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ProďŹ le 2011
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A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Hard times have fallen upon many states, cities and communities across the nation, but capitalism is alive and well here in Madison. Each year, Madison Publications produces Profile, a look inside the people, places and things that make Madison great. Profile does exactly what its name entails, profiling residents, city leaders, businesses, places and more. This year, our theme is “Madisonopoly,” as we take a look back at the history of Madison, while also looking forward to the progress being made in the city. In this issue, follow the thimble to find stories about one of the city’s oldest residents, the history of Madison Station, Church Street and Dublin Park, an inside look into the new high school and Madison Hospital, a story about a local barbecue favorite and more. You’ll also find out who we named as the Person of the Year. Profile gives us a chance to write some of the stories we normally wouldn’t get to write, tell some of the stories we normally wouldn’t get to tell and meet some of the wonderful people in Madison that we normally don’t see on a day-to-day basis. For that reason, Profile is a special glimpse into who we are as a community, where we’ve been and where we are going.
Madisonopoly MANAGEMENT Erica Slone
Publisher & President erica.slone@themadisonrecord.com
EDITORIAL Austin Phillips Editor
austin.phillips@themadisonrecord.com
Michael Hansberry Reporter
michael.hansberry@themadisonrecord.com
Laura Vaughn Reporter
laura.vaughn@themadisonrecord.com
Sarah Brewer Photographer
clickphotodesigns@gmail.com
MARKETING Chris Dickey
Marketing Consultant chris.dickey@themadisonrecord.com
Customer Service Laura Samples Customer Service
laura.samples@themadisonrecord.com
Profile is published one time per year: Madison Publications, Inc. P.O. Box 859, Madison, AL 35758. To obtain info regarding submissions, stories or photos for an upcoming issue, e-mail us at erica.slone@themadisonrecord.com, call our office at 256-772-6677 or visit us online at TheMadisonRecord.com.
Madisonopoly Advertising rates and information is available upon request by calling Erica Slone or Chris Dickey at 256-772-6677 or by e-mailing erica.slone@themadisonrecord.com.
3 2011 PROFILE
inside 6. Person of the Year
8. Meet Monte Sano
9. Highway to Health
10. Madison Station
14. Cutting Edge
16. Dublin Park or Goochland?
18. Piggin’ Out
19. Church Street
20. A Shoebox of Savings
21. Building for the Future
The future of health care arrives in 2012. madisonalhospital.org
5 2011 PROFILE
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For the last 36 years, Dr. Dee Fowler has woken up every morning to educate the children of Madison for one reason. “It’s been fun,” said Fowler, the Madison City Schools Superintendent. Fowler, 58, has dedicated his life to education in Madison County, serving all 36 years in the city or county. He began his career as a teacher and coach at Hazel Green High School before moving to Madison County High School as an assistant principal. Fowler landed his first principal job at Walnut Grove Junior High School, and then moved to be the principal at West Madison Elementary School and Liberty Middle School. Fowler then became the Madison City Schools director before being promoted to assistant superintendent and then eventually superintendent in 2007. But while Fowler says his career in education has been fun, the last year has been a trying time, testing his resolve, character and faith. Last February, Fowler experienced the worst moment of his career when a Discovery Middle School student shot and killed fellow student Todd Brown in the hallway of the school. “That was the most horrific thing that has happened in my 36 years in education,” Fowler said. “I was at a middle school earlier in my career when a student was struck by a bus, and I’ve been at schools when a child died in an accident, but I had never experienced anything of this violent nature.” In the seconds, minutes and
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“You always hear of college football coaches saying they want to win one more national championship before they retire. When we successfully complete the new high school and reach full enrollment, then that will be like a national championship to me.”
