River City Chronicle

RIVER CITY CHRONICLE

by Susan Bzdell, Morgan County Archivist
(This article, used with the author's permission, was written as Decatur prepared to celebrate her 175th Anniversary, June 9, 2001.)

Photographs by Roland Langley, used with permission of Decatur CVB

Passing through on their march to the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson's troops found all the necessary ingredients to sustain a rich and abundant life here in the Tennessee Valley. The beauty and bounty of this land encouraged many of these soldiers to return with their families after the war to settle this area.

1820s - 1830s

A Cherokee Indian crossing became "Rhodes Ferry," a busy river channel. The name was changed to "Decatur" in 1823 and was incorporated as a city by Legislature in 1826. It was named in honor of the renowned U.S. Naval officer Stephen Decatur (1779-1820). Commodore Decatur, who won a sword from Congress and a captaincy when he was only 25, was one of the most daring officers in the United States Navy during its early years. He is remembered fro his timeless toast: "Our country: In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be right; but our country, right or wrong."

In 1833, Decatur became home to the branch of the State Bank of Alabama. Through the branch was closed during the depression of 1842, the original building still stands--one of the few buildings to escape destruction during the Civil War. The stone columns at the Old Bank reportedly weigh 100 tons each and were quarried from a plantation between Decatur and Trinity.

In 1836, Decatur became home to the eastern terminus of the first railroad in the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains when the Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Railroad was completed. Because the Tennessee River was unnavigable from Chattanooga to Memphis except during the high water season, the railroad was built to transport freight and passengers around the rapids and shoals. (This situation would not be remedied until the TVA dams of the early 20th century were completed.) Roads connecting Decatur to other towns, hamlets, and cities in the area when combined with river and rail outlets to ship the area's commerce, allowed it to become an important hub to industry.

102nd Ohio Regiment Band playing atop McEntire Home circa 1865

Civil War Years

The railroad became a determining factor in Decatur's fortunes during the Civil War. The besieged city changed hands several times between Federal and Confederate troops over control of the railroad. Confederate generals Albert Sidney Johnson, John Bell Hood, and Nathan Bedford Forrest had encampments at Decatur. Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman reportedly visited Decatur to discuss war strategies. It has been widely reported that only four buildings---the Old State Bank, the Dancy-Polk House, the McEntire-Burleson House, and the McCartney Hotel---survived the war. Other buildings were either torn down for materials to build a fort or burned to discourage bushwhacking by Southern sympathizers.

When the war was finally over, the citizens of Decatur were ready for the task of rebuilding. As had happened after Jackson's campaign in 1815, many old soldiers who had passed this way during conflict returned in peacetime to start new lives and raise their families. The city grew steadily during the last half of the 1880s and was touted by developers as the "Chicago of the South." In 1886, the Decatur Land & Development Company began promoting a sister city southeast of the city limits called "New Decatur." It was incorporated in 1887, but soon became known as "Albany," after the upstate New York city home of several early residents.

Late 1800s/Turn of the Century

Though well on her way to becoming a major Southern city, two outbreaks of Yellow Fever in the late 1800s nearly made a ghost town of Decatur as residents were evacuated. Many of those never returned. The friendly and sometimes not-so-friendly sibling rivalry between Albany and Decatur ended in 1927 when the two municipalities merged. Decatur's combined historic districts contain over 116 acres, and the site is home to one of the most intact Victorian-era neighborhoods in Alabama dating from 1870 through 1910.

While a population of between 7,000 and 8,000 seems small by today's standards, Decatur was considered a prosperous major Alabama city at the turn of the century. More than 500 new homes were constructed during that time. More rails were laid, with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad completing tracks that linked Montgomery to Louisville. Decatur was so highly thought of by railroad officials that in the 1890s they picked it as the home base for its repair shops. That decision made the railroad one of the city's largest employers for the next 40 years. Railroad workers came from all over the eastern part of the nation. L&N developed their own village complete with houses, stores and banking facilities at the southern boundary of the Albany area. Other industries associated with the railroad also located in the area.

In 1892, an election was held to select a new county seat. The heated contest boiled down to Decatur versus Hartselle, with Decatur being the winner. The county records were removed from the courthouse at Somerville and brought to Decatur in wagons with an armed guard. To this day, the story remains that Decatur stole the records in the dark of the night. County governments set up business on the second floor of the McEntyre building on Oak Street until a new courthouse could be built. The first Decatur courthouse was used until 1927 when it burned to the ground. A second courthouse was built on the same spot and served the county until 1975 when it was replaced by the current courthouse. The county jail was built next to the courthouse. With prosperity and steady employment, not to mention becoming the county seat, Decatur's citizens began turning their efforts toward civic improvements.

