Category: Traveling the Backroads

1908 battle for location of county high school lands in Odenville

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Graham Hadley
Submitted Photos

When Braxton Bragg Comer was elected governor in 1906, among his goals was upgrading Alabama schools. In 1907, legislation passed to establish county high schools in counties where there was not already a state-supported high school — for white students. It would be 60 years before integration of schools in the county.

Most of St. Clair County was excited about a state-accredited high school being established in one of its towns. Location committees were appointed by the state to review the towns and their resources.

A review of local newspapers of the day shows that Pell City, Odenville and Springville wanted the school. Ashville was not interested, and their newspaper, The Southern Aegis, consistently at odds with Gov. Comer, commented in its Feb. 26, 1908, issue that it seemed Comer was “… making a vigorous campaign for his future aspirations” and that “… he is taking advantage of the high school appropriation at the public expense.” The writer concluded, “He may fool some people all the time, but not all the people every time.”

Odenville published a newspaper, The St. Clair County News, and its editor, J.L. Maddox, set to work composing florid prose in praise of his town. Pell City had no paper, but was in the process of establishing The Pell City Progress, but it would not come into production until March 1908. So, it was Odenville’s newspaper that announced in February that the Governor’s Location Committee would come to Odenville on Saturday, March 7.

Location, location, location

An Odenville editorial of March 5 boasted reasons why Odenville was the perfect location for a state high school. It had:

• A central location.
• A prosperous agricultural community.
• Sixteen wells in the area.
• Ideally suited with good public roads leading to all areas of the county.
• On the Seaboard Airline railroad (making it convenient for boarding students).

Maddox’s final point was that “Pell City has every advantage for cotton mills, but nature never intended it to be an educational site for the St. Clair County High School” — an incautious observation that could not go unnoticed by Pell City.

The date arrived for the governor and his Location Committee’s visit, and the day dawned clear and bright. Folks began trickling into Odenville before seven o’clock. By 9:30 the crowd was reported to be “a multitude,” for a special train had picked up and delivered citizens from Ragland, Coal City and Pell City. The papers estimated the day’s crowd to be between 2,500 and 3,000.

The meeting with the governor and committee took place at the elementary school in Odenville. Watt Brown of Ragland made a talk expressing his faith in Odenville’s future. Brown’s Odenville Land and Development Company had laid out Odenville’s town limits in a circle with a 1-mile radius from the center of the bridge over Beaver Creek on today’s Third Avenue. As a businessman dealing in real estate, Brown would not have been investing in the town had he not believed he would get a good return on his money.

After a lunch with Dr. and Mrs. C.C. Brown, the governor and committee journeyed to Pell City to hear their presentation of Pell City as the better location for the new high school.

Governor Comer’s comments to Pell City were not recorded in print, but it is clear that Pell City was offended by Comer’s observations.

On April 23, under the headline, “What’s Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth?,” the Progress reported its assessment of the governor’s attitude.

Pell City had presented their town and the Coosa Valley area as the logical choice for St. Clair County High School. Their stated points were:

• 30 percent of the county’s voters lived within 5 miles of Pell City.
• 40 percent of the county’s cotton grew in Coosa Valley.
• 30 percent of the cotton was ginned here.
• 50 percent  of the county’s industrial wage was paid there.

They offered these facts to the governor and committee “… to fortify the figures of the county superintendent of education that over 30 percent of the county white school children lived within this same area.” Pell City saw these figures as logical reasons why Pell City was a better location than Odenville for St. Clair County High School.

The Progress observed that “Mr. Comer did not accept the argument” as presented. Rather, “He took it as proving that we were selfish in the Coosa Valley, that we had no concept of what this high school was to be, and that we were making political threats.”

The editor continued, “If it so happens that Mr. Comer himself believes in his accusations, we wish, taking advantage of the last word, to enlighten him.

“The Coosa Valley is not selfish, howsoever much individuals may say. The Coosa Valley does know what a High School is, and she knows it well enough to welcome every child who comes to it. … A High School is not a boarding school, [for] the large majority of its pupils will come from that territory within which the boys and girls may attend school and eat both breakfast and supper at home. … Pell City has more school children than Springville, Ashville and Odenville combined. … On the principle that Mahomet went to the mountain, Pell City claims the school and so here endeth the last word.”