— Dr. Dee Fowler Madison City Schools Superintendent hours following the tragedy, Fowler immediately went to work to find out why this happened and how can it be prevented from ever happening again. In the days and weeks that followed, Fowler set up shop at Discovery, keeping an office at the school for more than a month. He would stay at the school everyday from sun up to sun down, and then go back to the Central Office to finish any work that needed to be done there. In response to the tragedy, Fowler, city officials and local law enforcement assembled an independent task force to address safety and security concerns. The task force made more than 30 recommendations, including naming a safety director. Fowler appointed Dennis James as safety director, and more than half of the recommendations have already been implemented. In addition to his response to the Discovery tragedy, Fowler also spearheaded several other advancements in the schools system during 2010, including securing the qualified school construction bonds and the
breaking ground on the city’s new high school. By securing the qualified school construction bond, the city will pay back just 83 cents for $1, meaning the city will pay back just $29.9 million of the $36 million project. At the age of 58, Fowler knows he can’t continue in his role as superintendent forever, but seeing the new high school completed and reach full enrollment is something he would like to see before retiring. “You always hear of college football coaches saying they want to win one more national championship before they retire,” Fowler said. “When we successfully complete the new high school and reach full enrollment, then that will be like a national championship to me.” Asked why he hasn’t already retired, Fowler answered the same way he did when asked why he has gotten up every day for the last 36 years to educate Madison’s children. “It’s been fun,” Fowler said. “I guess I’ve just got that chalk in my blood.”
Dr. Dee Fowler RECORD PHOTO/SARAH BREWER
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Monte Sano RECORD PHOTO/SARAH BREWER Sullivan Street
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Some call it hillbilly music, some call it old-time music, some may even know it has country. But Monte Sano Crowder simply knows it as music. The 97-yearold has not only helped preserve his beloved “old-timey” music, but he’s inspired countless others and left a legacy in the area. Born on the mountain he was named after in 1914, Crowder was the youngest of five children. At the age of 10, Crowder picked up his father’s fiddle one day and the rest is North Alabama history. Crowder is largely known for starting a square dance, famously known as the Snuff Dippers Ball, which would run for the next 32 years. The Snuff Dippers was held every Saturday upstairs at the Old Temple Theatre on Jefferson Street.
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It’s now a parking lot for the Heritage Club. “It was a different world,” said Malcolm Miller, a close friend of Monte’s. “It had no air conditioning. Spittoons all around the floor and half the people chewed snuff and chewed tobacco.” The Snuff Dipper’s Ball was a place where mill workers, dirt farmers and sharecroppers would come and enjoy themselves. Huntsville was a dry county back then, so patrons would occasionally leave the ball to pay a visit to the local bootlegger and come back to hear Crowder play. The days of the ball ended when the Disco era edged its way into the music mainstream and downtown clubs started opening. “I thought he was the best fiddle player I had ever seen,” Miller said. “He was absolutely fantastic.” Miller met Crowder as a
Meet Monte Sano teenager in the 1945 when Crowder was a DJ for a local radio station. “It was hillbilly back then, not country,” Miller said. “He made more money playing music than anyone else in Huntsville,” Miller said. “No one made a living playing one night a week.”
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Crowder taught locals how to play for the fiddle for years, free of charge. He wanted to keep the music alive and for them to do it right. “The musicians he taught can’t read music,” Miller said. “He taught kind of a number system.” Today, Crowder resides in Madison
Manor nursing home, located on Sullivan Street. His friends come once a month to play for Crowder and other residents at the home. While Crowder is no longer able to play the fiddle, the memory and sound is preserved in the hearts and minds of everyone he’s met over the years.
