USA > Alabama > Madison County > Huntsville > Early history of Huntsville, Alabama 1804 to 1870 > Part 3
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
out, at the Government land sales in 1809, Leroy Pope pur- chased the quartersection of land upon which was located the spring, at the, then, exorbitant price of $23.00 per acre. That the bidding for this piece of land was sharp is attested by the fact that it brought four times as much as any of the adjoining lands. Pope bought this land with a view to locating the county site upon it, which was accordingly done, later.
The streets of the town were laid out with reference to the spring bluff. It is probable that this work was done by J. W. Leake, a local surveyor, who it seems did all such work till 1816, when Hunter Peel, an Englishman, came to Huntsville. Twickenham was bounded on the north by what is now Holmes street ; on the east by Lincoln street ; on the south by Williams street, and on the west by Galatin and Henry streets, or Oak avenue.
The town being now platted, the commissioners bought thirty acres, the south half of which was purchased from Leroy Pope at $25.00 per acre. This thirty acres obtained by the com- missioners, was that immediately adjacent to the spring bluff, comprising what is now a portion of Court square, and the property abutting thereon. Mr. Pope donated to the town for public purposes, what is now the jail lot and half of the court house square. This thirty acres was divided into half-acre lots, which, when sold, brought from $200.00 to $500.00 each. The total revenue derived from the sales was $10,000.00, which, as directed, was used in the construction of public buildings, thereafter immediately begun.
The first lot, in Twickenham, was sold on July 4th, 1810, which seems to mark the beginning of an era of phenomenal growth, not alone for the town and county, but for the entire State as well. Soon, thereafter, John Hickman was awarded the contract for the construction of the first court house, which was completed in 1816, and stood upon the site of the present one. Co-temporaneous with the erection of the temple of justice, a jail was built ; and completed after delay commensu- rate with that attending the completion of the court house, and was situated on the northeast corner of the square. From the number of years consumed in completing the court house, one might infer that this noble work of erecting Madison's first shrine to the Goddess of Justice, was probably finished by the "heirs, executors or administrators" of John Hickman, the original contractor. At any rate, these public buildings in their
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
incomplete state, became the subject of legislation again, on December 12, 1816, when an act was passed providing that : "The justices of said county court be and they are hereby appointed a commission to contract for and superintend the completion of the public buildings of said county," with power to purchase a lot for the jail and to proceed to the completion of the pillory.20
In the basement of the court house was located the first "Market House;" later, it was removed to what is now the Holding block, on the east side of the square, where it was housed in a brick structure, and finally, from there it was moved to the northwest corner of the intersection of Washing- ton and Clinton streets, upon the site now occupied by the Twickenham Hotel.
NAME CHANGED TO HUNTSVILLE
Not unlike other towns, Twickenham had its local dissen- sions and internal strife, and the name of the town was the bone of contention. Legend claims that the settlement was divided in twain, and that "there existed two powerful fac- tions," denominated respectively: The "Royal Party" and the "Castor-oil Party;" being so named on account of the leadership espousing each. The former was led by Leroy Pope and contended for the name of Twickenham, while the latter was led by John Hunt, who operated a castor-oil shop, and contended for the name of Huntsville. That this is but mere fiction, can be little doubted, when we learn that John Hunt left the settlement shortly after the land sales of 1809, without perfecting his title to the lands purchased by him, in failing to pay the Government for the same, returning to his old home in Tennessee; and this before the settlement he had founded was named Twickenham. What the real reason for the change was must remain the subject of conjecture. However, history does inform us, that, though the town was legally named Twicken- ham, the spring, and even the settlement itself to some extent, was still called and known as "Hunt's Spring." This circum- stance, taken in connection with the fact that there were many who believed deference should be shown the memory of Hunt; and again, the even more potent circumstance that Twickenham was an English name, which made it no doubt very unpopular
20 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 465. Edition 1816.
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
just at this time, when the relations between this Government and Great Britain were unfriendly and strained to the breaking point by the oft-repeated insults, and bullying of our commerce by Britain's naval policy, which led to the War of 1812, amply explain the desire for the change of name.