And the winner is …

Having presented their best, Odenville and Pell City entered a busy waiting period as they anticipated the state’s decision. It was the county high school, and the state expected the entire county’s financial help with construction, therefore towns formed committees to collect pledges and funds.

In April, Progress reported that folks in Ashville and Springville claimed “inside information,” and were of the opinion Pell City had “no chance” of being selected. But rather than losing heart, Pell City published that they had “the best chance” based upon the facts submitted in connection with the state’s proposal for location.

 In hopes of winning, they continued collecting funds.

Then on Friday, May 1, 1908, the state announced Odenville as winner of St. Clair County High School. Whereupon, the town fathers set about to accomplish the awarded task —constructing a high school building.

Pell City Progress reported their loss in the May 7 issue, saying their loss showed “what comes from organized effort and what can be lost for lack of it.” They offered this opinion: “It is feared that our friends at Odenville have bitten off more than they can chew with comfort.” Then, perhaps still chaffing over Odenville’s “mill town” assessment, Tilton prophesied that the state would come to regret having “put a ten-thousand-dollar school building in a one-thousand-dollar town.”

With that parting zinger, Pell City turned her singular attention toward establishing their own high school and having it ready for occupation by September. The chairman of the Pell City school committee, McLane Tilton, announced in the Progress that “Coosa Valley may rest assured that a High School is going to be located at Pell City, and accomplished with or without the help of the state.” Tilton announced that “Donations to the [county] High School are hereby declared void.” Anyone wanting signed pledges returned should call at the Bank of St. Clair County (became Union State Bank in 1918), where he served as president, before May 15. After that date, notes would be destroyed. Tilton expressed faith that the town could raise “not less than four thousand dollars” to build a high school and that Pell City would “have the satisfaction of owning our own school, built and maintained by ourselves.”

In Odenville, Mr. and Mrs. John Newton, Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Hardin, and Watt Brown had donated land for the school. Now, the school committee set about collecting funds and redeeming pledges. This proved to be a slow process, for some outside Odenville were not forthcoming on pledges. However, one elderly woman, Nancy Turrentine, deeded 20 acres of her farm to the new high school. The Odenville paper noted that she offered to give 20 more if they were needed to raise the required amount.

On Saturday, July 18, 1908, Judge John W. Inzer laid the cornerston for St. Clair County High School. The St. Clair County News reported that “a crowd” from across the county was present for the event. Watt Brown was master of ceremonies. Gov. Comer and other state dignitaries made speeches. Judge Inzer, in laying the cornerstone, expressed his hope that wounded feelings would be laid aside and that every community would “stand united to advance the interest of our county.”

In the fall of 1908, the high school met in the Odenville Elementary School, for a new building would take months to construct. But despite setbacks and delays, in 1909, St. Clair County High School would occupy a two-story brick building.

The citizens of Pell City also coalesced to establish a high school. On May 7, 1908, the editor of the Progress reported that “the Town of Pell City has two thousand dollars which it contributed to the [County] High School fund and now goes back into the [Pell City] treasure.” Tilton suggested that the money should be used for the construction of the Pell City High School, which he speculated would cost about $3,000.

To spur on the town and surrounding area, he wrote, “The same arguments used to locate the County School here now demand of us that we show what we can do alone and unassisted.” The editor issued a trumpet call by saying, “Progress demands of the Council and School Board to hold a called meeting,” and concludes that city fathers could “… create a public sentiment that will result in the action desired without delay. … We must have this school by September 1^st.”

The City Council and School Board accepted the call, met together, and in the June 4, Progress could report that “The Council and School Board each appropriated one thousand dollars” and that the “two thousand in all…will be at once utilized to build the high school addition to our present building.”

As the months progressed, meetings, suggestions and decisions were regularly reported in the newspaper. Just as in Odenville, there were setbacks and delays, but a Pell City High School was assured. An Aug. 13 article reports: “The new addition to the school is rapidly nearing completion and will be ready by the first day of the term. This addition will cost in the neighborhood of $3,500, including furnishings, and will give us a ten-thousand-dollar modern structure second to none in the State.”

The new addition would add four rooms and an auditorium “fitted out with orchestra chairs.” The auditorium would “hold about 400,” and the stage would have dressing rooms and be “electric lighted.”

