AHA Fall 2016 Newsletter

Alabama Historical Association

Join us for the Fall Pilgrimage to Decatur October 7-8, 2016

VOLUME 31 ISSUE 2 FALL 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS AHA Officers

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“Decatur, Alabama: The River City�

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Friday Pre-Meeting Options

9 Friday Panel Discussion and Reception 10

Saturday Program

11-13 Saturday Tours 14-15 Locations, Accommodations, and Map 16-17 Award Winners 18

Call for 2017 Annual Meeting Papers

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Nominations Sought for 2017 Awards

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Make Plans for 2017 Annual Meeting

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Historical Marker News

22-23 Special Thanks

PRESIDENT Jeff Jakeman, Auburn University VICE PRESIDENT David Alsobrook, Mobile SECRETARY Mark Wilson, Auburn University MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Maiben Beard, Auburn University TREASURER Valerie Burnes, University of West Alabama

Editors The Alabama Review R. Volney Riser, University of West Alabama AHA Newsletter Mark Wilson, Auburn University

AHA Board of Directors 2016-17 Jim Baggett, Birmingham Public Library Mike Bunn, Historic Blakely State Park Ann Chambless, Jackson County Heritage Association James Cox, Grove Hill Jane Shelton Dale, Camden Jim Day, University of Montevallo Ralph Draughon, Jr., Alabama Historical Commission Staci Glover, Gardendale Dan Haulman, Air Force Historical Research Agency Laura Hill, Encyclopedia of Alabama Pamela King, University of Alabama at Birmingham Scotty Kirkland, Alabama Department of Archives and History Jay Lamar, Alabama Bicentennial Commission Elvin Lang, Black Heritage Council Susanna Leberman, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library Herbert J. Lewis, Birmingham Debra Love, Fairfield William Melton, Evergreen Rebecca Minder, Alabama Heritage Brandon Owens, Alabama State University Dan Puckett, Troy University Doug Purcell, Eufaula Christine Sears, University of Alabama in Huntsville Gayle Thomas, Abbeville Parliamentarian/Counsel Chriss Doss, Birmingham The AHA Newsletter is designed and printed by Davis Direct, Montgomery, Alabama.

Cover Image: Old State Bank, Courtesy of Morgan County Archives

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Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. The AHA is a volunteer-led and membership-supported organization. Our members are from every walk of life but share a common interest in Alabama history and a belief in its value for society today. Visit www.alabamahistory.net for more information.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

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ollowing Debbie Pendleton as president of this Association is a daunting task. She set a high standard with an excellent pilgrimage in Old Cahawba and a wonderful annual meeting in Montgomery.

And she topped it off Dr. Jeff Jakeman with a well-researched presidential address that described and analyzed the Alabama Sovereignty Commission’s efforts to produce a film on the Selma-to-Montgomery March. Debbie is a tough act to follow!

Last fall’s pilgrimage to Old Cahawba, one of the Alabama Historical Commission’s historic sites, reminded me that I had never visited one of the Commission’s most important properties, Pond Spring: The General Joe Wheeler Home. Resolved to remedy that failing, Carol and I made the trek northward to the Tennessee border a few weeks after the Old Cahawba pilgrimage and toured Pond Spring. The AHC staff welcomed us warmly and enthusiastically treated us to a narrated tour of the property. We found it a delightful experience indeed.

Equally delightful was our stop after Pond Spring in nearby Decatur, a town in Alabama that Carol and I had not previously visited. We discovered a vibrant community that obviously took

great pride in its history and heritage. I didn’t recall any previous AHA pilgrimages or meetings in Decatur, so upon my return home I asked our secretary, Mark Wilson, about the possibility of holding our pilgrimage there. After a bit of research we found that our Association had in fact held annual meetings twice in Decatur, first in 1952 and again in 1971, along with a fall pilgrimage in 1991. So we began to reach out to folks in Decatur and were pleased when they expressed great enthusiasm at the prospect of hosting another AHA pilgrimage. The ball was rolling, and the results are shown in the schedule for the pilgrimage that appears in this newsletter. It’s an exciting and full agenda that awaits us.

I know that a drive to our state’s northern border is quite a trek for many of our members, but I encourage you to make the journey and attend the pilgrimage in Decatur on October 7-8. If you have never visited Decatur, this lovely town on the banks of the Tennessee River will delight you. And if it’s been a while since you visited Decatur, you will be pleased to see the revitalization that is underway.

Looking beyond the pilgrimage, folks here in my hometown are hard at work planning for the 2017 meeting in Auburn next April. We haven’t met in Auburn since 1995, and lot has changed since then. Our program chair, Dr. Ben Severance of AUM, is already receiving proposals, so it promises to be a great meeting.

