Latest Posts

  • Fort W.W. Quarles Armory

    From the 1937 Sel-Ala, the yearbook of the original Selma High School (then housed on Tremont Street): One of Selma’s most progressive steps in recent years has been the building of the new armory on Washington Street. It is a… Continue reading

    Fort W.W. Quarles Armory

  • Bosom Friends

    James Buchanan remains the United States’  only bachelor president –  he was technically joined in this feat by Cleveland for one term, but by the time 22 had returned as 24, he had found his better half.  Buchanan, though,  despite… Continue reading

  • Blind Dates with the Selma Newspapers

    Recently, while looking for any coverage of George F. Plant, a businessman and Selma politician (serving as a councilman and mayor,), I saw some cryptic strings of letters and numbers at the bottom of most of the advertisements. Puzzled, I… Continue reading

    Blind Dates with the Selma Newspapers

  • Mr. Baker’s Altar

    While researching the life of George O. Baker, a prominent Selmian with an impressively diverse occupational background — mining engineer, planter, etc — I stumbled upon a lengthy description of an altar donated to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in his… Continue reading

    Mr. Baker’s Altar

  • Ten Strange Ways to Die in Early Alabama

    Years ago I stumbled a fascinating volume in the library’s local history collection: Alabama Mortality Schedule (1850, Seventh Census of the United States). It was as it described itself, a listing of people who perished, along with their age and… Continue reading

    Ten Strange Ways to Die in Early Alabama

  • Selma Snapshots: Dallas Avenue

    Here’s a look down Dallas Avenue — or two, seperated by a century! This photo was taken in the first decade of the 20th century, perhaps as late as the 1910s. The building on the left is presently known as… Continue reading

    Selma Snapshots: Dallas Avenue

  • Visiting Albert in Montgomery

    Recently the Alabama Department of Archives and History shared the news on the Selma Alabama History facebook group that they’d cataloged and stored a large collection of materials relating to the Hotel Albert. Now, I have a minor obsession with… Continue reading

    Visiting Albert in Montgomery

  • Selma in 1966

    The beautiful Pollard building is in the process of being taken down for a parking lot because “Selma is on the move”. The Hotel Albert is two years from that same ignominious fate. Video stretches from the Edmund W. Pettus… Continue reading

  • Dr. Albert G. Mabry

    Note: This is part of a series spotlighting residents of Old Live Oak, whose stories are sometimes told during the haunted history tours conducted by the local historic preservation society. Additionally, Dr. Mabry is in somewhat rarefied company, having a… Continue reading

    Dr. Albert G. Mabry

  • Judge John Haralson

    Note: this will be part of a series spotlighting residents of Old Live Oak Cemetery, inspired by the haunted history tours conducted by the historic preservation society. I will begin by looking at people who frequently appear on the tour,… Continue reading

    Judge John Haralson