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Highway to Health BY LAURA VAUGHN REPORTER This time next year, Madison will have its very own hospital. Madison Hospital is scheduled to open in February 2012 and President Mary Lynne Wright believes they will meet that deadline. “We are confident that we will open on schedule early next year,” Wright said. The hospital is located on U.S. Highway 72, near Balch Road. It will offer urgent care, surgery, maternity care, an intensive care unit, non-invasive cardiology, endoscopy, medical imaging, sleep disorders treatment and a lab. It will not have trauma services, but it will offer a 24hour emergency room. “It will be a full service community hospital,” Wright said. She said the term community hospital refers to the hospital’s focus. “A community hospital is a general acute care hospital that provides a broad range of services for a defined population such as, the city of Madison and western Madison County,” Wright said. “It really has more to do with the focus of the hospital, than the area served.” Although the hospital is still construction, it is being built with the future in mind. “In keeping with the state certification-of-need, Madison Hospital will open with 60-
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beds, but the infrastructure of the facility is being built to support up to nearly 200 beds when the patient census reflects the continued growth in the community in the years ahead,” Wright said. Wright believes this will be an asset to the community. “In doing this, we can minimize future patient disruption and speed up our response when expansion is needed,” she said. “The bed tower, which is now under
construction, includes a shelled-in floor which can be built out for 30 additional beds. Down the road with community growth we anticipate the construction of a second tower similar to this one.” While the hospital means big things for residents, it also means big things for the local economy. It is expected to employ 300 people, and Madison Mayor Paul Finley believes it will impact more. “Just like with BRAC, typically you see double than in direct support,” Finley said. “We fully expect an additional 300.” The hospital is expected to attract other medical related business, and Finley said even though it is not completed, it has already had an impact on retail development. “The reason the Shoppes of Madison wants to come is
to be close to the hospital,” Finley said. “We expect multiple businesses to come to Highway 72 in the coming years.” Finley believes the impact of the hospital will surpass just “significant” economic impacts. “The Madison Hospital team has already proven to be wonderful community partners,” Finley said. “We in Madison will benefit for years to come.” The hospital, which will be Alabama’s newest hospital, will feature new medical technologies. “Madison Hospital is going to be a very unique hospital,” Wright said. “It will be a high quality facility with a major focus on customer service. It will be a reflection of the Madison community and a hospital residents will be very proud of.”
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‘I hear the train a comin’... Madison Station Rent If 2 Railroads are owned If 3 “ “ “ If 4 “ “ “
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BY LAURA VAUGHN REPORTER The days of Madison Station are gone, but the train rolls on. Madison Station, the original name of the city of Madison, was built around the railroad that was rumored to be the first in the U.S. to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. The town was founded in 1857 as a railroad depot town, after the completion of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad in 1856. It was the first to offer sleeper cars and its main source of profit was from passenger service, rather than freight service, according to the Scottsboro Depot Museum. Madison Station’s location between Decatur and Huntsville made it a pivotal point along the railway, according to Ron Johnson, president of Madison Station Historic Preservation Society. “Back in the steam engine days they had to stop and refuel and Madison Station was halfway,” Johnson said.
A train in the 1940s pulling into the station merged with the Roundhouse today RECORD ILLUSTRATION/AUSTIN PHILLIPS
It’s rollin’ ‘round the bend’ Johnson also said Madison Station was important because it was the highest point at the crest of the hill, which almost became the town’s namesake. “They were going to call it High Point, but opted to call it Madison instead,” Johnson said. The first town lot was sold in February 1857 by James Clemens. Clemens was the father of U.S. Senator Jeremiah Clemens and distant cousin of Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, according to the Historical Preservation Society website. Local historian John Rankin said Clements used his political influence to buy the land from the state. He originally named Madison,
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Clements Depot, but the name did not remain. “His plan was apparently to establish a village around a depot on the newly constructed Memphis & Charleston Railroad at a point ten miles west of Huntsville and ten miles east of Decatur,” Rankin said in his book Memories of Madison. During the Civil War the railroad was the only east to west railroad linking the Confederacy. “The Memphis and Charleston road is the vertebrae to the Confederacy,” said then Secretary of War for the Confederacy, Leroy Pope Walker, who was also a Huntsville native. After the Union occupation of Madison, Confederate
With over 12,000 credit students, Calhoun remains Alabama’s largest two-year college and the 6th largest higher education institution (two-year or four-year) in the state. Over 600 nursing students enrolled this year Calhoun is preparing tomorrow’s engineers. Over 450 Calhoun students have declared majors in Pre-engineering, Science or Mathematics. Calhoun is the region’s community college: “Calhoun demonstrates that economic development needs to be a regional affair – Calhoun gives us a tremendous advantage.” - former Congressman Bud Cramer, October 2008 Calhoun has the state’s first and only associate’s degree program in Biotechnology, which began Fall 2007 in partnership with the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. The College provides workforce development training to over 100 businesses and more than 6,000 individuals each year. Calhoun is home to the new Alabama Robotics Technology Park. The College is partnering with Athens State University, the City of Decatur, Morgan County and the Decatur Downtown Redevelopment Authority to create the Downtown Decatur Fine Arts Center.