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Decatur in October and in Auburn in April 2017.

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The

DECATUR, ALABAMA:

By John Allison, Morgan County Archivist

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he history of Decatur, Alabama has been entwined from its beginning with that of the Tennessee River. The river has sustained the area’s residents with life-giving water and nourishment ever since the first Paleo-Indian peoples arrived in the area up to 11,000 years ago.

John Allison Decatur’s particular location is due to its position at the head of the Muscle Shoals, a rocky area in the river and an obstacle to river traffic in the days before the Tennessee Valley Authority tamed it with a series of dams in the 1930’s.

EARLY RESIDENTS Archaeological evidence at the Quad site on the North Bank of the Tennessee River at Decatur indicates that people seasonally camped along the river for thousands of years, hunting, fishing and gathering mussels, a dependable source of food. Many rock shelters and riverfront camp sites and at least one mound were excavated in the Decatur area by WPA workers in the 1930s. These excavations and others yielded thousands of artifacts,

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Ri ver Cit y

including several types of projectile points unique to the area. After construction at Decatur’s Riverwalk Marina revealed ancient human remains, in 1999 local people put up a monument commemorating the site.

heritage passed down through private family oral tradition.

DECATUR ESTABLISHED

The area’s earliest residents in historical time were Cherokee and Chickasaw. These people occasionally clashed over control of the Tennessee Valley but for the most part a truce existed in the sparsely populated area.

No major settlements were recorded in Morgan County during this time, although nearby chiefs exercised great influence over commerce and travel. A series of four Native American interpretive walking trails are being constructed at Point Mallard Park that tell stories of the lives of these early residents of the Decatur area. The Chief Doublehead and Chief Black Fox walking trails, opened in May 2016, highlight the lives of Cherokees. The Chief Big Foot (Creek) and Chief Colbert (Chickasaw) trails will be completed in the next few years.

The Treaty of Turkey Town in 1816 ceded Cherokee rights to the area south of the Tennessee River, and in 1818 the U.S. Government officially opened the land to white settlers for purchase. Some whites known as squatters had already illegally settled on the land. Most Native Americans in the area who remained after white arrival blended into the local population, their

In 1818 the Alabama Territorial Legislature established Cotaco County, renamed Morgan County after Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan in 1821. In 1820 entrepreneur Dr. Henry Rhodes began a ferry service at the site of today’s Rhodes Ferry Park in Decatur.

Later that year, President James Monroe promoted the establishment of a town at this ferry crossing at the last consistently navigable point on the Tennessee River above the Muscle Shoals. Tradition holds that the President requested the town be named for U.S. Naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur, who had died after a duel in March 1820. Rhodes, along with Jesse Winston Garth, McKinney Holderness, Isaac Lane, and George Peck founded the Decatur Land Company. They purchased patents for land and laid out the original plan of the town. Settlement began as

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new residents bought lots and established businesses in the new river town. The beautiful Palladian-influenced Dancy Polk House, built in 1829 by Col. Francis Dancy, is the oldest standing structure in Decatur and is indicative of the promise of wealth in the young community.

The Old State Bank Decatur’s most iconic landmark is the Old State Bank. The Greek revival structure was originally built as a branch of the Bank of Alabama. The Alabama General Assembly established the staterun bank system, with other branches in Montgomery and Mobile, in 1830. Its creators hoped that the Bank would be able to provide investors with the capital to spur development and provide a source of revenue for state government. After a brief period of apparent prosperity, flaws in the system were exposed during the nationwide financial Panic of 1837.

By 1840 the Decatur Branch had an outstanding debt of one million dollars.

The Bank’s charter was revoked in 1842.

In the years to come the bank served as a private residence, as a hospital during the Civil War, as a boarding house and tavern, as a bank again, and as an American Legion hall. The Bank has served as a museum and civic hall since 1934. In 1982 it was restored to its original configuration, including a first floor cashier’s cage and a second floor apartment furnished in the Federal style of the 1830s and 1840s.

EARLY RAILROAD IN DECATUR In Decatur’s history the railroads are second only to the Tennessee River in significance. The Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad was the first rail line west of the Alleghany Mountains.

The brainchild of investor and Lawrence County planter Benjamin Sherrod, the TC&D was designed so that travelers and cargo on the Tennessee River could move easily and dependably around the treacherous Muscle Shoals. The railroad was chartered in 1832 by less than 100 stockholders, most of them prominent planters from Morgan, Lawrence, and Colbert Counties. Early progress was slow, but by December 1834 crowds welcomed the “Fulton,” the railroad’s first steam locomotive as it rolled into Decatur from Tuscumbia. The little railroad struggled to turn a profit, but Sherrod stuck with his dream, shoring it up with infusions of capital until his death in 1847.

