Hartselle Historical Society (Hartselle, AL)

Hartselle Historical Society (Hartselle, AL) We document, preserve, and promote the history of Hartselle, Alabama for our future.

09/06/2026

For those of you who are used to the Hartselle Historical Society presenting its Lunch & Learn Series on the 1st Monday of each month: the September 2026 meeting will NOT be on the 1st Monday (September 7) since that is Labor Day. We will meet on September 14 to hear David Burleson tell about The Founding Fathers of Hartselle. Please join us at 12 noon at East Highland Baptist Church Fellowship Hall for what is going to be a very informative presentation.

A very important family in the history of Hartselle is the Sherrill family. Several doctors came from this family. Tod...
09/05/2026

A very important family in the history of Hartselle is the Sherrill family. Several doctors came from this family. Today, let's take a look at the Dr. Richard Byrd Sherrill branch of that family. Richard Byrd Sherrill was the son of Doke and Sarah Sherrill. He married Martha "Mattie" Sharpley Sherrill and they had three children: Fred Oscar Sherrill, Sr., Dr. John Doke Sherrill, Sr., and Lottie Erin Sherrill Whitman. Lottie Erin Sherrill married Leonard Ney "Lennie" Whitman and they had a daughter, Martha Lillian Whitman, who married Charles Hill Taul. Charles and Martha had two daughters, Charlsa Lynn and Candice Ann.

This branch of the Sherrill family was important in the history of Morgan County High School. They sold two sections of land where the high school and Sherrill Stadium were built. David Burleson wrote this about the land purchases: "In July 1908 the trustees of the county high school bought a 5.34-acre tract from Doke Wiley Sherrill who lived a block north of the school site. The sales price was $1,000. The tract was located on the east side of the Hartselle to Falkville Road, later renamed High School Street and in 1952 renamed Sparkman Street. The attached plat shows the outline of the real estate. The tract of land was covered in a thicket of small trees which had to be removed before construction. Note that in 1908, Booth Street east of High School Street did not exist. Booth Street was extended along the south side of the school property in about 1920, when G. E. Smith subdivided the land south of the school. Day Street east of High School Street was not there in 1908. It was extended eastward to Comer Street in about 1924. Comer Street had been built in about 1920.
Doke Sherrill’s son, Dr. Richard Byrd Sherrill owned the land behind and to the east of the school. His property extended eastward to the L & N Railroad tracks. When the L & N finished rerouting the railroad tracks in 1914, the old railroad bed became Railroad Street. Dr. Sherrill died in 1920, and his wife and children were left to settle his estate. On January 11, 1922, Dr. Sherrill’s heirs sold 4.80 acres of the estate lands to Morgan County High School. The attached plat shows the outline of the property. This tract included the town’s baseball field which had been constructed in 1909. This ball field was also used by the school’s football team for several years."

More information about the Dr. Richard Byrd Sherrill family is in the attached articles and photos.

Have one last group of pictures. The pictures are from the Mogan County Archives with the exception of the first one.
09/03/2026

Have one last group of pictures. The pictures are from the Mogan County Archives with the exception of the first one.

New Update: Rhona Summerford knew all but two and Bettye English all but one. They are Seated 1: Guy Roberts, 2. Lee P...
09/02/2026

New Update: Rhona Summerford knew all but two and Bettye English all but one. They are Seated 1: Guy Roberts, 2. Lee Palmer, 3. Merrill Doss, 4. Grady Long, Standing 5: Unknown, 6. Charlie Oden, 7. Marvin Broom and 8. Marvin Pettit.

Update: Going to give a picture and an article that might help.

How many do you recognize in this picture of the officers of the 1952 Hartselle Chamber of Commerce? Start from left to right, seated first. Seated 1,2 3 and 4. Standing. left to right, 5, 6, 7 and 8? Just give a number with the name.

Part 2 of Hartselle Eating EstablishmentsHere is a little more on some of our eating establishments. Among our eating pl...
09/01/2026

Part 2 of Hartselle Eating Establishments

Here is a little more on some of our eating establishments. Among our eating places, there have been several popular hamburger places downtown. Everybody had their favorite burger. Sadly, these are gone. Will use Penn's as an example of this genre of burgers. C. F. Penn burgers have a wide following but now we have to go to Decatur to get one. A short little video about them can be found at https://www.facebook.com/61584257804911/videos/deep-fried-memories-the-legacy-of-cf-penn-hamburgers-in-decatur-alabama-alabama-/1240039631676971/

Penn burgers have a secret family recipe and can be classified as a slugburger. Google says a slugburger is: "A slugburger is a traditional Southern deep-fried or pan-fried patty made from a blend of ground beef or pork and inexpensive fillers like soy grits, cornmeal, potato flakes, or breadcrumbs.

History and Name: John Weekes invented the burger in Corinth, Mississippi, in 1917, originally calling it a "Weeksburger".

The Name: The moniker "slugburger" comes from old slang for a nickel ("slug"), which was the original price of the budget-friendly sandwich during the Great Depression.

Tradition: Extenders were originally added to stretch the meat supply during hard economic times, but they also created a unique, crispy texture with a tender interior reminiscent of a hash brown."

Hartselle Eating EstablishmentsLooking at the history of downtown Hartselle, one aspect has really stood out and surpris...
08/31/2026

Hartselle Eating Establishments

Looking at the history of downtown Hartselle, one aspect has really stood out and surprised me: It has been very difficult for eating establishments to last any period of time downtown. Over and over there is an article in the Hartselle Enquirer about a new cafe, sandwich shop or ice cream store opening downtown and then a year or two later, someone else buys that business and tries it and then it goes out of business. Some survive for a longer period and then close. Some have made it and lasted for decades.