256/306-2500 (Decatur) • 256/890-4700 (Huntsville)
soldiers burned The Madison Station Depot in 1864, according to Memories of Madison. After the Civil War, the town grew and merchants wanted to shed the image of simply being a railroad depot. In 1869, they incorporated the town and dropped “station” from the name, becoming known as “Madison,” according to the Madison Station Historical Preservation Society. The Roundhouse that now sits in the Village Green is a replica of Madison’s first city hall and is constructed on the original site of the Madison Depot. It is now owned by the Madison Station Historical Preservation Society and serves as their meeting place and museum.
The railroad’s passenger service operated mainly for passengers wanting to go to Huntsville. “It was 10 cents,” Rankin said. “You rode the train to shop and go to the movie, if you had enough money- that was a dime too.” In 1968 passenger service for the railroad ended, but the railroad continues to be a part of Madison. Today the railroad is owned by Norfolk Southern Corporation and serves as the main line connecting Chattanooga to Memphis carrying a variety of different types of freight. Rudy Husband with Norkfolk Southern Corp. estimates 20 to 25 trains a day pass through Madison. The name has changed, the legacy has not.
For over 64 years, Calhoun Community College has served the community, providing educational and training opportunities across north Alabama.
Registration for Summer Semester Begins April 13. Classes begin May 31. Your Community. Your College. Your Future.
11 2011 PROFILE
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Before taking the position as the mayor’s executive assistant in early November 2008, Taylor Edge said the position was mostly writing press releases and answering calls. He has done a complete 180 and transformed the position into what it is today. Although a small part of his job, Edge’s efforts in the city’s information technology realm have made a big impact. He led the implementation of the wireless system at Palmer Park, free Wi-Fi in city
hall and upgraded the facilities within city government to fortify the infrastructure from an IT perspective. One of Edge’s biggest and long-lasting projects came in August of 2009. Edge spearheaded the total redesign of the city’s website, for which he served as project manager. Edge constructed the site with an “I Want to Know” feature that enables visitors to search for various city related events and information. “I think residents are proud of it,” Edge said. “They’re proud to tell their mother in
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Cutting Edge Cincinnati or their brother in L.A. We’re in such a culture now where rightly or wrongly, a city is defined by its website.” Everyone thinks about moving to Madison, and 90 percent of those people have never been here before and their perception of the city is shaped by what they see online.” The site makes city government accessible to the residents, visitors and the business community. “We wanted to make sure that we could push out data to residents rather than relying on themselves to check it,” he said. “They want to see it on a PDA, or e-mail or text message. If we can deliver that to them, they can connect in to what city government’s doing.” Residents can receive city alerts about job postings and emergency news flashes for city alerts by visiting the city’s website. Edge and Mayor Paul Finley have been close friends for some time now. Before Finley ran for mayor, he spoke with Edge about his philosophy and goals for the city. “Taylor understands his job and he takes the initiative needed to get the job done,” Finley said. “He has a unique ability to intensely focus on a problem and quickly come to a conclusion, all while obtaining and analyzing a large amount of information.” Finley said Edge has established himself as the “go-to” guy for those who work in city hall.