The TC&D’s most famous passengers were displaced Cherokees on the “Trail of Tears.” A new Alabama Historical Commission marker at Rhodes Ferry Park commemorates the passage of the Ridge, Deas, and Whiteley detachments of Cherokee people from Georgia and

Tennessee through Decatur in 1837 and 1838. A National Park Service trailhead is also in development that will include narrative panels that explain the history of Cherokee Removal, the railroad’s role, and the “witness structures” in Decatur that stood in 1838.

The TC&D was incorporated into the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and in 1855 the first railroad bridge across the Tennessee River at Decatur was completed.

The location of this river crossing on the South’s most important rail artery from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Coast added to Decatur’s importance. By 1860 Decatur was also a terminus of the Nashville and Decatur Railroad, making the River City one of the more important crossroads of rail and river travel in the Southeast. This promising distinction unfortunately led to Decatur’s destruction during the Civil War, as the city changed hands as many as nine times between the Union and Confederate armies.

THE CIVIL WAR Decatur’s unique geographic position made it a prime staging location for campaigns during the War. Confederate Continued on page 6

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Nashville. The story of Decatur’s role in the war is dramatically illustrated by a Civil War Walking Trail and by a major exhibit in the Morgan County Archives.

General Albert Sydney Johnston gathered his forces here in March of 1862 before marching to the battle of Shiloh, where he was killed. In April, Union forces under Col. John Turchin took Decatur and burned the strategic railroad bridge.

In 1864, Union troops forced most of the city’s inhabitants to leave so that the city could be fortified to protect one of General Sherman’s crucial supply lines for his Georgia campaign. In the process most of the town’s structures were demolished. The Old State Bank, the Burleson-McEntire House, the Dancy-Polk House, and a handful of others survived destruction.

In October 1864, John Bell Hood and the Army of Tennessee surrounded Union troops at Decatur. Hood wanted to cross the river at Decatur for a quick route to the Union supply depot at Nashville, but strong Union fortifications and Union gunboats above the Muscle Shoals made an assault on Decatur too costly. Hood lost as many as 500 men assaulting the works at Decatur before heading west. Hood’s delay gave Union forces time to prepare for his arrival in Tennessee, where his army was nearly annihilated at the Battles of Franklin and Burleson-McEntire House

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out, along with branch lines to factories along the southern bank of the river.

“BOOM TIMES” AND THE TWO DECATURS Decatur and the surrounding countryside were thoroughly destroyed by the war’s end. After a period of great struggle, the town began to rebound in the 1870s and 1880s with the rebuilding and expansion of the rail lines that passed through the area and the resumption of trade along the Tennessee River. The Memphis and Charleston rebuilt the railroad bridge in 1866 and later became the Southern Railway. The Nashville and Decatur Railroad was incorporated into the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) in the 1870s and located a massive car repair works at Decatur that employed up to 3,000 workers. The railroad expansion attracted many businesses to Decatur during this period. In 1887 the Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company laid out the city of New Decatur, south and east of the old city and contiguous to it. The new development, backed by both Northern and Southern investors, sought to become “The Chicago of the South.” Modern water, electric and sewer services began to be laid

A yellow fever epidemic broke out in 1888, severely limiting new investment and stunting the massive growth that the investors anticipated. An obelisk in the City Cemetery honors the doctors who perished treating those afflicted by the epidemic.

Still, the new town’s development was impressive. In spite of many leaders’ efforts to unite the two cities, much animosity developed between them, and residents voted to change the name of New Decatur to Albany in 1916. Many wealthy migrants to New Decatur built stately mansions in the area that is now the nationally registered Albany Historic Neighborhood.

The crown jewel of the neighborhood was a beautiful public green space now known as Delano Park, improved over the years with a dramatic rose garden, gazebo and other features.

Decatur’s railroad growth was accompanied by the construction of three new train depots, one of which remains standing. Decatur’s Union Depot, so named because both the Southern Railway and the L&N boarded passengers there, was built in 1905. The Depot was in operation until 1978. It sat empty from then until 2015 when work began to renovate the space into a railroad museum and offices for the Decatur Police Department.

New Decatur’s business district became the commercial heart of the town, with dozens of businesses, restaurants, hotels and theatres. The historic Princess Theatre was originally built in the 1880s as

WILD STEAMBOAT DAYS, AND THE RIVER TAMED

a massive stable, and later converted into a vaudeville theatre and movie house. It was thoroughly remodeled into its current art deco form in 1941.

