Six Streets...Seven Points

 

The above map of Seven Points in North Florence was drawn circa 1950. Look to the bottom right - Morris Hill Road? We infer the designation was intended to read Mars Hill Road which now runs into Chisholm Road approximately 1.5 miles to the north of the iconic intersection.

Immediately to the left of Chisholm Road is Howell Street. The north terminus of this residential street was capped with a small concrete barrier sometime after 1976 in an attempt to facilitate safer navigation of the intersection. Below is a photo from that era depicting all seven points channeling traffic:

Two streets to the left of Howell is Wood Avenue, or at least part of it. The wide tree-lined street bisects the intersection and makes up two points. This double duty street undoubtedly accounts for part of the confusion concerning the appellation "Seven Points."

Perhaps equally confusing to some is the shopping center one mile to the north of the actual intersection on North Wood Avenue. Finished in 1957, Seven Points Shopping Center takes its name from the community rather than the intersection itself. 

In short, these are the current street names of the Seven Points:

* Chisholm Road

* Howell Street

* Royal Avenue

* Wills Avenue

* Edgewood Drive

* Wood Avenue (2)

Bette F. Terry holds a BA in History from UAH

Naming the Shoals - 2021 Update

Cities and towns are like cats; they usually have an official name and a nickname. Say the “Big Apple” or the “Second City,” and everyone knows which town is being discussed. That’s also true of Shoals towns, or at least most of them.

Look at Sheffield; it now seems to have two nicknames. In 2016, PNS published an article about a Sheffield city council candidate who had a recent local arrest. When one editor used the term “City on the Bluff,” the candidate took great issue with it, stating the public wouldn’t understand the arrest was in Sheffield. The other editor agreed with her, stating “City on the Bluff” was an old name for the town. Is it?

The first record of that name found on the Internet is from an early 1980s Sheffield High School pep rally. In 1985, the Sheffield Library published the history of the town on the eve of its 100th anniversary. The book was called Sheffield, City on the Bluff – 1885-1985.

In this century, local filmmaker Steve Wiggins has produced Sheffield: City on the Bluff. Even current Sheffield police patches give a nod to the name, displaying it prominently at the top of the insignias officers wear daily. Yet Sheffield does have a new nickname. Will it displace “City on the Bluff?”

An Internet search shows early 2014 as the first date “Center of the Shoals” was used to describe the small Colbert County town. At that time, a refurbished neon sign was placed at the juncture of Muscle Shoals and Sheffield on East Second Street.

Since that time, the city has begun to use the designation on its website and in other blurbs. Yet there has been much discussion on local forums as to how accurate a description this new name really is. Exactly how does one define the center of the Shoals area when not everyone can decide its geographical boundaries? Or is “center” merely a relative term?

To add more confusion, a new Sheffield development is now calling itself the "Center of the Shoals."  Which name will win the battle of the nicknames? Perhaps the City of Florence can tell us; we’ll visit it next.

*****

We last visited the City on the Bluff; now we’ll visit the Queen City. Not familiar with that appellation? That makes you under the age of 50.

The term Queen City is used for towns in almost all the states. Once Alabama had two Queen Cities: Tuscaloosa and Florence. In the 1960s and 1970s, it wasn’t unusual to see vehicles sporting the car tag “Florence, Ala – the Queen City.”

The last official reference to Florence as the Queen City was found online in a 1989 newspaper article by the TimesDaily reporter Lorene Frederick who wrote of the winner in a Florence jingle contest. It would seem the blush and shoulder pads era daily wasn’t that much different from the one of today.

Did the name Queen City fall out of favor because it was confusing? Or did the rising era of gay rights tarnish the term in the eyes of some?

Florence seemed to languish for at least a years without an official nickname; however, by the late 1980s, the annual Renaissance Faire had arrived. Florence, Italy, and Florence, Alabama, had been proclaimed sister cities. What better way to cement that relationship than by dubbing the Alabama town the Renaissance City?

Over the years, signage has sprung up bearing the image of the Italian town’s signature giglio, sometimes known as the lily or fleur-de-lis. Even the marble floor in the back lobby of the public library sports the floral logo.

