Well, the short answer is--in Shelby County, silly. But let's investigate.
We've lived in Pelham since 1985 and moved to our current house in the city in 1995. Near us is Shelby County Road 11, also called Simmsville Road. I've wondered about the origin of that name, so here we are.
According to Virginia Foscue's Place Names in Alabama (1989, p. 128) the community was named after the first postmaster, William D. Simms. A post office operated there from 1921until 1937. I did not find that William D. Simms in a quick search at Ancestry.com I also did not find him at the Find-A-Grave resource.
A couple of other books I have coughed up some tidbits on Simmsville. In Shelba Nivens' Early Settlers of the K-Springs Area (1981, p. 61) the author notes the opening of a school in Simmsville in 1910. On January 31, the very first day, a tragedy occurred. Twelve year-old Jim Hodgens was the first to arrive and tried to enter the locked building by opening a window. As he crawled inside, the window fell and broke his neck. He is buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Shelby County on County Road 36 in the Chelsea area.
More details about the school are available in Heritage of Shelby County, Alabama (1999, pp. 69 & 83). The school was a wooden frame building originally on land donated by James E. Hodgens, Sr., the unlucky student's father. Stepping Stone and Baldwin Readers were used; numbers instead of letters indicated grades on report cards. The first teacher was Jessie Lambert of Helena.
In 1927 schools at Simmsville, Chelsea, Wilder's Hill and East Saginaw were consolidated into a four room building that included an auditorium. This change eventually led to Chelsea Junior High School.
A few further comments and maps are below. The latest appearance I could find of Simmsville on a map was 1965; a 1972 map did not show the town. See more below.
Portion of a topographic map showing Simmsville. I have not located any information on the chapel.
Source: Geological Survey of Alabama
Simmsville can be seen just northeast of Pelham on this portion of a 1928 state highway map.
Source: Historical Maps of Alabama
Portion of a 1949 Shelby County map created by the state highway department. Simmsville is just east of Oak Mountain State Park. The town also appeared on 1937, 1938 and 1965 maps but had disappeared by 1972.
Source: Historical Maps of Alabama
The name can be seen on current Google Maps as Simmsville Road, which is also Shelby County 11. Simms Landing is a new housing development in Pelham.
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