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“He has quickly learned how city hall works and what needs to be done to get it moving if broken,” Finley said. “As mayor, I consider Taylor my top choice when I need a complex project researched, analyzed, and/or improved.” The mayor’s assistant is the only appointed position in the city. Edge is originally from Gadsden. He graduated from Jackson State University with a degree in computer information systems. He worked for 10 years at Intergraph in Madison before starting his current position. Edge has lived in Madison since 1995 with his wife and college sweetheart, Mindy, and two sons, 8-year-old Stuart and 5-year-old Austin. As for the future, he plans to continue to support the mayor in his endeavors and help accomplish goals. “I’m linked to him, so if he continues on and is election and wants me by his side, I would be interested in that,” Edge said. “The bottom line is for the next year and a half, I’m here to take care of him in my job, after that it’s all up in the air.”
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Though travel was somewhat slower than today, it was still a “small world” in the early 1800s. One of the Virginia planters who moved to the Madison area and bought land here on the first day of legal purchase (Feb. 2, 1818) experienced that smallness firsthand. While browsing through old letters in the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., Nancy Rohr of Huntsville found a letter sent from Morgan County (Alabama) by Jesse Garth to his parents in Charlottesville, Va. The letter was sent in October of 1833 and detailed Jesse’s trip from Virginia to Alabama, during which he had broken an axle twice. Jesse related that he “…saw an old man just 10 miles below Huntsville, where I broke my axletree the second time, by the name of Rowland Gooch. He knew you and everybody else in Albemarle (County of Virginia). He says he used to live … near where Uncle Garland now lives. He moved from there to Louisa County, and from there to Alabama, and is doing well. He helped me to make a new
axletree, was very kind and asked me about you all. He belongs to the Methodist Church.” Roland Gooch is one of the few area pioneers to have a tombstone that details his life to some extent. That tombstone is located beside another detailed stone for his wife, Elizabeth McGhee, in the Gooch Cemetery on a knoll behind the shops on the east side of Hughes Road at the intersection with Plaza Boulevard. Roland was born in Albemarle County, Va., in 1778, a son of James Gooch. He was the first purchaser of 160 acres located north of what is now Old Madison Pike and east of Hughes Road -- land which contains the family cemetery and their old homesite. The junction of the roads was mentioned as “Gooch’s Corner” in the 1857 minutes of the Madison County Commissioners’ Court. A church situated at the site was similarly mentioned as “Gooch’s Meeting House”. In fact, it was 1837 when Roland and Elizabeth Gooch deeded an acre of land for a Methodist Church at the site where the gasoline station and the Regions Bank are now located near the
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junction of Hughes Road and Old Madison Pike (then known as the Huntsville to Triana Pike). In 1873, that same church was put on logs and pulled by mules to its present location on Church Street in Madison. Roland and Elizabeth had five children born in Virginia and three born in Madison County after arriving in Alabama. Their firstborn child, Nancy, married William M. Rowe, who had land near today’s airport, along the road to Triana, where the Rowe family cemetery is located. Their second daughter, Eleanor, married James Dublin. Another daughter married Madison area pioneer Hezekiah Bailey first, and then she married Joseph Hambrick after Hezekiah’s death. Two other daughters married into the Petty family. One of their sons, Nathaniel Matson Gooch, married Susan Caroline Litzy, who lived just across the county line, in Limestone County. Later generations of the family married into the Tribble, Balch, Whitworth, Stewart, and Swaim families of the area. It was Nathaniel Matson Gooch who emplaced tombstones for his parents and others in the family cemetery. He and his wife also have stones there, along with a very small stone for Katie S. Stewart beside Nathaniel’s grave. Katie was born in 1897 and died in 1904. Until it became known that
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Nathaniel’s daughter Beulah married Matthew L. Stewart, the relationship of Nathaniel to Katie was a puzzle. Family stories told by Roland’s great granddaughter Mary Ann Hamm hold that Katie was born with a “growth in her head”, not “on” her head, and Nathaniel and Susan kept her until she died. The Gooch family has made a lasting impact on Madison. Gooch Lane is named for Richard Matson Gooch, who lived on “Old Athens Pike”, which was renamed to honor him prior to his death. That street ends at Balch Road, which was named for Richard’s father-in-law Jesse, due to his marriage to Ada Mabel Balch. Richard was a son of Matt Roland Gooch, who was a son of Nathaniel
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Matson Gooch. However, perhaps the most significant namesake of the Gooch family in Madison never happened. Today’s Dublin Park was a part of Roland Gooch’s original land purchase. It passed into Dublin hands when his daughter Eleanor married James Dublin. Since Roland was the original landowner, the park could well be known as “Gooch Park,” or even more appropriately as “Goochland,” which is also the name of ancestral land in Virginia and the parent county from which Albemarle County was taken. However, it was Dublin descendants of Roland Gooch who donated the land to the city for a park, with the stipulation that it be named as it is today.