Arguments have sprung up over the presence or absence of stamen in the signature flower and what makes it a true giglio. While it may have convoluted origins, it looks like the name Renaissance City is here to stay.

One Colbert County town didn’t have quite such a circuitous path to its nickname. Next: Muscle Shoals.

*****

It was 1921 when Henry Ford visited Muscle Shoals. He proposed purchasing Wilson Dam for five million dollars and turning the miniscule plat on the map into what he called “the Detroit of the South.” Congress refused Ford’s offer based on the construction price of the dam having been at least eight times what Ford offered, but the nickname Detroit of the South stuck for years, possibly as much in derision as in apt description.

At least four decades passed before things changed appreciably in Muscle Shoals, but change they did. The small town of Sheffield refused to consider U.S. Highway 43 passing through its city limits, and Muscle Shoals became the next logical choice for the major traffic artery. The Detroit of the South was about to boom, if in only a small way.

Since the town had nothing to do with the automotive industry at this point, a new nickname was needed to convey what the town represented, and the success of Fame Studios provided it. Muscle Shoals was officially dubbed “the Hit Recording Capital of the World.”

Signs designating the town as a hit recording capital have waned over the years, but recent interest in the small Colbert County town’s musical history has again brought the name to the forefront 40 years after it first appeared. It just may be a keeper.

Next we’ll visit Tuscumbia…

*****

The city of Tuscumbia is one of the oldest communities in the Shoals. It’s either the same age as Florence or two years younger, depending upon one’s point of view. From the official town history:

The town incorporated as Ococoposa in 1820. The name was soon changed to Big Spring. This name, however, still did not seem to do the town justice. In 1822, a vote was taken to change the name to either Anniston, after the first white child born in Big Spring, or Tuscumbia, in honor of the Chickasaw Indian chief living here. Tuscumbia won by one vote.

Should we consider Ococoposa a nickname? Probably not. How about Big Spring? Ditto.

So what is Tuscumbia’s nickname? If Florence, Sheffield, and Muscle Shoals each have two sobriquets, doesn’t Tuscumbia have at least one? Those we’ve asked have uniformly replied in the negative.

In the interest of fairness, it’s incumbent upon PNS to dub the city of Tuscumbia with an appellation it can be proud to display on billboards leading into the town. A historian residing in legendary Limestone County has come to the town’s rescue and coined a brilliant nickname for the Colbert County town. From this point on, the picturesque municipality shall be designated:

Tuscumbia – Gateway to Barton.

Yet five years after the original publication of these articles in Pen-N-Sword, there's been a new development in Tuscumbia. It seems the most picturesque of the Colbert town trio now has an official name:

Will "Charm of the Shoals" stick? Some of us were hoping for "Tuscumbia, a Dickens of a Town." 

Bette F. Terry holds a B.A. in history from UAH

F. T. Appleby: A Biography

 

Flavius Thompson Appleby 

April 2, 1875 - December 20, 1932

Flavius Thompson Appleby was born in an era when it was considered socially desirable to give sons classical names, usually Greek or Roman. Many recipients of these names later preferred to use only first and middle initials, and we may assume F. T. Appleby, the namesake of a Roman emperor, was one of these.

Appleby’s family history is recorded in the History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 3 by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen. The following is a brief excerpt:

“(Appleby was the) son of Samuel Argyle and Rebeckah (Ewing) Appleby, the former a native of Verona, Marshall County, Tenn., who lived at Lewisburgh and was a farmer and stock breeder; grandson of Samuel Bell and Emma Jane (Ewing) Appleby of Verona, Tenn. and of Lyle A. and Rebeckah (Leiper) Ewing, who lived at Farmington, Tenn. His great-grandfather, John Appleby, came with two brothers from Appleby, Westmoreland County, England, to South Carolina soon after the Revolution, and from there moved to Tennessee. The brothers went one to Pennsylvania, and the other to Georgia. His great-grandfather, John Leiper, was the founder of the Leiper's Mill community in Tennessee, and one of the founders of the old Presbyterian Church Bethberel. Mr. Appleby attended the country schools near Lewisburgh, Tenn.: was graduated from the University of Tennessee, B.S. 1901; took graduate work in Columbia University, New York and spent three summers at Winona Lake summer school, Indiana. He began teaching in a district school in Tennessee; then in a village school in the same state; became teacher of mathematics in Elmwood seminary for young ladies, Farmington, Miss.; was elected president of that school and held the position for four years; came to Alabama as superintendent of Tuscumbia city schools, 1906-1910; served as president of LaFayette College; was elected superintendent of city schools at Florence, 1919.”

