Morgan County AlArchives History .....Decatur ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 6, 2012, 1:15 pm III. DECATUR. The State of Alabama was admitted into the Union in December, 1819. Morgan County, then called Cotoca County, was a part of the reservation of the Cherokee Indians, and continued to be until the removal of the Indians, in 1837. An old map published in 1836 marks the Indian Reservation of the Cherokees, and notes no town in Northern Alabama except Huntsville. The first mention of the town of Decatur is in a letter from President Monroe to the Register and Surveyor-General, dated January 13, 1820, in which the President reserves a site for a town to be called Decatur. It was named in honor of Commodore Decatur, the distinguished officer of the United States Navy. The location seems at that early day to have impressed the authorities as a very favorable one. The new town was situated on a plateau on the south bank of the Tennessee River, on the highest land between the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico. It also marked the western limit of the navigation of the Tennessee River, for between this point and Florence intervened the obstructions called the Mussel Shoals. The town when first laid out embraced an area extending about half a mile east of what is now the Somerville road, thence south about one fourth of a mile, thence west to where the Decatur cemetery is now located, and thence north to the river. Even at that early day it will be seen towns were laid out with ample room for growth and expansion. The embryo town had a river front of some three miles, and shows that the great advantages of the river were recognized by the officials having the matter in charge. In the year 1820, there was formed the first Decatur Land Company. The trustees of the company were Dr. Henry W. Rhodes, George Peck, Isaac Lane, Jesse W. Garth and McKinney Holderness. This company entered the land from the Government, on which Decatur was laid out. The Company made its first deed on the 9th of July, 1821. The lot so deeded was lot thirty-six, and was sold to Amos Hardin for $51. This lot is on the corner of Water and Canal Streets and fronts on the river. The town thus organized remained a part of the Cherokee Reservation under jurisdiction of the State until 1826. It was then officially incorporated by an act of the Alabama Legislature. The town had been known heretofore rather as "Rhodes' Ferry" than as Decatur, but from this time forward the latter name came into general use as the name of the place. In the year 1830, the first addition was made to the town. This was an area of ground extending from Line street east to Alabama street, and from Lafayette street to the river. From this time on Decatur seems to have had a slow growth and an uneventful history. The population did not increase rapidly, although the place became one where considerable building was done. A branch of the State Hank was located here and the building occupied by it yet remains. During the war Decatur was a strategic point and was alternately occupied by the forces of both armies, but most of the time was in possession of the Union Army. General Hood, on his march to Nashville, in 1864, menaced the place, but found it so well fortified that he did not attack it, but marched his forces to Tuscumbia and there crossed the river. Nearly all the buildings of the town were destroyed during the war, the bank building. the McCartney hotel, the Hinds' building being the principal ones left standing. The latter named building was used as headquarters at different times by the officers of each army. Marks of shot and shell can yet be seen upon the columns of the bank building. After the war had closed the old citizens returned, and business gradually revived. The construction of the Louisville & Nashville to the south made this point the crossing of two important railroads and gave business an upward movement. About 1870 the corporate limits of the town were increased and definitely defined. Since that time the town increased but little in wealth or population, and in 1880 had only 300 people. From that time the town slumbered in obscurity until the summer of 1886. Its very eligible location had attracted the attention of Maj. E. C. Gordon and others, and it was determined to make its advantages known and utilized. It was believed that a prosperous city was to grow up somewhere in Northern Alabama, and Decatur was thought to possess the superior location, as it was on the river and at the crossing of two great systems of railroad. Major Gordon and his associates, after carefully investigating the matter and viewing the ground, determined upon the rejuvenation and regeneration of what was then a dead old village. In the autumn and early winter of 1886 they bought up some 5,600 acres of land in and adjacent to Decatur, and 50,000 acres of mineral land in Northern Alabama. A land company was then formed, with a capital of $7,500,000, and the lands so purchased were sold to the company. A directory, composed of prominent business men of this and adjoining States, was elected in January, 1887, and the directors elected Major E. C. Gordon president, H. G. Bond vice-president and general manager, and W. E. Forest secretary. The company formed their plans to make Decatur an industrial city of varied manufactures. The merits of the place were made known through pamphlets, circulars and newspapers, and within a few months several very