A Visit to Camp Hill, Alabama (2)

This past July my brother Richard and I made one of our annual trips seeking Alabama and family history.

This time we were in east central Alabama mainly around Brundidge and Camp Hill. We visited several other places I've already written about such as Smuteye, Union Springs and Aberfoil. 

The first post on the Camp Hill visit is here. I'll be doing a future post on Tallassee. A decade or more ago mom and her two sisters, Heth and Marjorie, made a similar trip to Brundidge and Camp Hill; some things have changed, others not so much.

UPDATE 19 April 2021: The Alexander City Outlook newspaper recently published an article about a family trying to renew downtown Camp Hill. 

UPDATE summer 2021: The Camp Hill Historic District was designated by the Alabama Historical Commission:

"The Camp Hill Historic District was listed in the Alabama Register for its significance as the town’s historic commercial and economic center. The buildings included in the Camp Hill Historic District are good examples of Romanesque and Colonial Revival architectural types. The town of Camp Hill, Alabama, was incorporated in 1895, but settlement in the area began in the early 1800s. The historic commercial buildings in Camp Hill’s historic business district were developed between 1880 and 1965. The downtown district also includes the Norfolk Southern Railway system (previously known as the Central of Georgia Railway), which was responsible for transporting goods throughout numerous adjoining states in the South." 

Lyman Ward historical marker

The military school is one of the few bright spots left in Camp Hill.

Front view of the former auditorium that's now a gym. In a previous post on this blog I've talked about the time mom saw George Washington Carver speak at the Sourthern Industrial Institute in a big auditorium that is now apparently this gym.

Back view of the gym

This water tower is a landmark in the area. There is a family story in which mom's older brother John climbed the water tower in Camp Hill when he was about 10 years old. He apparently decided not to come down, and soon the sheriff appeared at the parsonage to inform my grandfather, John Miller Shores, the Methodist minister. Rev. Shores had to climb the tower and bring his son down. Her father later told mom that time was the most scared he'd ever been in his life. That water tower seems to be gone now, replaced by this more modern one. 

A view of downtown Camp Hill along North Main Street or County Highway 121.

One of two active store fronts downtown, "The Reading Room" under the blue facade appeared to be a children's library/activity center.

Visiting this hollow downtown late on a Sunday morning, we did run into a gentleman who said he was born in Camp Hill and had lived there all his life. He told us he remembered when Camp Hill was "a jumpin' place." My mother and her sister remember that too. Mom says the railroad brought many travelling salesmen through town who stayed in the hotel. Nearby Lake Martin may now be home to some former residents.

Opposite view of the downtown street

A sign of former life--the word "Winters" appears between the "Enjoy Coca-Cola" advertisements. Perhaps the site of a restaurant?

This corner building held the other active location, a consignment shop. The Reading Room is across the side street, under the blue front.

Tucker's Pharmacy once occupied this location.

More photos of downtown Camp Hill from 1998/9 can be found here.

This photo shows Camp Hill's downtown in the 1930's. 

Source: Web page at Georgia State University

The postmark on the back of this postcard is July 17, 1915.

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

This aerial view of Camp Hill in June 1956 appears to have many cars parked along main street in the downtown area.

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

A Visit to Camp Hill, Alabama (1)

This past July my brother Richard and I made one of our annual trips seeking Alabama and family history. This time we were in east central Alabama mainly around Brundidge and Camp Hill. We visited several other places I've already written about such as Smuteye, Union Springs and Aberfoil. I'll be doing a future post on Tallassee and a second one on Camp Hill. A decade or more ago mom and two of her sisters, Heth and Marjorie, made a similar trip to Brundidge and Camp Hill; some things have changed, others not so much.


We visited Camp Hill on a hot Sunday morning. We had already been to Brundidge the day before, also a very hot late July morning. The heat was about the only thing in common between the two cities. Brundidge seemed to be a thriving small town; Camp Hill is a sad and hollow shell of its former vibrant past. Mom says she and her sisters practically wept at the sight of the town where they had lived for a few years in the 1930's and remembered so fondly.


In the 2000 U.S. Census the population of Camp Hill was 1,273 people. More recent estimates in 2014 give the population as 992 or 947.