The two Decaturs were finally united in 1927, as business leaders united to lobby for the location of the “Bee Line Highway” (U.S. 31) bridge at Decatur. The opening of the Keller Memorial Bridge was a major event and cemented Decatur’s importance as a crossroads of water, rail and road travel. Today’s Hudson Memorial Bridge, named for Captain “Steamboat Bill” Hudson is located at the spot of the original bridge, demolished in 1998.

The completion of the Muscle Shoals Canal in 1890 increased steamboat travel on the Tennessee River. In Decatur, this was the golden age of steamboat travel.

Legendary Captains like the infamous Simp McGhee made names for themselves on the river and in increasingly wild port towns like Decatur. One of Decatur’s oldest and finest restaurants on Bank Street is named for the Captain. Liquor flowed in the bars and gaming houses near the water. Violence often erupted in “Dead Man’s Alley” behind Bank Street between Lafayette and Church. Three Decatur Police officers were killed between 1901 and 1905. Even after prohibition, bootlegging and speakeasies proliferated. One local fixture of the vice community was Kate Lackner, a madam who ran a large “sporting house” at the corner of Market Street entertained customers from the 1880s until the 1940s.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Decatur in 1932 and declared that poverty in the Tennessee Valley would be a major focus of federal efforts during the New Deal. The Tennessee Valley Authority built a series

of dams that finally tamed the river and provided hydroelectric power to millions.

Decatur billed itself as “the TVA Town” and recruited businesses based on the cheap electricity and easy access to transportation.

Today Decatur continues to be known as a prime spot for industry, with industries such as United Launch Alliance, Daikin America, 3M, and many others located along the river.

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FRIDAY PRE-MEETING OPTIONS GUIDED TOUR OF POND SPRING 11:00 A.M. TO NOON 12280 Alabama Highway 20, Hillsboro, Alabama 35643 256-637-8513 Pond Spring is the home of former Confederate general, US congressman, and Spanish-American war general Joseph Wheeler and his family. The Alabama Historical Commission site holds historic gardens and family cemeteries, boasts of 12 original historic structures, and most importantly, a collection of close to 20,000 original artifacts. The museum tells a wonderful story about the General, the Wheeler family, and the site’s evolving importance to the history of North Alabama. Closed almost 11 years, Pond Spring reopened in 2012 after a 1.5 million-dollar renovation and is now ready to tell its story to the

public about the importance of protecting and preserving Alabama history. Admission: $8, adults; $5, students, seniors, military with ID; $3 children ages 6-18.

Courtesy of Alabama Historical Commission

GUIDED WALKING TOUR OF HISTORIC CHURCHES AND EARLY DECATUR HISTORY, 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. Meet at the Old State Bank, 925 Bank Street, NE, Decatur Local historian Phil Wirey will lead this detour, departing from the Old State Bank at 1:00 p.m. Tour stops will include h istoric churches and synagogues, the Dancy Polk House, Lafayette Street Cemetery, the Railroad Depot, early 1900 Bank Street Businesses, the Broadus Home, the Carnegie Library, and more.

SELF-GUIDED TOURS Drop by the Old State Bank and pick up maps and literature on the following sites: •N ative American Interpretive Walking Trails – Point Mallard Park • Trail of Tears Marker and planned Trail of Tears Historic Route – Rhodes Ferry Park • Delano Park – Decatur’s oldest public garden and central planning element in the design of “New Decatur” in the post–Civil War redevelopment • Carnegie Visual Arts Center: Decatur’s art museum housed in an early 1900s Carnegie Library

Courtesy Morgan County Archives

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Courtesy of Morgan County Archives

FRIDAY PANEL 4:30 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. “Preservation and Redevelopment: The Decatur Story”

RECEPTION 6:00 P.M. – 7:30 P.M.

Princess Theatre, 112 Second Avenue NE

Princess Theatre Lobby

Decatur’s remarkable downtown transformation will be the subject of this panel discussion moderated by Senator Arthur Orr. Panelists include:

The Princess Theatre is a 677-seat performing arts venue in Decatur, Alabama. Originally built in 1887 as a livery stable, the building was transformed into a silent film and vaudeville playhouse in 1919. In 1941 the theatre received its art deco redesign that remains today and features a brilliantly lit neon marquee. In 1978, the city of Decatur purchased The Princess after it closed as a movie house. Following a $750,000 renovation, the stage was again opened as the premier performing arts venue for the Decatur area.