Answering the demand of her people, the Territorial Legis- lature by act of November 25, 1811, changed the name of the town, by providing, that: "From and after the passage of this act, the county town of Madison county-now called Twicken- ham-shall be called and known by the name of Huntsville."21 The same Legislature by an act of December 9, 1811, incor- porated Huntsville, and gave to it, its first municipal charter and government. The act incorporating the town is as fol- lows :
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory, in general assembly convened, That the town of Huntsville, in Madison county, shall be, and the same is hereby incorporated, and all free white male inhabitants of said town, above the age of twenty-one years, are hereby authorized to vote for five persons as trustees of said corporation, who are authorized and empowered to superintendent the police of said town by passing such by-laws, not contrary to the laws of the United States, or of this territory, as they may think proper for the well-govern- ment of said town, and for the suppression and removal of nuisances, laying off and repairing the streets.
Section 2. And be it further enacted: That the said trus- tees, or a majority of them, are hereby authorized to assess such taxes on all property laying within the boundaries of said town, as they think proper, for all the purposes of a proper police, said assessment of taxes not to exceed two hundred dol- lars.
Section 3. And be it further enacted, that there shall be a constable appointed within the limits of said town, whose duty it shall be, to collect the taxes mentioned in the preceding section, and to whom the taxes aforesaid shall be given in upon oath, and the said constable shall receive on such taxes, when collected, five percentum for collecting and paying over the aforesaid taxes to such trustees as may be appointed by the board to receive them.
Section 4. And be it further enacted, that the election for trustees shall be held at the court house, on the first Monday in
21 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 100. Edition 1816.
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
February, annually, under the superintendence of the sheriff and any justice of the peace, which election shall commence at the hour of ten o'clock in the morning, and close at two o'clock in the evening.22
The provisions of this charter were amplified and extended by an act, of the Territorial Legislature, of November 29th, 1815, making the provisions of an act amending the charter of the town of St. Stephens applicable to Huntsville.28 Later another charter was granted by an act of December 16th, 1819, appointing three additional commissioners for Huntsville, and naming John Read, Henry Stokes and Jesse Searcy, as such commissioners.24 This charter and form of government re- mained in force without change till the meeting of the State Legislature at its session of 1843-44, whereat a new charter was granted dividing the city into four wards and providing a mayor and eight aldermen to be chosen by the qualified elec- tors, also extending the limits of the town to one-half mile in each direction from the court house.25 This charter remained unchanged and in force till the Civil War.
Prior to this extension of limits the boundaries of the town had, from time to time, been changed. On the 16th of Novem- ber, 1818, the limits were so enlarged as to incorporate "the extensions of Green and Madison streets 'to include the prop- erty of certain named individuals' and none others."26 A somewhat novel exception in the next extension of limits was effected by an act of the Legislature on December 17th, 1819, wherein it was provided "That the corporate limits of the town of Huntsville, shall extend one-quarter of a mile from each side of the public square in said town which corporation shall not affect the persons or property of Thomas and William Brandon, who reside within the limits of said corporation." This latter clause was repealed by "An Act Concerning Wolves and Panthers," passed in 1820.27
References :- Brewer's Alabama; Judge Taylor's History of Madison County; newspaper clippings and files; kindness of many older citizens; Northern Alabama.
22 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 104. Edition 1816.
23 Toulmin's Digest of Alabama Laws, page 777. Edition 1823.
24 Toulmin's Digest of Alabama Laws, page 806. Edition 1823.
25 This is the first time city officials of Huntsville were designated mayor and aldermen, prior thereto they were styled "trustees" and later "commissioners."