The Encyclopedia of Alabama has this summary of Camp Hill's history:


"The Camp Hill area began to be settled by the early 1830s just before Creek Indian Removal. The community initially was referred to as either Burnt Bull or Ashbank. The name Camp Hill most likely came from the area's popularity as a camping place.


"Camp Hill remained primarily a farming community throughout the 1850s and 1860s. The Savannah and Memphis Railroad came through in 1870, bringing with it increased settlement. Camp Hill incorporated in 1895, and its economy at this time was fueled primarily by cotton gins and a brickyard. In 1898, Universalist minister Lyman Ward founded the Southern Industrial Institute to educate underprivileged rural youth. In 1948, it was renamed the Lyman Ward Military Academy."


The military academy is one of the few thriving institutions left in Camp Hill. Lyman Ward was a fascinating individual; you can learn more about him here. He even ran for governor in 1946 as a Republican, but was soundly defeated by Democrat Jim Folsom. More information about the Universalist Church of American is here.

UPDATE 19 April 2021: The Alexander City Outlook newspaper recently published an article about a family trying to renew downtown Camp Hill. 

UPDATE 9 May 2023: The Alexander City Outlook newspaper recently published an article about some Auburn University researchers and their Camp Hill history project. 

Lyman Ward [1868-1948]

Source: Wikipedia

First Universalist Church of Camp Hill

This cornerstone gives the basic dates. 

An historical marker offers more information on just how a Universalist Church ended up in a tiny town in east Alabama in the late nineteenth century. 

The church and its grounds are obviously cared for, but a congregation has not met here in many years. 

This church is now the Gracefulness Baptist Church. When mom and her family lived in Camp Hill, it was the Methodist Church where my grandfather, John Miller Shores, was minister. He served the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church for some 55 years. 

 This house was apparently the parsonage for the Methodist Church when mom and family lived there. Mom remembers a large open space between the parsonage and the church. Another house is between this one and the church, but a more modern one. Mom also remembers a large front porch, which seems to fit this house. 

Richard spotted the top of this house as seen in the second photograph below. This large structure is well-hidden in an otherwise nice neighborhood. The decay foreshadowed what we saw later in Camp Hill's former downtown. 

That Time Mom Saw George Washington Carver in Camp Hill

George Washington Carver in March 1942
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein

When my mother was six and seven years old, she and the family were living in the small town of Camp Hill in Tallapoosa County.  Her father John Miller Shores was minister at the Methodist church. Mom was the youngest of four children; the older siblings were Heth, John and Marjorie. My grandmother Tempe completed the family.

Mom tells the story of the time they went to hear a talk by George Washington Carver while they lived in Camp Hill. Since she was born in 1929, that would have been in 1935 or 1936. The event took place in the town's largest auditorium at the Southern Industrial School, which is now Lyman Ward Military Academy. Mom remembers him as an older black man with snow-white hair. Carver was about 70 at the time. The trip from Tuskegee would have been a drive north of less than 40 miles.

The auditorium was crowded. Mom was lifted into one of the deep windowsills to watch beside other children. She remembers being afraid she might fall from her perch. She doesn't recall any of Carver's speech, just the size of the crowd. Both whites and blacks were in attendance. She suspects the blacks were segregated in some way, but doesn't remember specifics. Perhaps the auditorium had a balcony.

The Lyman Ward web site notes that one of the school's two gyms was constructed in the 1930's. You can see a panoramic video of the interior of Tallapoosa Hall here. I've shown this video to mom and the high windows are the way she remembers them in the auditorium. 

Mom does remember something very specific about the event. The family brought home a booklet which she read and kept for some years. The item described Carver's many achievements; she doesn't remember if the pamphlet was sold or given away at the event. 

Carver's appearance is interesting in light of events in Camp Hill just a few years earlier. In July 1931 a meeting of the Alabama Sharecroppers Union in a church was attacked by a band of white men. A shootout resulted in at least one death and 30 arrests. Four other individuals were later lynched, but the 30 were eventually released. The all-black Union, affiliated with the Communist Party USA, operated in the state from 1931 until 1936.

On a brighter note, Chicago White Sox outfielder Bill Higdon was born in Camp Hill in 1924. He died in 1986.

Rev. John Miller Shores 

My grandmother Tempe, Aunt Heth standing on the left, Uncle John on the right. The two squirts are Aunt Marjorie and mom--she's the one with the pensive look.