• Rick Paler, Decatur Downtown Redevelopment Senator Arthur Orr Authority Director • David Breland, DDRA Board Member and Historic Resources Director, City of Decatur • Shirley Hammond, American Society of Interior Design and early leader in Decatur’s historic preservation movement •D r. Wylheme Ragland, retired minister, Kings Memorial United Methodist Church • Barbara Kelly, Albany District and Friends of Delano Park •P eggy Allen Towns, local historian and author

Enjoy dinner on your own at one of the many wonderful options in Decatur’s historic downtown. A downtown dining guide will be provided at the reception.

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SATURDAY PROGRAM

DECATUR FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 805 Canal Street NE Decatur, AL 35601 9:00 a.m.

Coffee and Book Sales Fellowship Hall 10:00 a.m.

Program Sanctuary “ Decatur, Alabama - A Brief History of the River City” John Allison, Morgan County Archivist 11:30 a.m.

Box Lunch Fellowship Hall 12:30–4:00 p.m.

Self-Guided Tours • Old State Bank • Southern Railway Depot • Morgan County Archives • Blue and Gray Museum • Burleson-Hinds-McEntire House • Dancy Polk House • 802 Bank Street – Loft Residences • Fort Nash historic home • First Missionary Baptist Church Decatur First United Methodist Church was officially organized in 1834 and the first church building was built in 1835 at the corner of Church Street and Railroad Avenue. During the Civil War, the church was used by Union and Confederate troops as a hospital and camping site. The building was destroyed during the war, and members constructed a frame church in 1867 on the current site. The current sanctuary is a brick building constructed in 1898 and dedicated on Easter Sunday morning, April 2, 1899.

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SATURDAY TOURS OLD STATE BANK Built over 180 years ago, the Old State Bank in Decatur stands today as a reminder of Decatur’s rich history. Completed in 1833 at a cost of $9,842, the building originally housed the Tennessee Valley branch of the Bank of the State of Alabama.

After the bank accumulated outstanding debts of over $1 million, its franchise was revoked and it closed in 1842. After the failure of the state bank, the building saw many varied uses and even survived the destruction of Decatur during the Civil War. The Old State Bank Board of Directors has worked to preserve the bank as a museum, and the bank currently provides a unique insight into the beginning of banking in Alabama.

More information found at: http://decaturalabamausa.com/play/attractions/oldstatebank.html

SOUTHERN RAILWAY DEPOT The Southern Railway Depot is a historic building in Decatur, Alabama, built along the Southern Railway line. The depot was erected in 1904–1905 by chief architect Frank Pierce Milburn who generally designed depots in the Spanish Revival style. The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 2015, the train depot underwent a $2.5 million renovation project to turn the historic and dilapidated structure into a museum and spaces for police department expansion. The museum focuses on railroads as well as all the transportation history that made Decatur a vital point stretching back to Native Americans. Two presidents, William McKinley and Franklin Roosevelt, and one king, Elvis Presley, arrived in Decatur via the depot.

MORGAN COUNTY ARCHIVES The Morgan County Commission created the Archives in 1995 to meet the growing need of Morgan County for a permanent repository for inactive government records.

The Archives was designed to be the centerpiece of the County’s records management program, a means by which the government could fulfill its legal obligations to preserve and make available to the public records of enduring value.

Here the history of the County is recorded, all the way back to 1819. The Archives is home to hundreds of volumes of historical and genealogical subject matter.

More information found at: http://www.co.morgan.al.us/archivesindex.html

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MEETING SITES AND SATURDAY TOURS ACCOMMODATIONS Continued

THE BLUE AND GRAY: NORTH ALABAMA CIVIL WAR MUSEUM The Blue and Gray Museum of North Alabama houses an extensive display of weapons and other artifacts used by the Blue (Union) and the Gray (Confederate) soldiers during the Civil War. It is believed to be the largest privately owned collection of Civil War artifacts in the county. The museum was opened on Bank Street in the heart of the old historic section of Decatur, and now features a wide array of Civil War relics, including swords

and other edged weapons, revolvers and pistols, muskets and carbines, period drums, uniforms, accoutrements, photographs, documents, and much more. In addition to Civil War history, the museum showcases other historical items from Decatur’s past.

More information found at: http://www.alabamacivilwarmuseum.com/

BURLESON-HINDS-MCENTIRE HOUSE The Burleson-Hinds-McEntire House is a historic antebellum Greek Revival mansion located along the shoreline of the Tennessee River’s Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Alabama.

