A Quick Visit to Hartselle

Each year my brother Richard and I take a trip together primarily to explore Alabama and family history. Our trip this past July ended in Hartselle, and this post examines a few things we found there. Comments on other stops: Bessemer & Jasper, Posey's Hardware in Jasper, Bug Tussle, and Colony. 

Hartselle had about 14,000 people in the 2010 U.S. Census. The town has a nice historic downtown area which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Notable natives include author William Bradford Huie, politician John Sparkman and various sports stars. 

Incorporated in 1875, the town has some interesting history. The downtown area has rebounded from two major fires in 1901 and 1916. A Rosenwald school for black residents, built in the early 20th century, closed in 1969 and had to be demolished in 2000. Hartselle High School celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009. 

In March 1926, more than a dozen men stormed the bank, held hostages for four hours and then made off with $15,000 worth of cash, gold and silver. They used six sticks of dynamite to blow the bank's safe. The robbers were never identified; today the building is the home of a boutique. 

In the late 1980's Hartselle was home to the "Tomb of Mystery Museum" operated by magician John Reed. The collection consisted of his personal magic materials and historical acquisitions over the years. I wonder whatever happened to those items. 

We had a specific goal in mind for this Hartselle visit, but we also managed to see a few other things. All will be revealed in the comments below. 

Back in June I posted an item about James Copeland, a Confederate veteran who once vowed never to cut his beard if the South lost. He kept his word, and his beard was said to be nearly seven feet long when he died. According to my research, he is buried in the cemetery adjacent to this Methodist church outside Hartselle.  

Richard and I spent a half hour roaming around the cemetery in the July heat hoping to find Mr. Copeland's grave. We didn't, but there are many unmarked graves here. As the marker below notes, the cemetery has graves going back to 1804, so it's worth visiting as historic itself. 

Like Birmingham, Hartselle has its iconic Iron Man. We found him on our way to the Methodist church. He's on Iron Man Road. At the Iron Man Grocery. In the Iron Man community, with an Iron Man Barber, too. The fellow has been around for a century or so and has survived various attacks of vandalism.

Iron Man was originally an advertisement for VegaCal. Bessemer pharmacist W.D. Taylor developed the liver tonic, and the iron man advertised his product. "VegaCal Gets the Bile" according to the slogan on his chest. Apparently several of these iron advertisements were made in Birmingham and scattered in the area. I wonder if any others have survived.

UPDATE 5 August 2021

A brief history of the Iron Man was published 30 July 2021 by the Hartselle Enquirer. 

See also Kennedy, James H. Iron Man pride of community named for him. Birmingham News 11 March 1991

There is a Civil War site of significance in the area.

Richard and I had lunch at Cahoot's Cafe in downtown Hartselle, where I had a great Reuben sandwich. As you can see from the photo below, the place is packed with all sorts of neat historical stuff. 

A few years ago the Hartselle Public Library was named after one of the city's most famous natives, William Bradford Huie. The journalist and novelist was a  very controversial figure during his lifetime, but returned to live in Hartselle in the mid-1950's. He is buried in the city cemetery. 

This building seems to have been a bank at one time; that book drop area sure looks like a former drive through for one.  

FURTHER READING

Black group unable to save landmark building [Morgan County Training School]. Associated Press 2000 September 25

Keith, Susan. Welcome to John Reed's World of Magic. Kudzu Magazine/Birmingham Post-Herald 1988 October 28, pp 4-6

Kennedy, James H. Iron Man pride of community named for him. Birmingham News 1991 March 11

Mcdaniel, DeAngelo. From the ashes: Downtown Hartselle survived 2 major fires. Decatur Daily 

McDaniel, DeAngelo. Memorabilia captures century of Hartselle High. Decatur Daily 2009 September 18

Shocking, unsolved 1926 bank robbery still provokes interest. Birmingham New 2000 March 28, p 2B

A Quick Visit to Posey's Hardware in Jasper

Each year my brother Richard and I take a trip together, usually through some part of Alabama exploring family and state history. This year's trip was short, but we still managed to get in a few places. This post is the second in a series about the trip; the first one is here. 

As we were leaving Jasper on Saturday morning, we stopped at Andrew Posey and Son, Hardware Plumbing and Gifts at the corner of Elliott Blvd. [Alabama 69] and 20th Street West. Cleaning out some files recently, I had found a 1985 newspaper article about the store, and we decided to check it out. 

The place needs its own historical marker. G.R. Posey constructed the building in 1919 and rented it to a grocer until 1924 when he bought that business. At some point I guess the groceries were phased out and hardware moved in. Son Andrew later took it over and then passed it to his son Hershel. At the time of the 1985 article, Hershel's son Randy had returned to Jasper to help with the business. 

The store has a wide array of kitchen and household items, tools, and so forth that you won't find at Home Depot or Wal-Mart. The place is stuffed to the gills with practical things, gift items and lots of plain silly stuff. I bought something, of course--a Posey's coffee mug!

I've made comments under a couple of the photos below. Here's the citation for that 1985 article:

Crowson, Bryan. 'The Last Place on Earth' Need a washboard? A new mule collar? Posey likely has it. Birmingham News 29 September 1985 

Many years ago we bought one of those red wagons to haul our kids around in the back yard. Dianne now uses if to hold flower pots in the back of the lot. 

Since I'm an Auburn fan, some of the products were not very appealing. 

One of my uncles worked at Coca Cola bottling operations for many years and collected much memorabilia. He would have appreciated this corner. 

Here you can see some of the variety of goods available. Throughout the store many old items not for sale are on display, like the glass bottles on this shelf. The place is thus both a store and an educational look at some of the many products humans have manufactured to make life easier.