While living in Campbellsville, Kentucky, Appleby married Mary Grider (Mayme) Mourning in December 1902. The couple had one son born in January 1904. By August 1906, Mayme had passed away at the age of 25, leaving Appleby with a young child to raise. He then moved to Northwest Alabama where he met Ella Henry Johnson of Tuscumbia. They married in January 1909; their union lasted until Flavius’ death in December 1932. He was also survived by his son James Mourning Appleby who died in 1977.

F. T. Appleby taught school until 1917, at which time he was elected the superintendent of Florence City Schools. He remained in that position until his death. Once installed in the office, Appleby set about to raise the academic achievements of the school system. The year 1917 also marked the opening of Coffee High School on Jackson Highway (now Hermitage Drive); by 1920, it had become the first locally accredited high school in the area under the educator’s guidance.

Four years after Appleby’s death, the city built Florence Junior High adjacent to Coffee High School. In 1951, a new Coffee High School building opened a few blocks away from the original, and the former high school was renamed F. T. Appleby Elementary School after the beloved late superintendent.

F. T. Appleby Elementary and Florence Junior High sat side by side on Hermitage Drive for ten years until 1961 when the Henry Grady Richards Elementary School opened on Riverview Drive. At that time the entire complex became F. T. Appleby Junior High School. The two buildings, joined by a breezeway, remained in service until 1980 when they were replaced by Rufus G. Hibbett Sr. Middle School.

In honor of F. T. Appleby, the newly constructed city street leading to Hibbett Middle School was named Appleby Boulevard. Sadly, the Appleby complex on Hermitage Drive was damaged by several fires over the years and was eventually completely razed.

Flavius Thompson Appleby and his wife Ella Johnson Appleby are buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Alabama. You may learn more about the Appleby/Johnson families at Find-A-Grave.

Bette Favor Terry holds a BA in history from UAH.

The King Tea Kettle: Should We Honor or Destroy It?

In 1905, the Lizzie Loman Stove Works of Sheffield was for sale. Two brothers who worked as salesmen for King Hardware of Atlanta saw the potential in the business and persuaded the company to purchase the foundry. By 1917, William H. and Charles Martin had secured what was then known as King Stove and Range for themselves. They subsequently made a wise business move to add a line of cast iron cookware to the foundry's line.

Many of the factory's employees were African-American, and wages were poor even by the standards of the day. For whatever reason, William Martin's wife was concerned enough about her husband's employees that she packed Christmas baskets each year and delivered them to workers' families. Thus began a tradition that Martin Industries continued until its demise 80 years later.

However, it's the apocryphal story of the King Stove tea kettle that has always been the most intriguing. One by one, King Stove added pieces to its popular line of cast iron cookware. Looks may not have been of major concern to those who designed the holloware, but utility was.

The story has often been retold that the designer of the King tea kettle (similar to one pictured above) took particular care with the piece since he knew it would be a staple in most homes. Looking at the not quite finished mold, he announced to those assisting him that it was almost ready - it lacked only the spout opening, and that could be neither too large nor too small.

An older black employee then stepped forward and used his thumb to perforate the spout, and the designer declared it perfect. Was this particualar finishing touch what made the King Stove tea kettle so popular? 

With many today calling for the destruction of what has been made with underpaid or even free African-American labor, should we melt down all the remaining collectible King kettles? Or should we cherish them even more because they illustrate the value of one exploited laborer who never received any recognition for his contribution?