important manufacturies were secured for the new city. These embraced such establishments as the Charcoal Chemical Works, the American Oak Extract Works, the Ivins & Son's Machine shops, and several others of less importance. A beginning was thus made, and, continuing the work, other establishments were induced to locate here until, in December, 1887, the number amounted to forty-one. These embrace a varied line of wood and iron manufactories, chief among which may be mentioned the immense car and construction shops of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. These works, the building of which is now under contract, comprise some fourteen buildings of large size, covering with the necessary tracks about fifty-seven acres of ground. The works will employ at the start 500 skilled mechanics, and will be the largest shop of the kind south of the Ohio River. In addition to the manufactories located at Decatur, some five hundred houses for residence and business have been erected during the year 1887. Some of these are large and elegant buildings, among which are the "Tavern," the Bond Block and the Scott Block. Under the management of the Land Company the city has been laid out by a competent landscape engineer, with a view to making it a pleasant place of residence. A thorough system of sewerage and drainage has been put in, and waterworks are under contract. The city is already provided with two electric light plants, telephone service and street cars. The population of the city increased from 1,200 in January to 5,000 in December, 1887. Business in all directions has kept up with the increase of population, and all branches of trade are well represented. Decatur is supplied with churches of different denominations as follows: Baptist, Catholic, Christian, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal. Methodist Episcopal, South, and Presbyterian. PROSPECTIVE RAILROADS. The Rome & Decatur Railroad is being built; also the Chesapeake, Decatur & New Orleans Railroad has been located, and will be built this year. The Tombigbee Railroad, from Columbus, Miss., to Decatur, is permanently established. The Warrior Coal Field Railroad, from Meridan, Miss., to Decatur, is now under construction. The Decatur, St. Louis & South Atlantic Railroad, from Carbondale, Ill., by way of Paducah, Ky., to Decatur, connecting with the Rome & Decatur Railroad, is now being built. The Mussel Shoals, the only serious obstruction between Decatur and the mouth of the river, will be open to large boats this year, the Government having already spent $2,700,000 to open it, and only $200,000 more is required to complete the work. The following enterprises have been located in Decatur since February 1, 1887, and many of them are in operation: The Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company was organized on the 11th day of January, 1887. Since that time there have been commenced the following enterprises: 1st. The Charcoal Company's plant, costing $120,000. Fifty ovens are erected and ready for operation. Employs 200 men. 2d. A 70-ton charcoal iron furnace, costing $120,000; Gordon, Lanrea & Straubel, of Philadelphia, builders; employs 100 men. 3d. One 100-ton blast iron furnace, costing $225,000, by the Decatur Land, Improvement and Furnace Company: employs 200 men. 4th. The Decatur Iron Bridge and Construction Company: George A. Mooar, of Keokuk, Iowa, president, Mr. Robert Curtis, of Chicago, vice-president; cost $100,000: employs 150 men. 5th. The American Oak Extract Company. J. E. McCarty, of Barkville, W. Va., president; the largest enterprise of the kind in the world; cost $60,000; employs 150 men. 6th. Ivens & Son, of New Orleans; steam engines and iron working plant; building 280 x 100 feet; cost $100,000: employs 100 men. 7th. Morse Cotton Compress; plant cost $45,100: employs 52 men. 8th. Decatur Lumber Company, of Ohio; W. H. Mead, president, H. S. Doggett, secretary, and treasurer, N. K. Mead, manager. Mammoth saw and planing mills and sash, door and blind factory, costing $50,000; employs 50 men. 9th. Berthard & Co., of Springfield, Ohio; sash, door and blind factory: cost $15,000: employs 20 men. 10th. Brush Electric Light Company: thirty-light plant; cost $8,000: employs 5 men. 11th. The Iron (Ohio) Wheelbarrow Company; cost, $25,000; employs 50 men. 12th. Inman A Co., of New York City; Water Works system; cost of plant, $200,000. 13th. Blymeyer Artificial Ice Company; now in operation; cost of plant, $10,000. 14th. Three brick yards are in operation at this place. One Eureka Dry Press steam machine; two Anderson Chief machines; cost, $40,000: men employed, 90. 15th. Jones, Foley & Co., lumber dealers: B. K. Poley, of Auburn, Ill., manager; carries 500,000 feet of lumber in stock. 10th. Hoosier Mills Building Material Co., Graber & Son, proprietors; employs 30 men. 17th. The Gate City Sash and Door Company: Siddons & Co., proprietors; employs 25 men. 18th. The Alabama Farmers' Fence Company: employs 20 men. 19th. The Decatur Artifical Stone Company; employs 5 men. 20th. About 250 carpenters are eugaged in erecting cottages. 21st. Natural Gas Company. A. F. Murray, president, H. G. Bond, of New York, treasurer; capital stock. $200,000. 22d. First National Bank; capital $100,000: C. C. Harris, president, W. W. Littlejohn, treasurer. 23d. Merchants' Insurance Company of Decatur: capital, $100,000; J. W. Nelson, of Chicago, president. C. Reacher, of Montgomery, secretary. 24th. Decatur Building Association; Capital, $300,000. 