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they eat,” Mary said. While James is known for being quiet, while Mary’s the talker. “That’s been the story of our lives,” Mary said. “You know what they say, ‘opposites attract.’” James still works at the restaurant from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. six days a week, but no one works on Sunday. “We decided we wanted to go to church and if we couldn’t make it six days a week- we didn’t deserve to make it,” Mary said. Mary retired from the day-to-day operations three months ago after she fractured her hip, but she still manages the catering orders. She has catered for up to 2,500 people at a time for NASA, but is taking things a bit easier these days. “At our age, if they say there’s more than 500 people I don’t even want to talk to them,” she said. Thomas’ continues to do a large carry-out business though, and for their busiest time of year, July 4, customers line up at 6:30 a.m. before the doors open at 10, an hour earlier than usual. Mary said their attention to detail is the key behind the famous flavor of the barbecue. “We cook with hickory,” Mary said. “That’s the secret.”
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It’s 10:55 on a Monday morning and a line has already formed. Since Mary and James Thomas established Thomas’ Pit BBQ in November 1968, customers have been standing in line for the Thomas’ famous barbecue. James’ secret family recipes and homemade sauces have kept people coming from miles around. “We once had a group of lawyers fly in on a helicopter from Nashville,” Mary said. “They landed across the street in the cotton field.” Things have changed a lot since the Thomas BarB-Q opened. “We didn’t change, the community changed around us,” Mary said. M a r y remembers when Thomas’ was the only restaurant on U.S. Highway 72 and had a sign that read “10 minutes to Madison Square Mall.” “Customers had to make a special trip,” Mary said. “But the traffic was different then. You couldn’t get anywhere in 10 minutes now.” James grew-up around the restaurant business. His father, J.I. Thomas, established H&H Restaurant in Athens in 1932, so when James
got tired of working for other people, Mary said they decided to open their own restaurant in an orchid, where she rode horses as a kid. Now inside the cozy restaurant, their homemade hot sauce sits on every table and pictures of Tennessee Walking Horses adorn the walls. Mary and James, married for 49 years in September, share the love of horses. They met at a horse show and used to raise Tennessee Walking horses. Every employee at Thomas’ has worked there more than 25 years, but you won’t find a waitress in Thomas’, which Mary said was a decision they made after realizing waitresses would have a hard time making tips. “We aren’t fancy enough for all that,” Mary said. Mary said her girls, Susan and Sally, started clearing tables at ages 3 and 5. “I’d have to bring them so I could work, and at that age that was fun,” Mary said. Today, pictures of the Thomas’ twin granddaughters, Adeline and Mary O’Neal, hang above the counter where their aunt, Sally, still rings up customers, some of who the Thomas’ know by name. “We don’t know them all by name, but we know them by what
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Piggin’ Out
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Lisa and Randall renovated the historic home and added an addition to the house to make it more functional for their family of five. “Since it’s a historical home the front must remain the same, so we added on to the back” Lisa said. The addition includes a new kitchen, master bedroom suite, two bedrooms and playroom for their three children, Laura, 20, Carter, 17 and Gracie, 13. “Having grown up in that house and now my children growing up there- that’s neat,” Rivers said.