King Stove discontinued its line of cast iron cookware in 1953. In 1974, the company combined with its sister foundry Martin Stove in Florence to form Martin Industries. While never wildly successful, the Florence based firm catered to a mid-priced niche for decades until competion finally proved too much. Martin Industries closed its doors for the last time in 2003, leaving almost seven million dollars in debt. The location of the company's once modern headquarters on East Tennessee Street in Florence is now a vacant lot encircled by a graffiti covered retaining wall.

Bette F. Terry holds a degree in history from UAH.

The Near Death Experience of Hester Allison Fudge

Hester Allison was born in 1852. Her father served in the Civil War, as did her future husband William Henry Fudge. From The Sound of His Voice by Edward Fudge:

When the Civil War erupted, William Henry (Fudge) enlisted in the 35th Alabama Infantry, Confederate Company “G”. He was captured by General Sherman, held as a prisoner of war, and released on Independence Day of 1861. Still passionate for the Confederate cause, he soon re-enlisted and fought at the Battle of Shiloh. 

By 1922, Hettie had been a widow for 13 years. The Spanish Influenza epidemic had hit Athens hard in 1918, and now four years later the 70 year-old Hester Fudge had fallen victim to another strain of the disease. 

Hettie's physician had told her family that the situation was bleak. Her vital signs were growing weaker. The family prepared for the expected end.

It wasn't until 1975, that Dr. Raymond Moody shook the world of science with his stories of near death experiences, but in 1952, Hester Allison Fudge related hers to the Athens, Alabama, newspaper.

The centenarian told of traveling through a valley, of walking toward a light that proved to be a man holding a lantern. The man, whom Hettie said she didn't recognize, stood on the far side of a river that she presumed to be Jordan. He told Hettie that her time had not come, that she had to return.

Return Hettie did, living over 30 more years. She passed away just short of her 102nd birthday and is buried in the Athens, Alabama, city cemetery.

B.F. Terry holds a degree in history from UAH and is the great-great niece of Henry Fudge.

Ole Red McLaughlin of WOWL Broadcasting Fame

The man known as “Ole Red” to thousands of mid-20th Century Shoals radio listeners was born Nelve Pancie McLaughlin on August 26, 1910, in Lauderdale County. His home was near Green Hill in a community called Cow Pen, a fact he often made mention of in his radio broadcasts.

As a young man, Red married Helen Redding, and they were parents to one child, Gene Howell McLaughlin who died a short time after his birth in 1931. Helen died in 1981, eleven years before her husband. 

While Red’s primary occupation was that of an ironworker at Reynold’s Metals Company outside Muscle Shoals, he also toiled as a disc jockey at WOWL Radio in Florence, raised horses, and even ran for sheriff in 1960, but it was his second calling as a Country & Western entertainer which brought him regional fame. For a short while, his radio show also branched out into weekend programming at WOWL Television each Saturday. 

Red’s favorite song was North to Alaska, and few shows went by that he didn’t perform the Johnny Horton classic accompanied by his band the Ranch Hands. The country entertainer also made it a point to feature new talent in his line up and was one of the first to introduce local legends Melba and Peanut Montgomery to the public. 

Richard Taylor is a Florence native who now resides in Linden, Tennessee. The owner of Singing Wood Guitar Company, Richard was already a virtuoso as a young music student. He shared this memory about Ole Red and the Ranch Hands:

“My guitar teacher, Lyndon Smith, was the guitar player in that band and he used to let some of his students go on the show and do a song or two. My family lived next door to the TV station and I remember walking across our yard with my guitar and singing "That's All Right Mama" with Lyndon Smith standing beside me encouraging me all the way. He was a GREAT teacher; and Ole Red and his band treated me really nice. This was in 1958 or 1959. My first ever time to play on TV.”

In the late 1960s, networks began to leech more time from independent radio and television stations, causing such programs as McLaughlin’s to be phased out. Ole Red McLaughlin passed away on October 16, 1992, and is buried next to his wife Helen in the Emmaline Stutts Cemetery near El Reposo Nursing Home in Lauderdale County. His memory lives on in those he entertained for decades. 

Note: The photos in the above collage are WOWL publicity stills and were hand colored by Keith Williams for the Lauderdale County, Alabama, History page on Facebook.

