fact, 1889 was a remarkable period: The Eiffel Tower opened, Jefferson Davis died, Adolf Hitler was born and four states joined the Union — Washington, Montana and the Dakotas. It would be another 14 years before the Wright brothers would launch Flyer I, the first powered airplane. Into that world came Oxford Lake, which instantly became a beacon that called to Calhoun Countians seeking respite from the summer heat. A rail line was immediately planned to connect Anniston, then less than a decade from its public opening, to the lake. By the turn of the century, residents apparently used the tree-lined island as an outdoor wedding chapel. (Churches would later use the island for summer picnics.) A caption on a July 4, 1900, photograph of the lake even gives the island a name: The Isle of Matrimony.

“It has kind of grown as people have grown. It has kind of fit the needs of the people.” — Shirley Dewberry But the lake’s community of people still honored the mores of the times. When Alabama Electric and Gas Co. added a rectangular swimming pool next to the lake — roughly the modern-day site of the Coldwater covered bridge — social traditions at the lake still had to be maintained. “In those days,” The Star wrote in a 1960 recollection of the lake’s early decades, “there were sliding doors that

Historic photos of Oxford Lake courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County.

46 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 47

‘GREAT PLACE TO GO’

Historic photos of Oxford Lake courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County.

46 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 47

separated the men’s pool from the women’s because then a woman’s legs were something never revealed in the open to masculine eyes.”

just as strong feelings about the lake. “It’s a source of pride to have a place where so many people come together,” she said.

COVERED IN SOLDIERS

Protecting Its Future

By the mid-1940s, Oxford Lake was secure in its place as a Calhoun County destination. Cars had replaced some of the trolleys, south-bound buses were filled with Fort McClellan soldiers, and the Morgan family of Piedmont, Billy and Ann, had turned the lake into an unforgettable carnival. Without the Morgans, who leased the lake from the power company until the late 1950s, it’s likely there would have been no powerboat races, no Tilt-A-Whirl ride, no boardwalk-style atmosphere to embellish the lake’s historic reputation. That’s how Shirley Dewberry’s father, Oxford’s Sam Mellon Jr., 84, remembers Oxford Lake: boisterous, lighted, crowded on weekends with people from different locales all across the region. Often times, boys would be boys at the lake. “It would be covered up (with soldiers) when the war started,” Mellon said. “In fact, soldiers killed the alligator when they threw rocks at it. “Oh, it was popular. It was popular as long as I could remember. On Saturday night, there would be several ambulances going to Oxford Lake. They’d be fighting out there.” Reaves is one of those Calhoun Countians whose memories span the lake’s incarnations: first as a child enthralled by the amusements, and now as an adult who is appreciative of the place for recreation. In fact, Reaves likes to tell the story of when she first retired from teaching and she spent time exercising around the lake’s .67-mile track. There she’d meet people — part of the lake’s community. Some were walkers. Others were joggers. She would purposely walk in the opposite direction so she could pass people face-to-face. “It seemed like a place to meet people who had similar interests,” she said. “I would meet people from all over the place. People would be here from all over, from Germany, from France. Oxford Lake was the place to go.” That’s Reaves the resident. Reaves the councilwoman has

Today, Oxford Lake rests as a cornerstone of the city that’s celebrating its 150th anniversary. A trove of covered pavilions offers popular picnic sites. The Oxford Civic Center, swimming pool, softball and Little League baseball fields and tennis courts are staples of the modern-day complex. Joggers log hundreds of miles — or more — at the lake each month. Yet, the lake’s island is in need of repair. Railroad tie barriers installed in 1989 to guard against erosion have failed; in effect, the island is washing away, said Oxford Parks and Recreation Director Don Hudson, because the ties no longer keep water from eating at the man-made island and its eight remaining trees. This spring, the island has a figurative moat encircling its perimeter, its wooden ties several feet away from the island’s shore. “I don’t know how big the island was when it was first built,” Hudson said. “We will address that.” Said Reaves, “I think it would be a terrible loss to lose the island. People who have lived here a long time know the history of Oxford Lake. They may not speak up about it, but I think they would be appreciative of what the city can do to preserve the island. I know they would be grateful.” If so, it’s a gratitude likely built on several generations whose scrapbooks are filled with images from the lake. Whether from its 19th century beginnings, to its war-era heyday, or today, those images are a big reason why the lake’s devotees seem to grasp its importance. “No, I couldn’t imagine Oxford without Oxford Lake,” Hudson said. “I’m sure a lot of people know Oxford Lake and that’s how they relate to the city of Oxford.” It’s a sentiment echoed throughout the community of people that often returns to this aging man-made lake. “I’ll tell you, I just couldn’t see (Oxford) without it,” Mellon said.

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SUNNY KING FORD Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

48 Oxford 150th Anniversay

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Oxford 150th Anniversay 49

separated the men’s pool from the women’s because then a woman’s legs were something never revealed in the open to masculine eyes.”

just as strong feelings about the lake. “It’s a source of pride to have a place where so many people come together,” she said.

COVERED IN SOLDIERS

Protecting Its Future

Legendary THUNDER

Returns

5.0

NEW 5.0L V8 ENGINE The legend is back. An available 5.0-liter V8 engine returns to the Mustang lineup in 2011, and it boasts Ford’s Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing.

“We will beat anybody’s price on any in stock model” Lane Luker

SUNNY KING FORD Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

48 Oxford 150th Anniversay

1507 SOUTH QUINTARD • 256-831-5300 • 1-800- 947-7001 WWW.SUNNYKINGFORD.COM

Oxford 150th Anniversay 49

THEN AND NOW

Photos of Oxford Methodist Church courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Photos of Oxford Library courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

50 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 51

THEN AND NOW

Photos of Oxford Methodist Church courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Photos of Oxford Library courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

50 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 51

THEN AND NOW

Photos of the Mellon Tourist Home courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Photos of 407 Main St. courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

52 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 53

THEN AND NOW

Photos of the Mellon Tourist Home courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Photos of 407 Main St. courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

52 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 53

THEN AND NOW

Photos of First National Bank courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Photos of the Oxford College site courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

54 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 55

THEN AND NOW

Photos of First National Bank courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Photos of the Oxford College site courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

54 Oxford 150th Anniversay

Oxford 150th Anniversay 55

56 Oxford 150th Anniversay

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