The house was constructed prior to 1836 and was used as headquarters by both Union and Confederate forces, alternately, during the Civil War. In 1862, before being occupied by Federal forces, the plans for the Battle of Shiloh were laid out within this building. Because of this, the house was spared when the city was burned.

The Burlesons owned the house during the Civil War. The home was sold to Jerome Hinds in 1869. After the Hinds, the home was used as a boarding house and hotel before standing empty for a period. It was purchased in 1895 by the McEntire family.

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DANCY-POLK HOUSE Just outside the historic district is one of the houses that survived the burning of the town during the Civil War — the Dancy–Polk House that was built in 1829. The house was built by architect Christopher Cheatham for town pioneer Col. Frank Dancy as his home and later became the Polk Hotel, a popular spot for railroad travelers debarking from the L&N passenger depot still visible next door. The simple, symmetrical Federal-style home incorporated yellow pine with chestnut columns. During the Civil War, Union forces used the site as a headquarters. In 1881, outlaws Dick Little and Frank James, brother of Jesse, spent several days at the hotel under assumed names. In the early 1970s, restoration by private owners began. Most of the Palladian-influenced house’s original wood and plaster remain. Today, it is a private residence.

FORT NASH This house is known by its nickname “Fort Nash” because of its rare International Art Deco design. The house was designed in 1939 by the head of the Architecture Department at Auburn University and given as a wedding gift from Mrs. Nash to her daughter. The home features solid limestone walls with glass brick windows and accents. The circular entry leads to a semi-circular room. The house sports a full basement with a shuffleboard court and glass brick bar with a full soda fountain.

FIRST MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH Led by first pastor Alfred Peters, 21 members organized this church on April 22, 1866, in the home of Sister Jane Young. Services were first held in a storefront building on the banks of the Tennessee River. In 1873 First Missionary purchased a church building from a Methodist congregation on the corner of Market and Canal Streets, NE, and used the building as their place of worship until 1919. At this time, Dr. Sterrs, S.S. Sykes, and G.F. Oliver secured a $1,460 loan to purchase the present property where St. Ann’s Catholic Church was once located. The present church was designed by prominent African American architect W. A. Rayfield in 1921 and constructed for $1,250. The building underwent renovations in 1984 and a $260,000 educational wing was added in 1989–1990. First Missionary was built through the efforts of professionals, craftsmen, and donations of “nickels and dimes.”

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MEETING SITES AND ACCOMMODATIONS Friday Optional Tour Locations

Key Locations

4. Guided Walking Tour of Churches and Bank Street NE (meet at Old Bank)

1. Doubletree by Hilton Decatur Riverfront (Host Hotel) 1101 6th Avenue NE

5. Trail of Tears Marker and Planned Trail of Tears route (Rhodes Ferry Park – 100 Market Street NW) 6. Carnegie Visual Arts Center – 207 Church Street NE 7. Delano Park – 825 Gordon Drive SE 8. Native American Interpretive Trails (Point Mallard Park. Park behind Spirit of America Stage. 2901 Point Mallard Drive) Saturday Tours

Saturday Tours 4. Old State Bank – 925 Bank Street 9. L&N Depot – 701 Railroad Street NW 10. Dancy-Polk House – 901 Railroad Street

2. First United Methodist Church (Saturday Meeting Location) 805 Canal Street NE 3. Princess Theatre (Friday afternoon panel and reception site) 112 2nd Avenue NE 4. Old State Bank (Walking Tour and Tour Site, both days) 925 Bank Street NE

11. Burleson Hinds McEntire House 1105 Sycamore Street NW 12. Weaver Loft Residence – 802 Bank Street NE (use entrance on Lafayette Street) 13. Blue and Gray Museum – 723 Bank Street NE 14. Morgan County Archives – 624 Bank Street NE 15. First Missionary Baptist Church – 233 Vine Street NW 16. Fort Nash – 522 Oak Street NE

Hotel Reservations: DoubleTree by Hilton Decatur Riverfront. Call 256-355-3150 by September 9th and mention group code AFP or the AHA Fall Pilgrimage to receive group room rates from $94–$104 per night depending on room type.

Reserve a room online at www.DecaturRiverfront.DoubleTree.com using group code AFP.

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2016 AWARDS Bobby Joe Seales and Sue Bass Wilson

JAMES RAY KUYKENDALL AWARD The Covington Historical Society is the winner of the 2016 James Ray Kuykendall Award honoring an exceptional local historical society.

Award Committee Chairperson Bobby Joe Seales presented the award to CHS Vice President and Historian Sue Bass Wilson at the annual meeting Montgomery. The Three Notch Museum, located in downtown Andalusia, is a signature project of the CHS, and the museum displays objects related to Covington County, Andalusia, and other communities in the county.