Bette F. Terry holds a degree in History from UAH

African American Heroes of the Tennessee Valley

On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation warning that in all states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves free. The historic event was an important point in the Civil War and the beginning of the United States' transformation into the land of the free.

Many African American heroes, who made their mark on the world, called the Tennessee Valley home. The African American people of the Valley have been major contributors to the history, heritage, and culture of the land and have shown uncommon courage in most remarkable ways. Today, museums stand in their honor to showcase objects and materials of importance in their lives and to present them to the public for the purpose of education and enjoyment.

Green McAdoo Cultural Center and Museum

August 26, 2019, marked the 50th anniversary of the walk down a hill to attend public schools by the Clinton Twelve. The museum tells the compelling story of twelve high school students, who in 1956, braved threats of violence to attend Clinton High School, making it the first desegregated public high school in the South and the first integrated school in the South to graduate a student of color after the historic Brown vs. Board of Education landmark decision. The Green McAdoo Cultural Center and Museum follows the chronologically detailed story of the 1956 desegregation of Clinton High School in life-size pictures with dramatic narrative.

Jesse Owens Memorial Park

The Jesse Owens Memorial Park, located in Oakville, Alabama, honors the life and accomplishments of the Olympic sprinter and gold medalist. Born in 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, Jesse Owens captured four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where Adolf Hitler famously refused to congratulate him. The first American to win four gold medals in track and field, he is honored in his hometown with a statue, museum, home replica, a 1936 torch replica, and a long jump pit to tests one’s ability in reaching his gold medal distance of 26 feet 5 5/16 inches. In 1955, he was named Ambassador of Sports by President Eisenhower and toured the world promoting the virtues of amateur programs. He served as Eisenhower’s personal representative to the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne, Australia. In 1970, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, presented the Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford in 1976 and received the Living Legend Award in 1979 from President Jimmy Carter.

Alex Haley Statue at Haley Heritage Square

In honor of the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family, Alex Haley Heritage Square sits on the slopes of Morningside Park in Knoxville, Tenn., with views of the city, downtown business district and the Smoky Mountains. Within the Alex Haley Heritage Square, there are play structures, a paved loop and a peaceful green space with benches. The focal point of the community-built playground is the stunning 13-foot high bronze statue of the author and Pulitzer Prize winner.

Throughout history, music seemed to be the one channel in bridging the disparities of race. Noted musicians calling the Tennessee Valley home are W. C. Handy, Bessie Smith, and Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong.

W. C. Handy Home, Museum, and Library

Father of the Blues W.C. Handy was born in a small log cabin in Florence on November 16, 1873. He presented to the world the sounds of rhythm-and-blues, jazz, and soul with famous tunes such as “St. Louis Blues,” Memphis Blues,” and “Beale Street Blues”. The museum houses a collection of memorabilia, musical instruments, personal papers, and original sheet music. Handy's famous trumpet and his personal piano are just a few of the items on display.

Chattanooga African American Heritage Museum and Bessie Smith Cultural Center

Crowned as Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith earned the honor as the greatest classic blues singer of the 1920s. The museum’s original goal was to present the many contributions African Americans made to the development of Chattanooga. In 1996, a newly renovated facility became the new home of the Chattanooga African American Museum and the Bessie Smith Hall and included a world-class performance hall within the complex. The Bessie Smith Performance Hall has become well known in the Chattanooga community as an educational institution and spectacular venue to host performances, banquets, meetings and various community events.

Louie Bluie Festival

The Louie Bluie Festival is named in honor of Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, a LaFollette native and internationally acclaimed string band musician who grew up in LaFollette in the 1920s and became one of the nation's finest string band musicians, as well as artist, storyteller, and writer. Growing up, “Louie Bluie” was influenced by the genres of music that early settlers brought to Appalachia. He learned to play a fiddle at an early age and would go on to become one of the nation's finest black string band musicians, receiving a NEA’s National Heritage Fellowship. The free festival is set for September 28, 2019, in Cove Lake State Park in Caryville, Tennessee.