Since Decatur had no theater or public meeting hall, a new opera house was built. Still standing as testimony to that era. the opera house survives on Johnston Street Southeast and is the oldest of its type in Alabama. In the 1890s a horse-drawn trolley car began to make the rounds in Decatur and Albany. The system was upgraded in the early 1900s to an electric system that ran on rails. In 1919 a livery stable was renovated to become the Princess Theater. In 1929 Decatur's first traffic lights were installed. Downtown Decatur was the place to be on weekend evenings, with movies, ice cream parlors, live theater, and musical performances all providing a social outlet.

1920s - 1930s

In 1927, the newly united City of Decatur requested a bridge across the Tennessee be built here. The State Legislature informed the Decatur City government that funds were not available to build a bridge even though it would complete the land route from Mobile to the Tennessee line. Locals knew that Decatur could not continue to prosper and attract industry if handicapped by having to use a ferry to span the river. The city offered to finance the bridge with an open-ended load to the State, and the State accepted. The William Keller Bridge was built and opened for use in the summer of 1928. Each step in the Keller's construction was watched with great interest, and its opening was a day of celebration in the City of Decatur. Dignitaries from the city, Morgan County, Limestone County, and even the Governor attended. The two-lane Keller Bridge served the area alone until the early 1980s when a second bridge was added. In 1999, the Bill Hudson Bridge was completed to replace the original span of the Keller Bridge and some of the same people walked across for the grand opening. Despite local efforts at preservation, the old Keller Bridge was destroyed.

Decatur thrived until the terrible Depression struck at the heart of the industrial base in the early 1930s. The stock market crash, the decline of the railroads, and the closing of the rail yards and its partner businesses left many out of work. The South was still far behind her northern neighbors in developing facilities such as public utilities and flood-control regions. The constant floods and the associated diseases coming from the swamp areas they created discouraged industry. In 1933 Congress passed the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Act to "...develop the resources of the Tennessee Valley Basin." Within three months construction began on the dam at Cove Creek and shortly after that Wheeler Dam was begun. This project brought jobs to the area and would eventually help to control the flooding and swamp areas of Decatur.

The Scottsboro Boys' Trial

Nineteen thirty-three is also remembered for the beginning of the appeals in the Scottsboro Boys Case in Decatur. Nine young black men had been accused of raping two white women on a freight train traveling from Chattanooga to Huntsville in 1931. The train had been stopped and the men arrested in Jackson County. They were convicted and sentenced to death. The youngest defendant was 12 years old and the oldest was 21. The case was appealed and a change of venue requested. The trial was sent to Decatur. Haywood Patterson, now age 19, was the first to be retried in Decatur. The International Defense League and the NAACP brought in a New York attorney to defend "The Boys." The case was heard by Judge James Horton of Limestone County. Reporters and photographers from all over the nation and the world flocked to Decatur. The National Guard and the state troopers were called in to control the crowds and prevent trouble. Citizens arrived early and stood in line each day to get a seat, and many who could not get in the courtroom spent the day on the courthouse lawn waiting for reports of the days happenings. Patterson was again convicted but the verdict was overturned and sent to the State Supreme Court by Judge Horton because he could find no evidence that the men had committed the crime. Judge Horton's decision ruined his own career and he was defeated in the next election by Judge Callahan, who heard the rest of the appeals. "The Boys" were convicted repeatedly, but the two youngest and two others were released in 1937. The other five had their sentences changed in subsequent trials to life in prison. In the early 1970, Governor George Wallace pardoned all of them.

World War II Years

Although some 340 miles inland from the coast, Decatur was destined to see a flurry of wartime activity during World War II. With a shipyard turning out vessels for the U.S. Navy, and Pryor Field and Courtland Airbase turning out pilots for the U.S. Army Air Corps, the area began to show significant military growth. The arrival in the mid 1952 of Werner Von Braun sparked the growth of the U.S. Army Missile Command and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of Redstone Arsenal just 20 miles away in Huntsville. This concentration of military and computer technology has contributed significantly to Decatur's growth.

Present Day

As in the past, Decatur continues to be a commerce hub. It remains a primary artery for railroads, with both CSX Transportation systems and Norfolk-Southern maintaining rails through the area. The nearby interstate highway system and river complete the transportation picture. Boeing Aerospace and other industry have been lured to the area.

Decatur remains interested in the well-being of its population, continuing to build parks and recreation facilities second to none. Water sports remain a draw to the area, with several national professional fishing tournaments hosted here each year. Wheeler Lake is one of the most popular fishing lakes in the nation. The city maintains a 750-acre park at Point Mallard that features the first wave pool in America; it has been kept up to date with yearly improvements. The J. Gilmer Blackburn Aquatic has continued to be one of the state's feature tourist attractions

Special events at the park, like the Alabama Jubilee Balloon Festival, draw ballooning enthusiasts by the thousands and fills the skies with dozens of colorful balloons. Decatur also is the home of the state's Amateur Softball Hall of Fame. Decatur has something for everyone and although its history is memorable, its future is assured.

Decatur's place in history continues into modern times with such sites as Point Mallard, home of America's first Wave Pool, Cook's Natural Science Museum, the state's first Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Festival, and the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.

Wetlands Edge

Environmental Center