MILO B. HOWARD AWARD The Milo B. Howard Award recognizes the best article published in The Alabama Review for a two-year period. Dr. Marty Olliff received the award for his January 2015 article “Getting on the Map: Alabama’s Good Roads Pathfinding Campaigns, 1911-1912.”

Marty Olliff and The Alabama Review editor Rob Riser.

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2016 AWARDS CLINTON JACKSON COLEY BOOK AWARD

Dr. Donna Manson and John S. Sledge.

The winner of the 2016 Clinton Jackson Coley Book Award for best work on Alabama local history is The Mobile River,

by John S. Sledge, senior architectural historian with the Mobile Historic Development Commission. “Winning the Coley Award is deeply meaningful to me, coming as it does from fellow laborers in Clio’s Vineyard,” Sledge remarked at the banquet. “No historian could ask for more.”

Courtesy of University of South Carolina Press

DIGITAL HISTORY AWARD The Digital History Award recognizes excellence for large and small digital history projects that make contributions to promulgating Alabama (state or local) history. The winners of the inaugural 2016 are Encyclopedia of Alabama (large project) and Bhamwiki (small project). Visit for www.encyclopediaofalabama.org and www.bhamwiki.com to learn about these award-winning projects.

Dr. Marty Olliff presents the Digital History Award to Encyclopedia of Alabama staff members Laura Newland Hill, Claire Wilson, and Christopher Maloney.

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Alabama

Historical Association

CALL FOR PAPERS 70th Annual Meeting Auburn, Alabama • April 20-22, 2017 The Alabama Historical Association invites paper proposals to be given at its 70th annual meeting in Auburn, Alabama, on April 20-22, 2017. This meeting is open to scholars, educators, public historians, students, local historians, and members of the general public who share an interest in the history of Alabama from its founding through modern times.

Proposals must include a one-page abstract of a 20-minute presentation on an Alabama history topic and a curriculum vitae or résumé that includes the author’s email address, postal address, telephone number, and academic or organizational affiliation (if any). Proposals should also indicate if the presenter will require any technical equipment (projectors, sound equipment, etc.)

Proposals must be submitted by October 1, 2016. Electronic submissions are preferred.

All presenters are required to register for the conference and be members in good standing of the Alabama Historical Association by the time of the annual meeting. The committee gives preference to presenters who have not given papers at an annual meeting within the past three years.

Please submit your proposal to the program chair: Dr. Ben H. Severance Professor of History, Auburn University Montgomery P.O. Box 244023, Montgomery, AL 36124-4023 (334) 244-3761 bseveran@aum.edu Interested in presenting a poster instead of a paper?

Visit www.alabamahistory.net for more information.

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The following awards will be presented at the annual meeting on April 21, 2017. n The James F. Sulzby Book Award recognizes excellence in a book published in the previous two years that has made the most significant contribution to greater knowledge and appreciation of Alabama history.

Books published between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016, are eligible. For submission information, contact Dr. Christine Sears at cs0003@uah.edu. n The Clinton Jackson and Evelyn Coley Research Grant provides $500 to a graduate student conducting research on an Alabama-related topic.

Applications should include a statement of the student’s intended plan of work, a letter of reference from the chairman of the department in which the student is enrolled, and/or a letter of reference from the student’s major professor. Please submit nominations by February 15, 2017, to Staci Glover at stacisglover@bellsouth.net. n The Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton Award honors contributions to Alabama history that promote appreciation and better understanding of Alabama history among the general public. Nomination packets should include a letter of nomination (not to exceed two pages) that outlines the nominee’s accomplishments; supporting materials and documentation of accomplishments; letters of support (not to exceed five). Please submit nominations by January 15, 2017, to T.R. Henderson at TRHender@gapac.com. n The AHA Museum Award recognizes excellence in large and small historical museum that make contributions to promulgating Alabama (state or local) history. Nominations and self-nominations are welcome.

For more information on the nomination process, contact Dr. Marty Olliff at molliff@troy.edu. The nomination deadline is December 31, 2016.

2017 NOMINATIONS

NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR 2017 AWARDS

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70

th

ANNUAL MEETING

O F T H E A L A B A M A H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N AUBURN, AL ABAMA APR IL 20 -22, 2017 The Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center will serve as the meeting site for the 70th annual meeting. Reserve your hotel room at the Auburn University Hotel now by calling 800-228-2876.

Call by March 27 and mention the Alabama Historical Association to receive the group rate of $124 per night.

Old Main, 1883. Courtesy of Auburn University Libraries.

Samford Hall.