Exciting days! For the completion of the brick addition with a metal roof would give “… Pell City and south St. Clair a primary and high school sufficient for our needs for several years to come.”

Thus, Pell City High School was born, and the Progress’ headline on Sept. 17 proclaimed: “OUR SCHOOL BEGINS,” noting, “The high school is open to all the children of the county, several having already entered from Seddon and Eden.”

A win-win situation

As years have waxed and waned since 1908, student numbers have increased in each school, validating the work of both towns over 100 years ago. In the 2016 school year, St. Clair County High School served 587 students, and Pell City High School, 1,105 students.

Most of the time, battles end with only one winner. In the battle for the location of St. Clair County High School, both Odenville and Pell City won. The loss of the county high school proved to be the impetus needed for Pell City to organize its own high school. Pell City High School and St. Clair County High School today cherish the past, yet each looks to the future and the challenges of their second century.

Historian, storyteller, teacher: A life well lived

Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith
Submitted photos

The usual love triangles pale in comparison with Odenville educator and historian Joe Whitten’s quadrangle of passions. In no particular order, they are St. Clair County history, Gail Elaine McGeoch, hundreds of grateful students and the Lord, whom he credits for bringing it all together.

Joe was born in 1938 in Bryant, Alabama, a Jackson County town that dangles near the edge of Sand Mountain, almost in Georgia. His father, Nathan Whitten, died that same year. Joe’s mother, Lorene Hawkins Whitten, remarried four years later to John Armstrong, a teacher and Cumberland Presbyterian minister.

Under his stepfather’s surname, Joe went to Glencoe High School in Etowah County until the 12th-grade, then was sent to Bob Jones Academy in Greenville, South Carolina, to complete high school prior to beginning college at Bob Jones University.

Graduating in 1960, his first degree at Bob Jones was a speech minor in English. While at the Academy, Joe reverted to his birth name of Whitten, as he had never been officially adopted by his stepfather.

Joe’s involuntary exile to Bob Jones became a godsend, for many reasons. Not only did he have his old name back, but he had also escaped a strict household where he’d never been able to make any decisions of his own. “I had a new name, new friends, a new place and never looked back,” he says.

After graduation in 1960, he sought employment suited to his education and ambition, but only succeeded in finding work at a sauerkraut factory in Seattle, Washington, that he wryly defined as “the most miserable job ever.” Vowing to do better, he returned to Bob Jones in 1961 to continue his studies.

This time, he specialized in education courses. After graduation, his mother, who worked at Jacksonville State University, urged him to explore Calhoun and Etowah counties for an entry-level teaching position.

After months of fruitless search, Joe had almost made up his mind to join the Air Force when he got word of an opening in a school that was being built in a tiny burg called Odenville in St. Clair County. He’d heard of the place, but had never been there.

 

Young teacher hired

At his interview with Principal Dodd Cox, Joe was told that the job was in a new grades 7-12 school currently under construction. “I’ll take it,” he quickly replied. The principal reminded him that he didn’t know a thing about the position and should probably hear the rest of the offer before making up his mind.

Joe says their conversation went something like this:

Principal: “You will be teaching eighth-grade English, ninth-grade English and seventh-grade Math.”
Joe: “I’ll take it.”
Principal: “But wait, the school isn’t even finished yet. …”
Joe: “I’ll take it.”
Principal: “It only pays $350 a month for 10 months a year. …”
Joe: “I’ll take it.”

And thus, on the day after Labor Day in 1961, at age 23, Joseph Whitten began a career that made him a living legend in Odenville education. In all, he taught more than three generations of St. Clair youngsters before retiring at the turn of the century and is a revered guest at every class year reunion.

“Mr. Whitten” was only 5 years older than some of his students, but Mr. Cox insisted his teachers control everything in their classrooms.

Joe relates, “The last thing you wanted to do was take a student out of class and march him to the principal’s office. You took care of it yourself. All us teachers knew it and, more importantly, so did the kids.”

Among his students were those who would one day make a difference in St. Clair County: Sheriff Terry Surles; Coroner Dennis Russell; practically everyone on the Odenville Water Board; Pell City businessman Connie Myers, who would later become principal of St. Clair County High School; and retired teacher Mary Kelley, who taught physical education and health at Odenville before being assigned to the Board of Education, where she served until her retirement in 1999.

