Alabama History & Culture News: May 17 edition

 

Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these items are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Some articles may be behind a paywall. Enjoy!

John Gurner enjoys living in history at Alabama's Fort Toulouse-Fort Jackson Park Alabama NewsCenter John Gurner coordinates living history events and conducts historical research at Fort Toulouse in Wetumpka. (Alabama Historical Commission).

'Biopsy' of Clotilda site yields wealth of data for study - al.com AL.com Alabama Historical Commission, partners, say latest round of study will help make big decisions about preservation.

Attalla museum site being remodeled to display rich history of land, town and people

Gadsden Times

The Attalla Historical Museum continues to see work move forward in ... The museum will be housed in the old Alabama Power building on 5th Avenue.

Selma Students Paint Giant Mural Downtown - Alabama News Network Alabama News Network A huge new mural going up in Selma -- will welcome visitors who come to town -- and highlight the city's history.

How a Failed Assassination Attempt Pushed George Wallace to Reconsider His ... Smithsonian Magazine The governor of Alabama and an ardent segregationist, George Wallace was in ... That put him on the wrong side of history by using hate and fear.

Montgomery's NewSouth Books purchased by The University of Georgia Press Montgomery Advertiser There's a new chapter ahead for Montgomery's NewSouth Books. ..

On the trail of Boo Radley: Harper Lee's iconic book 'To Kill A Mockingbird' lives on in rural ... Auburn University At the end of a stretch of twisting, turning country roads in rural central Alabama lies a square much like ones that can be found in countless ...

Alabama shipwreck holds key for kin of enslaved Africans - New Haven Register New Haven Register A crew hired by the Alabama Historical Commission, working over 10 days ending Thursday, took fallen trees off the submerged remains of the ship, ...

Birmingham Sets Out Rules to Promote Historical Building Redevelopment - BirminghamWatch BirminghamWatch The ordinance will protect historical structures in the city, Gambrel argued. ... Judge Hears Testimony in Challenge to Alabama's Ban on ...

See how many historic sites in Alabama are at risk of flooding | News | alexcityoutlook.com Alexander City Outlook See how many historic sites in Alabama are at risk of flooding ... Rising sea levels. Runoff from rapidly melting snow and ice. Rivers and streams ...

The ghosttown of the South: Selma, Alabama | The Emory Wheel The Emory Wheel Selma wasn't originally known for food deserts. Rather, it has a crucial place in American history, best known for Bloody Sunday, a civil rights ...

University of Montevallo names building for civil rights historian who taught 28 years as professor AL.com Dr. Wilson Fallin Jr., retired history professor, and his wife, Barbara, ... and author of books on the history of the Black church in Alabama who ...

New historic marker honors Huntsville preservationist | WHNT.com

WHNT

A new historical marker now stands in Huntsville honoring noted education ... of the history department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville ...

Dr. Frances Roberts made big impact as early Huntsville preservationist City of Huntsville Blog Editor's Note: This blog was written by Historic Huntsville Foundation Executive ... By then, my curiosity in Alabama history had been awakened.

UAB Football in 1991 & 1992

On the way to its recent success the UAB football program has had some ups and downs. The Wikipedia entry will give you the basic facts. This blog post looks back at the team's two years at the NCAA Division III level in 1991 and 1992. Why am I doing that? Well, in some recent cleaning out I came across the two flyers and a ticket stub included below.

The program began with two years of club football in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 the university upgraded the program to Division III and Jim Hilyer was hired as head coach beginning that fall. He led the team for two years in Division III and two in I-AA; Watson Brown became head coach in 1995. 

Hilyer had played four years as offensive guard and linebacker at Stetson University. He was an assistant coach at the pro and college level for Mississippi State and Auburn [twice!] and the Washington Redskins and Birmingham Stallions. At UAB, his only head coaching post, he had a record of 27-12-2. Hilyer passed away in January of this year. 

My son Amos and I saw a couple of UAB's games in those Division III days. As you can see from the ticket stub below, we attended the October 12, 1991, contest with Lindenwood University played at Legion Field. Lindenwood, located in St. Charles, Missouri, had just begun football the previous year and played as an independent until 1996 when they joined the NAIA. The team began playing in the NCAA in 2012. The game ended in a 17-17 tie. UAB finished that first season with a 4-3-2 record; you can see the scores here. 

I've yet to find any ticket stub in my vast collection, but we also attended a game during the 1992 season. The opponent was Gallaudet University and the September 12 game was played at Lawson Field. We were among the crowd of more than 5300 people who watched UAB win 44-6. The Blazers finished that season with a 7-3 record. 

