Major local events, disasters, celebrations, turning points.
In April 1863, Tuscumbia became part of a major Union operation during the Civil War. An old engraving captioned “Tuscumbia, Ala., One of the Scenes of Colonel Grierson’s Exploits” makes it sound as though Colonel Benjamin Grierson rode through town.…
In 1940, Florence hosted a wrestling spectacle that probably sounded unbelievable even by the standards of professional wrestling. At Fort Willingham Armory, spectators gathered for a “Rassle Royale” featuring a man billed at an astonishing 640 pounds. His name was…
On an early March morning in 1854, a violent tornado struck the Tennessee River at Florence, tearing apart one of the city’s most important pieces of infrastructure and devastating the warehouses clustered around the river landing. The 1854 Florence, Alabama…
In July of 1890, Tuscumbia Mayor John Steele, was shot through the eye and killed by John Goodwin over a dispute that the Mayor’s son had badmouthed his sister. The bullet went through Mayor Steele’s eye, penetrating his brain and…
[As written in the Florence Times on Friday, April 11, 1902] Bloody Tragedy in Tuscumbia – April 6, 1902 Nine Men Shot by a Desperate Negro.A Battle Lasting Half a Day. Tuscumbia, April 6. — The foregoing represents the bloody work…
The story of John A. Murrell is one of those pieces of Southern history where fact, folklore, and outright sensationalism have become so tangled together that separating one from another is nearly impossible. Known in later accounts as the “Great…
Original 1876 land lottery ticket from the founding of St. Florian, Alabama. Saint Florian was established in the 1870’s when the Homestead Society of Cincinnati, Ohio strived to develop a Catholic presence in northwest Alabama. Reverend J.H. Hueser, director of…
Gravelly Springs, Alabama, near Waterloo, was the site of an extraordinary gathering during the final weeks of the Civil War. In the spring of 1865, Major General James Harrison Wilson assembled approximately 22,000 cavalrymen in the area between Gravelly Springs…
Originally printed in the Florence Gazette, Feb 19, 1853. Reprinted here without edits or commentary. Something over three years ago, a young man, apparently about 25 or 30 years of age, stopped at Bainbridge, a noted landing, situated at the foot of…
Florence Ice & Coal Company opened in early 1903 and was located on Aetna Street in East Florence near Sweetwater Creek and Huntsville Road. In 1922, an unusual thing happened: their night watchman was stolen! Let me break the story…