“Mr. Whitten was different from any teacher I had ever met,” Mary says. “He was very talented, witty, educated and respected by his students as well as the community of Odenville. As an English teacher, his objective was for students to learn the information and participate in class discussions. These skills worked well – in school and in later life – by providing us with the self-confidence and ability to communicate well with others.”

As the school counselor, Joe’s door was open to students, teachers and support personnel. His professional knowledge provided students with advice and encouragement in the resolution of school and personal issues.

Of his demeanor in class, several respondents agreed that, while Joe was outwardly easy going and gentle, he had ways of getting attention when needed, and everyone knew when to shut up and listen.

Odenville’s Scott Burton tells of his shouting out during an unruly moment in his library class, “Silence, you vile wretches!,” and remembers a sign posted on Mr. Whittten’s desk that fairly warned one and all: CAUTION: DISPOSITION SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

Both Mary and Scott said everyone wanted to be in his classes. They found his delivery quite entertaining as he acted out various passages from English literature. He always found ways to make education fun and still managed to help them learn and retain what they’d learned.

According to Scott, Mr. Whitten’s adherence to classroom decorum extended even to paperwork that students turned in. He would not accept sheets torn from a spiral-bound notebook because of their ragged edges, and was known to call kids to the front of the class, hand them scissors and demand they remove those “frizzy” borders. Scott also credits him with being the only English teacher who could make sentence diagramming understandable.

There are enough Mr. Whitten stories told by former students to fill a small book. A local favorite involves one of his Speech classes in which he asked various students to stand and speak on some subject with which they were most familiar.

One boy eagerly volunteered at the beginning of class and took his place at the front of the room. This boy was Odenville’s legendary Slow-Talking John, who was a master at taking forever to tell anything.

His chosen subject was “How To Build A House.” John began by drawing a rectangular set of lines on the blackboard, then said, “This … is … the … footing …,” then proceeded to describe in agonizingly slow, ponderous detail exactly how to dig a foundation wall, pour concrete, etc.

Joe says that by the time John’s house had reached its interior walls, the bell had rung, and he was too numb to do anything but dismiss the class.

While they were sitting on Joe’s front porch some 14 years later, Joe mentioned that day to John, who laughed out loud and explained that the other kids in class had taken up a collection and paid John to speak first so they would not have to recite their own work.

Scott says the one thing that really sticks with him to this day as a result of having Mr. Whitten for a teacher is a deep appreciation for the works of Charles Dickens, Joe’s favorite author. Scott recalls the kids acting out speaking parts while reading Oliver Twist and David Copperfield aloud in class. Scott adds that he would love to do A Christmas Carol today, with Mr. Whitten playing Ebeneezer Scrooge.

The creation of the Odenville/St. Clair County School System is a historical epic in its own right. From its very beginnings in 1864 as a one-room cabin at Hardin’s shop on Springville Road to today’s sprawling campus just east of town, its establishment was an uphill battle all the way.

The school’s history is far too complex to explore here, but the entire saga is neatly summarized in Whitten’s Odenville, Alabama, A History of Our Town 1821-1992.

Many local pioneers and other notables were heavily involved, including entrepreneur Watt T. Brown, Governor Comer and Judge John Inzer. They took special pride in the fact they had beaten Pell City for the honor of having one of the first county high schools in the state.

In 1960, the main building was razed, and a third-generation structure of impressive proportions and excellent design was built. Now grades 1-12 were all on the same campus, divided only by clever architecture. Over the years, he taught English, speech, mathematics, and also served as librarian and counselor for the grammar school. One might feel that Joe and the new school grew up together. As he once remarked, “I wasn’t born in Odenville, but I got here as fast as I could.”

 

Gail, a love story

A beautiful young lady in Miss Mabe’s Bible class at Bob Jones raised her hand to answer a question. Joe, who was sitting behind her and had wanted to answer first, grabbed her arm to try to lower her hand. This incensed her, and she reminded him in no uncertain terms that this school had a rule against opposite sexes physically touching one another.