The game had an extra dimension not often seen--or heard--at football games. Gallaudet is a private school in Washington, D.C., that serves deaf and hard of hearing students. At the game we attended, a big drum on the sidelines sent signals to the team on the field. 

Gallaudet has been playing football since 1883. Interestingly, the huddle originated at the school. In the 1890's quarterback Paul D. Hubbard came up with the idea as a way to hide hand signals from opposing teams. 

Amos and I attended this Blazer win over Gallaudet played at Lawson Field. 

These buildings, now demolished, served as UAB football administrative offices for many years. 

Alabama History & Culture News: May 7th edition

 

Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these items are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Some articles may be behind a paywall. Enjoy!

Giddens' Gift: Protecting African American Historic Cemetery in Opelika | WRBL WRBL It was Giddens' gift to the community he cared for. February of this year, Giddens Cemetery was listed on the Alabama Historical Registry.

Parent challenges book available to fourth graders at Keokuk school library - Tri States Public Radio Tri States Public Radio ... who were falsely accused of raping two white women while on a train traveling near Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. The book chronicles how the ... [The book is "The Scottsboro Boys" by Alabama author James Haskins]

Judson College archives donated to Samford's Special Collection for preservation The Alabama Baptist The historical archives of Judson College in Marion will be safe, ... and add it alongside Samford's history as well as Alabama Baptists' history.

Museum of East Alabama holding mural dedication ceremony May 12 Office of Communications and Marketing - Auburn University The agricultural mural is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities and the Department of Art & Art History at ...

Author pens romance series set in 'Cypress Bayou,' ie Natchitoches Natchitoches Times Sands made her debut with her Alabama series in 2015, beginning with “Again, Alabama,” a Southern romantic women's fiction novel, that was followed by ...

[HTML] Antebellum Alabama Plantation in Ruins

YOU CAN, EFFS Stands

… The walls of these ruins contain the history of the largest what was once the
largest plantation in this section of Alabama, that at its height, … With very few
comprehensive accounts available on the history of this site, I set out to find as much …

3-D Scans Reveal Gigantic Native American Cave Art in Alabama | History | Smithsonian Magazine Smithsonian Magazine History | May 3, 2022 7:02 p.m.. 3-D Scans Reveal Gigantic Native American Cave Art in Alabama. A new analysis identifies four life-size human figures ...

Selma's Brown Chapel AME is nation's most endangered historical structure, needs $5 ... AL.com The iconic 114-year-old Selma church, where voting rights organizers gathered on that Sunday in March 1965 before being bloodied by Alabama state ...

Archaeologists find large-scale mud art in Alabama cave - Archaeology - Haaretz.com

Haaretz

During the Civil War, The Union Army confiscated Confederate General Robert E. Lee's land and turned it into what is now Arlington National Cemetery.

Lionel Richie to headline, join other Alabama stars in The World Games Closing Ceremonies Alabama NewsCenter The Opening Ceremonies – set for July 7 at Protective Stadium –will be a colorful celebration of sport and Birmingham history. Sponsored by Alabama ...

Novel details adventures of a literate private investigator | DON NOBLE - Tuscaloosa News Tuscaloosa News “Bye Bye Baby,” set in Boston, is the 50th Spenser novel, and the 10th by Alabama author Ace Atkins, who, all the while, is writing his highly ...

Alabama Shipyard: On the Mobile waterfront, a sleeping giant has awakened - al.com AL.com Deep History. The Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company was founded in 1916 via the consolidation of several smaller drydock companies, ...

'To Kill a Mockingbird' a must-see for all, starring Richard Thomas of John-Boy fame Akron Beacon Journal ... Alabama, in Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's classic ... In a departure from the long depictions of childhood play in the book, ...

Birmingham author explores motherhood during a pandemic in 'More than a Mom' The Alabama Baptist What are ways mothers can model self-care, for themselves and the families they love? Kari Kampakis explores these questions in her latest book, “More ...

Here's the book on a legendary Alabama barbecue joint - al.com AL.com Van Sykes, one of the legends of Alabama barbecue, has just published a new book about the history of Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q, the venerable Bessemer ...

New round of Clotilda exploration work to begin Monday - al.com

AL.com

According to information released Thursday by the Alabama Historical Commission, the commission and Resolve Marine plan to begin a 10-day ...

How 2 independent bookstores survived the pandemic - thehomewoodstar.com

The Homewood Star

Alabama Booksmith appeals to a niche community around the world, specializing in signed first edition books, which helped the bookstore sustain ...

The Pioneer Museum of Alabama gets set to bring history to life in May - The Troy Messenger The Troy Messenger The Pioneer Museum of Alabama will present a living history event and battle reenactment in May at the second annual Thunder on the Three Notch.

“Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America's Revolutionary Era” By Alabama Public Radio “Fourteenth Colony” is a book of history the common reader can really enjoy. ... Fort and the author of many books and articles on early Alabama.

Two Alabama Natives on "Maverick"

One of these days I plan to write about the busy acting careers of Alabama natives R.G. Armstrong and Louise Fletcher. However, this post examines an episode of the classic western TV series Maverick in which the actors appeared together in prominent roles.

Maverick was a popular western on the ABC network for five seasons 1957 until 1962. Today the show would be deemed a dramady, since it often combined drama with some light-hearted dialog and action. James Garner and Jack Kelly played gambling brothers in and out of trouble as they pursued high stakes games. Garner left the series after the third season to pursue movie roles, and this episode, "The Saga of Waco Williams" is from his time on the show, airing in the second season on February 15, 1959. You can read more about Maverick here. 

This appearance is Fletcher's only one on the program, although she acted in a number of western shows [as well as other TV programs] during the late 1950's and early 1960's. Armstrong would turn up in another Maverick episode in 1960. This episode ranks as the most popular of the show; of all TV sets in use in the U.S. at that hour, over half were tuned to Maverick. 

A summary at the Paley Center for Media web site sets the stage: 

"In this episode, Bret befriends a gunfighter named Waco Williams. Waco and Bret arrive in a town where the cattlemen and the homesteaders are at odds with one another. During a poker game in which Bret is accused of cheating, Waco gets into a fistfight with a cattleman named Karl Bent Jr., whose father, Col. Bent, owns the town. Bret and Waco are then accused of having been sent by the homesteaders to cause problems among the cattlemen. The Bents and their friends try to run Bret and Waco out of town. Waco refuses to go since he is waiting for a friend to meet him. Bret stands by him, but not out of loyalty. He knows that Waco's friend is worth $2,500 in reward money."

No mention of Fletcher's character, who is significant in the story. You can read a detailed account at TVMaze. 

Armstrong plays Colonel Bent, a cattleman who is the de facto ruler of Bent City. Fletcher is daughter Kathy. At first Bent has no use for Waco, but by the end of the episode he comes to admire Williams and decides he's the only man he's met who's good enough for his daughter. That's a good thing, since Kathy and Waco have fallen in love.

Poor Bret--he doesn't get the girl or the reward money or even big poker winnings. The episode is enjoyable and the Alabama actors fun to watch playing  father and daughter. 

R.G. Armstrong as Colonel Karl Bent, master of all he surveys

Colonel Brent and Waco Williams [Wayde Preston] get acquainted 

Brent, his son Karl Jr. and one of their men ride into town for a showdown with Bret and Waco. Brent and Bret are wounded; Karl Jr. and Jack Regan are killed. 

Kathy sits at the beside of her convalescing father as they discuss the turn of events. 

Kathy and Waco finally meet close up in his hotel room with Bret in attendance. 

Something is going on here. 

Colonel Brent offers his blessing to the lovebirds and tells them to get out so he can get some rest. 

Kathy and her new beau arrive in town, and Waco gets a hero's welcome. 

Bonnie Plants in Union Springs

If you've shopped for garden plants at a big box store and no doubt many other places, you have probably encountered Bonnie Plants. In the spring their little black, green and yellow plastic pots offer up all sorts of herbs and veggies at our local Home Depot, WalMart, etc. We've certainly purchased who knows how many dozens over the years to put tomatoes, straight neck squash, cucumbers, various peppers, and such in Dianne's garden. 

I recently noticed something about the little pots I had always missed before. Right there on the side it says, "Headquarters/Union Springs, AL". Hmmm....And "Since 1918". Hmmm....

Actually, the company, the largest plant and vegetable grower for home gardens in the U.S., relocated its headquarters to Opelika in early 2022. One reason given was the close proximity to Auburn University, with which Bonnie Plants has worked for decades. 

A couple named Bonnie and Livingston Paulk moved to Union Springs in 1917 and the following year began to sell cabbage sprouts in town. Within a few years the couple and their hired help were offering onions, strawberries, eggplants, peppers, potatoes and more for sale. The company erected its first greenhouse in 1936 and the growth never stopped. Bonnie Plants now sells in all 50 states and Canada and has 70 growing stations around the country.

A video created to celebrate the firm's 100th anniversary can be seen here.

I wonder how many individual plants the company has sold....

Bonnie Springs facility in Union Springs

Source: Jessie Shook's article "Bonnie Plants continues to expand" in the Union Springs Herald 2 Sept 2020. The article notes that the company's sales were approaching $400 million. 

The ribbon cutting held in January 2022 for the new Bonnie headquarters in Opelika

Source: PR Newswire