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The population has grown, the economy has changed, but 183 years later the city of Madison has not forgotten. Madison has made many advances in the 21st century, but has not forgotten its historical roots. Nowhere is this more evident than Church Street. Larry Anderson grew-up at 305 Church Street, in a house next door to his grandfather’s. He said he believed that Church Street got its name because it was the route to church. “That’s how you got to just about every church around here,” Anderson said. The oldest church in the Madison stands at 127 Church Street. The Madison United Methodist Church, as it is known today, was organized in 1828, which according to Gladys True’s book Reflections of Madison, makes it the oldest church in the city of Madison and the second oldest in Madison County. Its present site at 127 Church Street was purchased in 1873 and the church was rolled on logs to make the move, according the Madison United Methodist Church. From 1873 to 1947 the church was
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simply a one-room frame building. “In 1947, under the leadership of Rev. Thelmer Vaughn, the building was brick veneered, and the first education units were built, including the kitchen, dining room, pastor’s study and Memorial Windows,” the church’s website said. Anderson remembers Madison before I-565 and Madison Boulevard existed, when the population was closer to 500 than the current 40,000. He said different people have moved into the neighborhood, but it still has the same feel. “Church Street hasn’t changed a whole lot,” Anderson said. “The people have changed, but it’s still the same neighborhood off the main road.” Several homes along Church Street boast iron signs emblazoned with Madison Station to signify their historic origins. 311 Church Street is just such a home. The Balch-Carter House was built in 1910 by Joseph and Clara Balch. Joseph was a mail carrier who utilized the horse and buggy. In May 1975, Jim and Lou Carter purchased the house and raised their family there. When they passed away in 1996, their daughter Lisa Carter Rivers, and her husband, Randall took over the home. Lisa gave her son her maiden name, Carter, which appears on the historic marker in front of their home. “Carter used to think he was big stuff because his name was on that,” Lisa laughed.
Madison United Methodist Church RECORD PHOTO/SARAH BREWER
Heavenly History
A shoebox of savings
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Madison Boulevard
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Open a checking or savings account at Redstone Federal Credit Union
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not-for-profit organization, our advantage goes back to our members in the form of dividends on deposits or lower rates on loans.” Redstone Federal Credit Union’s first branch office was located on Redstone Arsenal. Today the credit union has expanded to include 20 branch offices located in Madison, Morgan, Limestone, Marshall, and Jackson Counties in Alabama, and a branch office in Lincoln County, Tennessee and has plans to expand its services into the Murfreesboro, Tenn. area in 2011. “We have come a long way since 1951 and we appreciate our members and we are proud to serve all of them,” Newberry said. “We do not just exist to provide financial services to our members; we provided financial services for the purpose of improving lives.”
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advantages. “When you join Redstone Federal Credit Union, you gain more than a checkbook and debit card. You become a member/owner of a community of people who care about their neighbors and do their best to help them succeed,” Newberry said. Newberry said another asset that Redstone Federal Credit Union has in the community lies in the difference between a credit union and other financial institutions. “Our members are shareholders, not stockholders,” he said. “Our board is elected by the members and serve as unpaid volunteers. As a
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The development of Redstone Arsenal and NASA transformed Madison from a sleepy southern town into one of the world’s foremost defense and technological centers. And Redstone Federal Credit Union was to be a part of that transformation. On November 28, 1951, 11 people with $55 in a shoebox chartered Redstone Federal Credit Union. Sixty years later the credit union has grown to more than 320,000 members with more than $2.8 billion in assets. “During the past 60 years, we have become not only one of the top 25 federally Chartered Credit Unions in the nation in size, but we are the largest, local memberowned financial institution in Alabama,” said Joseph H.