I could list dozens that didn't make it and have speculated why? Most of the eating establishments downtown were family operated and that has to be very demanding. Parking may have been an issue. Perhaps the volume of potential customers downtown was low. I'm not an economist and won't speculate farther. These observations are about our earlier years, not now.

Going to split these into two posts. They will be of Hartselle eating places from very early to some that are still operating. They will not be in chronological order.

In a previous post, I mentioned the construction of Wilson Dam in Florence from 1918-1925. Melinda Wright emailed me so...
08/29/2026

In a previous post, I mentioned the construction of Wilson Dam in Florence from 1918-1925. Melinda Wright emailed me some great old photos yesterday of a Hartselle group at the dam during that construction. The photos are from July 4, 1925. I will post the pictures in the order Melinda gave the names for:

"Pic 1 has unidentified, Purnie Stephenson Sanders, Lottie Bean Wright, Annie Bean Lee in front with unidentified and Frank Bean in back.

Pic 2 has unidentified, Annie Bean Lee, Ollie Belle Hartselle Roan, Purnie Stephenson Sanders, unidentified, and Frank Bean."

The third picture has Purnie Stephenson and Ollie Belle Hartselle Roan. Thanks Melinda for shariing.

Another mxture.
08/28/2026

Another mxture.

TVA was established in 1933 and construction of Wheeler Dam began that year and was completed in 1936. The dam is over ...
08/28/2026

TVA was established in 1933 and construction of Wheeler Dam began that year and was completed in 1936. The dam is over a mile long and is 72 feet high with eleven turbines to produce electricity. Wheeler Dam has two lift locks which can lift or lower up to 52 feet. It impounds Wheeler Lake which has over 67,000 acres. TVA built 22 major dams and manages 49 total dams with three purposes-flood control, improving navigation and providing electricity.

Trees were cut prior to impoundment of the lake and the stumps were left to provide fish habitat. Decatur is noted in the fishing world for the "Decatur Flats", an area north of the river channel downstream from the railroad bridge and tracks. The flats are shallow and covered with stumps. Many of the stumps have now rotted away, but there still are a few left. Some of these are exposed when TVA drops the water level to winter pool.

Alabama is blessed with more than 132,000 miles of rivers and is called North America's Amazon because of the amazing di...
08/28/2026

Alabama is blessed with more than 132,000 miles of rivers and is called North America's Amazon because of the amazing diversity and abundance of wildlife associated with our rivers. Sixty percent of all freshwater mussels are found here, fifty-two percent of turtle species, forty-three percent of all gill-breathing snails and thirty-eight percent of freshwater fish species are found here. We have 17 major river systems and 1,400 miles of navigable inland waterways.

Here in the Tennessee Valley, we are fortunate to have the Tennessee River and all of its tributaries that provide recreational and economic opportunities that very few locations in the United States can match. I am a fisherman and the TVA lakes are awesome. Guntersville is always in the top ten as far as bass fishing nationwide and Wheeler isn't bad. Pickwick is famous for smallmouth bass fishing and Wilson at one time held the world record for smallmouth. The Port of Decatur is the busiest commercial port on the river.

Before the TVA dams were built, there were 3 major shoals on the river. These made navigation almost impossible. The river falls 140 vertical feet in a 37-mile stretch from about Browns Ferry to Florence. Old stories say that the sound of the river at the shoals in Florence was deafening. There is some argument about whether Muscle Shoals got its name from the abundant mussels there or from the fact that it took so much muscle power for the Indians to get a canoe upriver against the current.

Henry Ford had dreams of building a city at Muscle Shoals and tried to lease Wilson Dam and the nitrogen plant there for 100 years. Gifford Pinchot and Senator George Norris opposed his efforts and Ford gradually lost interest in his plans. The streets of the planned Ford City are still there today.

Construction on Wilson Dam began in 1918 and was completed in 1925. It has 21 turbines and the highest single lift lock east of the Rockies with a maximum lift of 100 feet. I added a picture of the Wilson Steam Plant at the end of the pictures, not to be confused with the Colbert Steam Plant downriver closer to the Natchez Trace Bridge. Here is some info on the Wilson Steam Plant (1919 to 1966):

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began building Wilson Dam in 1918 to provide power for the two nitrate plants that were producing mu*****ns for World War I. However, the dam would take six years to complete. With the need for power urgent, the Corps began construction of the Wilson Steam Plant in 1918, and it began generating electricity a mere 10 months later. The War Department transferred ownership from the Corps to TVA in 1933, the year the agency was formed.

The plant was used intermittently during the 1940s and 1950s, as larger plants were built and could produce sufficient power for the Valley. The steam plant was retired in 1966 and demolished in 1968."

As I go through old pictures, I am drawn to those of the river. The old ferries, paddlewheel boats, Ingalls Shipyard and other pictures of the river are some of my favorites. I would like to do two posts on the river. One on Wheeler Lake and Decatur and one on the other North Alabama TVA lakes. Will do the other North Alabama lakes first. Also, will add a couple of sunrise photos. As a fisherman, I am either up to see the sunrise on the water or have fished all night and am getting ready to quit at sunrise.

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307 College Street NE
Hartselle, AL
35640

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