26 Toulmin's Digest of Alabama Laws, page 775. Edition 1823.
27 Toulmin's Digest of Alabama Laws, pages 805-6. Edition 1823.
Chapter III.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS OCCUPYING HISTORY'S STAGE BETWEEN 1810 AND 1816
A S AN introduction to this chapter, the author asks leave to quote briefly from a letter written in 1815 by John W. Walker, later United States Senator, to his friend at Washington, W. H. Crawford, then Secretary of the United States Treasury: "Huntsville is situated around the finest spring in the world; the spring forms a semicircle 100 feet wide, and at a trivial expense the stream can be made navigable for batteaux to the Tennessee river; which is only ten miles distant. The market house is of brick; the jail of wood. In its immediate vicinity are five cotton gins. The average land in the county will produce 1,000 pounds of cotton to the acre, and 800 bales will be this year's crop. The land is also admirably adapted to tobacco raising. Besides the gins in Huntsville, there are twenty in the county." Such expres- sions as these reflect the spirit of the times. An exhilarating air of buoyancy and hope pervaded every phase of life in the community. The atmosphere was electric with ardent opti- mism for the future, which was so abundantly warranted, as is eloquently attested by history's narration of that future.
As the beginning of this, the second era in the growth of the settlement, is the ending of the first at which lands were bought, the inhabitants were primarily engaged about the busi- ness of establishing their homes. Most of the wealthier citizens built houses along the south of the town, just out of the town limits, ranging from Pope's-now Echols'-hill on the east, to the spring bluff on the west, along what is now Williams street, which was lined with towering oaks and stately poplars ; while others erected their houses along what is now Maiden Lane, just south of a rugged and picturesque bluff, upon which was later situated the home of Leroy Pope. From time to time residences were changed from one part of town to another, and from the country to town, and the reverse. Thomas Bibb and Henry Minor being among the most noteworthy of those who moved over to the south side of town.
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
After the matter of housing the settlers had been properly disposed of, the attention and energies of the entire community seem to have been directed to the development of the economic interests of the town; not to the exclusion of, however, but with due and commensurate regard for its proper political de- velopment as a factor in the governmental life of the territory.
Some time during the year 1810, Alexander Gilbreath opened a mercantile establishment at the corner of Gates and Henry streets, and about a year later formed a partnership with James White. This firm enjoyed a large and lucrative business for many years. John Brown erected two store-houses on Ex- change Row, being the first on the north side of the square. Near these J. O. Crump built one. In 1810 John Read came to Twickenham and erected the first house on the old Schaudies property, at the southwest corner of the square. This house was later purchased by A. Jameson, who ran a hotel there, and some time thereafter it was acquired by Allen Cooper, who con- tinued to operate the hotel. The first store-house on the east side of the square was built by Neal B. Rose, Leroy Pope and John Hickman.
For a number of years the first and only paper in the terri- tory was the "Madison Gazette," published at Twickenham by Mr. Parham, having been established in the early part of 1812, as a weekly.ยช Later, in 1816, this paper changed hands and was thereafter published by T. B. Grantland, under the name of "The Huntsville Republican."
As early as 18031 the Territorial Legislators conceived the idea that taverns were institutions peculiarly subject to gov- ernmental control, even to the extent of fixing the rates to be charged ; however, notwithstanding this, hotels or taverns were numerous in Twickenham. On the west side of Jefferson Street, just off the square, on the site of the old Huntsville Hotel, C. Cheatham owned and operated a tavern, and just across the street, in the center of the block, Archibald Maderra ran his tavern, which was headquarters for the delegates to the Territorial Constitutional Convention held at Huntsville in 1819.
Between these years, the population of this, the oldest Eng- lish settled town in the State, was of slow growth, notwith- standing that Madison county then held within its limits more
a Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 56. Edition 1816.
1 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 396. Edition 1816.
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
than one-half the entire population in that scope of country which later became the State of Alabama. Nevertheless, dur- ing this period the business and commercial interests of the settlement grew by leaps and bounds. Many cotton gins and mills of various characters were located in and around the town. The author will be pardoned for here digressing, and recording the fact that the first cotton gin in the county and probably in the State,-referred to by a chronicle of the times as a cotton factory-was erected by Charles Cabaniss on Bar- ren Fork of Flint river, soon after the land sales in 1809.