25th. The Decatur Mineral Water and Bottling Establishment; B. F. Bucheit, proprietor; employs 10 men. 26th. The Decatur Printing Company: H. G. Rising and B. W. Brigg, proprietors; publishers Decatur Daily Journal. 27th. The Gate City Telephone Company; operating 50 stations. 28th. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad have contracted to locate at Decatur their consolidated Car Construction and Repair Shops. Ground has already been broken for these works, and they will be built as rapidly as possible. They will employ over 500 men, and will add 2,000 population to the city. 29th. The Street Car line from the corner of Lafayette and Bank streets to Grant street, a distance of two miles, is in successful operation. 30th. An Incandescent Electric Light plant of 500 lights, lighting the new hotel and adjacent cottages, is in operation. 31st. Gas and Water Works are in process of construction, and will be completed in the shortest possible time. 32d. The United States Rolling Stock Company is now building an immense plant at Decatur for manufacturing railway cars, and will remove its entire plant from Urbana, Ohio, to Decatur. The works here will occupy fifty acres of land, and it is estimated will employ 1,000 skilled mechanics, besides a large number of ordinary laborers. This is one of the largest rolling stock companies in the world, manufacturing cars, both freight and passenger, including ear wheels, and everything incident to the rolling stock of a railroad. The capital stock of the company has been recently increased from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. 33d. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company handle daily in their yard here 640 cars —360 going south and 280 north. They employ eighty-five men, and pay out to their employes the sum of $6,000 per month. In March, 1887, the number of inhabitants was 1,200; in March, 1888, it is estimated at 7,000. The municipal government in 1888 is in charge of R. P. Baker, Mayor, and Councilmen H. S. Freeman, H. A. Skeggs, P. J. Edwards, L W. Falk, C. P. Sykes. The location of Decatur is also a natural one for a great city, and although this fact has been known for years by well-informed persons, it was only in the past year that the advantages of its situation were seized upon. The promoters of this, the "Chicago of the South," point with pride to what has been accomplished here since the first of January, 1887. No other city of the South has made so rapid progress in the same time. The work done has insured the future of the city; it has been done on a firm foundation and without any mere empty pretense; everything has been sought after with a view of endurance and permanence, not speculation. Let it be understood, that the development of Decatur and the adjacent country is no longer an experiment; its future growth and prosperity is fully assured; and its prospects have become better with every day that has passed since the work of increase has begun; even step has been carefully taken, and every enterprise so well guarded, that no standing still or backward movement could be observed. Real estate has continued to grow in value; stock of the various corporations has steadily advanced in price for several months past, and is now held as a permanent investment. The prosperity and rapid growth of Decatur has proven the wisdom of its enterprising citizens. It will be observed, that from an obscure village, it now numbers its population by thousands; so rapidly has the city increased by new arrivals, that every mind south of Mason and Dixon's line has been attracted by its prosperity. In the olden days of slave labor, many people in the South looked with disfavor on the immigration of free labor, fearing it might prove a disturbing element and interfere with their existing system. But now all is changed; the old system is gone, and the people generally want immigration, and heartily welcome all who come to invest capital or to labor and live among them. Decatur is now virtually but in the second year of her existence, with no cloud obscuring her future. The events of the year just past have crowded her beyond obscurity. The wondrous changes that have been wrought were scarcely conceivable, and to the greatest extent they were realized by her home people. Inured by this time to the strokes of adversity, with characteristic energy the people proceeded to grapple the material interest which remained to them. What has been accomplished is only an earnest of what is to be done. The future of Decatur is bright with the halo of promise. The wondrous treasure locked within her bosom; her very superior location, combined with the energies and virtues of her people; will surely give her proud pre-eminence in the South. The past is secure; it is only the future that can give concern, and if left to the energies of her people, and they entrusted with the privileges of solving the problem of their own destiny, the happiest results may be pre-pictured. Emulous of the achievements of a noble ancestry, endowed with the rich legacy of modern knowledge, and imbued with the spirit of contemporary progress, her people may well hope to compass the loftiest aims of mortal aspiration. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land 1888 PART IV. MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA, TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE. 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