Newberry, president and CEO of Redstone Federal Credit Union. In 1951, membership at Redstone Federal Credit Union was limited to military personnel and contractors of Redstone Arsenal. As regulations changed, the Credit Union’s charter was expanded to include what are now referred to as Service Groups. “Today, any company with five or more employees located 25 miles from a Redstone Federal Credit Union branch is eligible to apply for membership,” said Mary Grace Evans, assistant vice president of Corporate & Community Relations. “Our membership base is diverse, consisting of companies as well as associations. We have nearly 2,000 Service Groups and 20 branches located throughout the area to serve our growing membership.” Redstone believes being a credit union comes with
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BY THOM TINGLE FOR THE RECORD
The current and first RCU CONTRIBUTED
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At 2,200 students, Madison’s only high school, Bob Jones, is one the largest high schools by enrollment in the state. In fact, Bob Jones has so many students, ninth grade was moved to the two middle schools, Discovery and Liberty, causing capacity problems there as well. To combat the overpopulation problem in all three schools, in 2009, the board of education decided to go ahead with plans to build a second high school.
“With the continued growth in the city becoming evident, there would be a need for a second high school,” said Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler. “And for the best education for the children, we would move the ninth grade back into high school.” When the school opens, only rising freshman and sophomores will attend the school for the first year. This is to allow students who are already at Bob Jones to finish all four years at one school. The yet to be named new high school won’t have any trouble quickly filling up. When it opens, it will be in the top 20 biggest high schools in the state by square feet. The $58.5 million collegiatetype campus is being funded with a $36 million qualified school construction bond and a $22 million refinance of an existing debt. A half-cent sales tax went into effect Jan. 1, 2010 to repay the $36 million interest-free stimulus loan.
for storm water run-off, six tennis courts and a track surrounding a football practice field. The Alabama Building Commission now requires all newly constructed high schools to have safe areas or rooms. The new school will have two safe rooms contained within the auditorium and auxiliary gym. Madison residents were given the opportunity to submit nominations for a possible name for the school, expected to open in 2012. Once all nominations are received, Fowler will make a recommendation to the board of education, which will either accept or reject his submission. “The prospect of enriching the lives of so many students with the addition of a new high school is very exciting,” said Connie Spears, school board member. “This will not only eliminate the physical problems with the overcrowding, but also open up more opportunities for students to participate on extracurricular teams. I’m not just talking about our sports teams. I’m talking about our academic teams and technical teams, too. The prospect of having Alabama’s two finest high schools, both in Madison, fills my heart with pride.”
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“We wouldn’t be where we are today if the city hadn’t helped with sales tax,” Fowler said. “We told the city council at some point we’ll need more operating funds, and they stated they wanted to give the residents the vote to have ad valorem tax to replace half-cent tax.” The decision to build the school did come with some dissention from the community. Ray White, school board president, said school officials would not allow the high school to be divisive. “I think everybody feels part of the charm of living in a small town is having that one high school and the community that it brings,” White said. Once built, the 328,600 square-foot school will sit on 83-plus acres, and will hold at least 2,000 students, making it one of the largest high schools in Alabama by square footage. Located off County Line Road, the school will have three entrances: County Line Road and two on the north and south property lines off Burgreen Road. The new school will have 100 classrooms, a wing for a construction engineering class, a special needs wing, two softball fields and two baseball fields, two parking lots, two detention ponds
Board members Connie Spears, Phil Schmidt and Dr. Terri Johnson RECORD PHOTO/MICHAEL HANSBERRY
Building for the future
Improving Quality of Life RECORD PHOTOS/MICHAEL HANSBERY
ABOVE: The $15 million, 68-000-square-foot Hogan Family YMCA opened in November 2010. The YMCA surpassed 6,000 members in just four months.
ABOVE: The Insanity Sportsplex will expand from putt-putt and skateboarding to include a roller rink, go karts and laser tag. BELOW: The Mill Creek Greenway has helped improve connectivity and added more green space.
ABOVE: The 14,000-square-foot addition to the police department will officially open April 28. BELOW: Harold Ray walks his dog Buttons at the 1.43-acre Dog Park, which includes fenced in areas for both large and small dogs.
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