When the court house was completed in 1816, it was flanked about on all sides by handsome brick store-houses, and in all parts of town many elegant and costly homes had been erected and many more were in the process of completion. This mate- rial growth of the town represented the skill and handiwork of two brothers, Thomas and William Brandon, who came into the community in 1810, with nothing but their mason's tools, and in these few years had transformed the crude log hut set- tlement into the brick and mortar metropolis of the territory, it had by this time become.
Though engrossed in and busied about the reclamation and development of their own wonderful county, the fires of pa- triotism still burned brightly in the souls of Madison's men and women. On October 13, 1813, General Andrew Jackson, and his command, after marching from Fayetteville to Huntsville in five hours, halted at what is now the intersection of East Holmes and North Lincoln streets, for rest over night, having learned on arriving here that the report of the "rapid approach of the Indians was exaggerated." General Jackson and his command the next day continued their march through the coun- try of hostile Indian tribes to Horse Shoe Bend, where that sanguinary battle was fought with the Creek Indians. Nor was their departure unattended, for the county had contrib- uted liberally of its men ; four companies from Huntsville, one the "Mounted Rangers," under the command of Capt. Eli Hammond and a fifth company from Hazel Green, with Cap- tain Jack Mosley as its commander, had joined General Jack- son's forces here.
In those strenuous times, when safety lay in one's ability to shoot a muzzle-loading-flint-lock-squirrel-rifle, "military pre- paredness" was not merely a fad to be indulged according to political exigencies, and universal military training, in a meas- ure, was a reality. The duty of every male citizen to bear
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
arms in defense of his country and be subject to its call, was not a myth. To the accomplishment of this end, laws govern- ing the same in the territory had been enacted, which, we have observed, were made to apply to Madison county, on February 27, 1809.2 It was required of the commanding officers of the companies that they enroll "every free white male who shall have been ten days in their respective beats-each beat in the county having one or more companies-and who shall be above the age of eighteen and under the age of forty-five, and shall give notice to such person of his enrollment."3 Thereafter, militia duty or service was compulsory upon males so enrolled.
The regiment was required-by law-to hold a muster once a year, and the company once every two months and oftener, at the discretion of the commanding officer.4
During the war of 1812 the settlement had furnished its quota of men to defend the country. Two companies, one under the command of Capt. Jack Mosley, and the other with Captain Gray as its commander, went forth from Huntsville ; however, both companies were mustered out without having seen service in actual war.
At the end of this era, between the years 1815 and 1816, there was a pronounced inflated condition of affairs. Land values, which, in some instances, had increased ten-fold, bear unmistakable evidence of this forward tendency of things and events in the life of the settlement. The southwest corner of the square-known in later years, as the Schaudies corner --- sold in 1811 for $715.00, and without having been improved with a costly building, brought $7,500.00 when sold during the last year of this period; and it is said by a narrator of those times, that this instance of the rise in property values, is a fair index to the advance in the price of all property. Not alone did these conditions prevail immediately in the town, but throughout the county as well. Farm lands approximate to the town brought $100.00 per acre, and in more remote sections of the county $20.00 an acre was considered cheap.
As a corollary of these advances in the wealth and financial resources of the settlement, as a town, the per capita wealth of the individuals of the community kept pace. During this period, and especially the latter part thereof, large sums of money were invested in slaves, which were brought to the town
2 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 177. Edition 1816.
3 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 333. Edition 1816.
4 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 334. Edition 1816.
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
in great droves by slave traders, and readily disposed of to the inhabitants of the town and county.
THE PERIOD BETWEEN 1817 AND 1821
The growth of the entire scope of country, now forming Alabama, had been commensurate with the spirit of the times, and in order to properly care for the governmental interests of its inhabitants, Congress by act of March 3, 1817, created the Alabama Territory, with St. Stephens as its seat of govern- ment, and William Bibb as governor.5 This seems to have been the one remaining thing to do for the complete emancipa- tion of prosperity, which appears to have run riot in Hunts- ville during this period. When we scan history's record of the epoch making things and events which crowded in upon each other during these years, we see the reflection of prosperity's contest with itself to accomplish something more potent for the good of the county than the thing just preceding.