Courtesy of Auburn University Photograph Services

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HISTORICAL MARKER NEWS

A

t its June 2016 meeting, the AHA Board of Directors approved a recommendation by the Historical Marker Committee to offer a special Alabama Bicentennial crest on new markers beginning next year.

From January 2017 through December 2019, local groups and interested individuals seeking an AHA-sponsored marker will have the option of selecting either the traditional AHA marker emblem or the special crest seen here. There is no additional cost for the bicentennial crest. The Historical Marker committee recommended this option in an effort to allow more communities to create for themselves a lasting tribute to the commemoration of Alabama 200.

The Board of Directors also voted to receive a grant from the Alabama Tourism Department to assist in refurbishing historical markers in anticipation of statewide bicentennial celebrations. More information on this program will be provided at the Pilgrimage.

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The AHA would like to thank the following individuals for their generous support!

PATRONS ($500 LEVEL)

SUSTAINERS ($100 LEVEL)

David and Frances Robb, Huntsville

Paul J. Anderson, Enterprise

SPONSORS ($250 LEVEL) Dr. Leah Rawls Atkins, Birmingham Jane H. Brock, Homewood Joe Dennis, Bessemer Dr. Ralph Draughon, Jr., Auburn John and Anne Feathers, Greenville Sally A. Finlay, Brewton Dr. Ann B. Pearson, Auburn Carroll C. Strickland, Huntsville Mr. and Mrs. James F. Sulzby, Birmingham Scott and Cameron Vowell, Birmingham Larry Ward, Birmingham Alan K. Zeigler, Birmingham

Spencer Bachus, Vestavia Joe E. Basenberg, Mobile Raymond L. Beck and Deborah Hatton, Franklin, TN Dr. Kathryn H. Braund, Dadeville Gov. Albert P. Brewer, Birmingham Dr. Edwin C. Bridges, Montgomery William L. and Suzanne C. Brown, Stapleton Dr. Lonnie Burnett, Saraland Camille Butrus, Birmingham Dr. and Mrs. J. Donald Carmichael, Birmingham Mrs. Charles T. Clayton, Birmingham Wynne and Dianne Coleman, Greensboro Yvonne Crumpler, Birmingham Mr. and Mrs. Allen Edwards, Montgomery Bertis D. English, Montgomery Martin and Helon Everse, Vestavia Mr. and Mrs. Alston Fitts, Selma Michael W. Fitzgerald, Northfield, MN Elizabeth Marks Green, Mobile T.R. Henderson, Headland

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Guntersville Historical Society, Guntersville

Mrs. William A. Powell, Birmingham

B. Bart Henson, Huntsville

George C. and Kay Rable, Tuscaloosa

David Herring, Birmingham

Dr. Rebecca Reeves, Hanceville

Laura Newland Hill, Opelika

Margaret E. Rhoads, Vestavia Hills

Arthur F. Howington, Tuscaloosa

Shirrell Roberts, Montgomery

Robert L. Hunt, Birmingham

Barrett and Tolly G. Shelton, Decatur

Ethelwyn Haley Dobbs Langston, Winfield

B. Hanson Slaughter, Birmingham

Jim and Ola Ann Lee, Huntsville

Murray W. and Nancy Smith, Birmingham

Will and Ruth H. Liddell, Camden

Ted C. and Shirley K. Spears, Sylacauga

Frank Alex Luttrell, Madison

Jean T. Styles, Minter

Christopher Maloney, Auburn

Gayle G. Thomas, Abbeville

Joseph W. Mathews, Birmingham

J. Mills Thornton, Montgomery

Marvin E. and Lenda McCain, Lynn Haven, FL

A.S. Williams, III, Birmingham

Tom McMillan, Brewton

A. Len Worlund, Huntsville

William D. Melton, Evergreen

Louise A. Wrinkle, Birmingham

Guy Milford and Sandra Braman, College Station, TX James Stanley Moss, Pinson Steve and Laura Murray, Auburn David C. Naftel, Birmingham Bob and Alice Owens, Gulf Shores James P. Pate, Tupelo, MS Emily Pendleton, Montevallo

Thank you 23

Alabama

Presorted Std. U.S. Postage PAID Montgomery, AL Permit No. 456

Historical Association c/o Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities Pebble Hill Auburn, AL 36849

www.alabamahistory.net

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SAVE THE DATE!

th

ANNUAL MEETING April 20-22, 2017 Auburn, Alabama Reserve your hotel room at the Auburn University Hotel now by calling 800-228-2876. Call by March 27 and mention the Alabama Historical Association to receive the group rate of $124 per night.