Agreeable to an act of the Legislature of the Mississippi Ter- ritory of December 11, 1816, on the first Monday in February, 1817, Leroy Pope, John P. Hickman, David Moore, Benjamin Cox, John M. Taylor, Thomas Fearn, Jesse Searcy, Clement C. Clay, and John W. Walker, as commissioners, opened books at Huntsville for subscription to the capital stock of the first banking corporation organized in Alabama, then a territory, styled, "The President, Directors and Company of the Planters' and Merchants' Bank, of Huntsville."6
The authorized capital of the Planters' and Merchants' Bank. was $500,000, divided into five thousand shares of the value of $100.00 each, of which five hundred shares were treasury stock, to be held for the space of ten years, subject to the right of the State to purchase the same.
During the latter part of this period, there was opened at Huntsville another bank under the superintendence of John McKinley, Lemuel Mead, Nicholas Hobson, Frederick James and Stephen S. Ewing, with a capital of $150,000. This bank was designated as a branch of the State Bank of Alabama, which had a capital of $2,000,000, over half of the stock being held by the State.7
On September 7, 1816, the first issue of the weekly paper, the (Huntsville) Alabama Republican appeared, which, as we
5 3 U. S. Statutes at Large, 371; Vol. 1, Code of Ala. 1907, page 33.
6 Statutes of Mississippi Territory, page 455. Edition 1816.
7 Toulmin's Digest of Alabama Laws, page 53. Edition 1823.
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
have observed, was formed from the Madison Gazette, already discontinued. T. B. Grantland was its editor ; later, Messrs. Boardman & Adams became its owners and editors.
In 1817 the Government Land Office was moved from Nash- ville to Huntsville; shortly thereafter the land sales of 1818 took place. Judge Taylor, in his history, tells us: all things considered, the sale of Madison county lands in 1818, created as great excitement as did the California gold fever in 1848-49. Bidding at these sales was spirited, and the average price paid ranged from $50.00 to $54.00 per acre. Much of this land was bought in by people from all sections of the South, many of whom afterwards settled here. The greater number of the purchasers at the former sales in 1809, acquired additional acreage at these sales. Chief among the new settlers who purchased at these later sales were numbers of cultured and wealthy Virginians, who brought with them large droves of slaves.
This recognition of the fertility of the soil and appreciation of the phenomenal future ahead of the town was not confined to home-seekers alone, but was shared by some of the nation's greatest men who foresaw an investment in the ownership of these lands, which promised a rich reward. Most noteworthy among these national figures was General Andrew Jackson, who acquired vast areas of Madison county lands. General Jackson's visits to Huntsville were not confined to attendance upon land sales alone. His frequent sojourns here made him intimate to this settlement, which held for him the highest esteem and warmest regard. A narrator of the times records that General Jackson's visits to the hostelry of one Connally,- the "Old Green Bottom Inn," were oft repeated. There-as legend has it-General Jackson "raced his horses and fought his cocks." A portion of this once famous tavern ; and it was famous, being the mecca of sporting men from all parts of the South-still stands. Likewise, at this writing, the dining-room of the Inn and the table off which General Jackson ate are still preserved. That portion of this old tavern, which was con- structed of gray limestone, still remaining, is now occupied by the president of the State Agricultural and Mechanical Col- lege for Negroes, at Normal, Alabama, four miles north of Huntsville. The proprietor of the tavern was a race horse breeder of no mean renown, for here at the "Old Green Bot- tom Race Track," which was operated in connection with the
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Early History of Huntsville, Ala.
inn, he raised and trained "Gray Gander," the fastest horse then known to the racing world.
The first census for Madison county, taken in 1816, shows a population of 14,200. What per cent of this was colored, is not known. That history, in its record of events, properly interprets them to be a reflection of the boom spirit of the times, cannot be doubted, when we learn that in 1820, just four years later, the second census was taken, revealing an increase in the population of the county of over 5,000. There were then, in all, 19,565 inhabitants; 10,242 of whom were white, and 9,323 colored. The aggregate population was three times that of any other county in the State; while the white popula- tion itself was in the same proportion to that of any other county.
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