Like many relationships, theirs got off to an unusual start, but Joe Whitten and Gail McGeoch of Cambridge, New York, quickly became friends and remained so for the rest of their stay at Bob Jones. They went their separate ways after Gail’s graduation in 1961.

After eight years of being completely out of touch, Joe received a letter which Gail claimed God had told her to write. She was in Pensacola, Florida, at the time. Joe phoned her, and they talked for nearly three hours. He said the long-distance phone bill was horrendous, but he never regretted paying a penny of it.

They married in 1971, thus beginning a long, beneficent, storybook life together that would warm everyone they met. Gail often defined their marriage as a “strange and wonderful relationship,” always adding, “You’re strange; I’m wonderful.”

Gail and Joe resided in a vintage house built by an Odenville newspaper editor named Luther Maddox. When Joe first came to Odenville, he lived at the Cahaba Hotel, which no longer stands. Later, he boarded with the Bartletts, who lived next door to Maddox. Joe said its restoration was a real challenge, but today it is of museum quality inside and out.

Gail taught school at Ragland for a while, then transferred to Odenville, where she taught in the elementary grades. Her classroom was next to the library where Joe worked at the time.

Every person I’ve interviewed admires the same things about Gail – her wonderfully warm smile, loving, benign personality and immaculate reputation. The Whittens were very popular with all the students. Together, they were a dream team.

Scott added that Mrs. Whitten loved the snow and always got all excited over the first flake that fell. He also tells a rather amusing story about her coffee habits.

Every day she would make fresh coffee, but first she would carry the pot to an open window on the second floor, holler YOO-HOO, then throw out the old coffee and grounds, never looking to see if anyone was standing below. Everyone quickly learned to avoid that area during morning hours.

Gail played piano and sang in the choir of several churches, as part of a musical family that included Joe on the church organ. Joe praises Gail for proofreading his historical works, and helping to make them the useful volumes they became.

She led an exemplary life, but her greatest moments were yet to come.

 

Joe, the historian

As if taking scores of St. Clair’s kids under his wing wasn’t enough, Joe also became an educational outlet for the rest of us. If you’re seeking obscure information about almost any historical aspect of St. Clair County, you will sooner or later work with Joe.

Between Joe and recently-retired County Archivist Charlene Simpson, there’s practically nothing one can’t learn about our history. I’ve used both resources for many stories you read in this magazine, as well as my own published works.

Both Charlene and Joe will hasten to say they learned at the hands of veteran chroniclers such as Rubye Hall Edge Sisson (From Trout Creek To Ragland), Mattie Lou Teague Crow (History Of St. Clair County and Diary Of A Confederate Soldier) and Vivian Buffington Qualls (History Of Steele, Alabama).

Joe has published several books of his own, as well as scores of historical society periodicals, papers, meeting minutes and surveys. He worked extensively with the late Garland Minor, who located and annotated hundreds of Civil War burial sites in our area, obtaining markers and other memorials for them.

Joe joined the St. Clair Historical Society shortly after it was formed in the early 1990s by the legendary historian and writer, Mattie Lou Teague Crow, in order to save the historic Looney House from demolition. Joe’s contributions include a nicely-done periodical called Cherish, which is still archived in many local libraries and is an excellent source of research material.

Charlene recalls his frequent visits to her St. Clair County Archives when it was in the Ashville Library building as well as two later locations on the town square. She says Joe was always pleasant, never declined to pause in his own work to help others and added much to the usefulness of that department.

Charlene says his favorite thing was going through archival copies of old St. Clair newspapers, looking for interesting, poignant or just plain funny wedding announcements, epitaphs and other bits of Victorian-era news for his two books, By Murder, Accident & Natural Causes and Wedding Bells &Funeral Knells, both of which are still available.

His first published books were a genealogical study of his Hawkins family, a history of St. Clair High School called Where The Saints Have Trod, a compendium of 18 local church histories called In The Shadow of the Almighty, and the aforementioned Odenville, Alabama – A History of Our Town. All these works still find heavy usage as research materials, especially from St. Clair youngsters working on yearly history projects for a statewide contest with finals in Montgomery.

All his reference works have proper indices, often a large proportion of the book itself. He considers a wasted effort any reference book that is not properly indexed, and totally useless if there’s no index at all.

Joe also serves as a board member for County Archive as well as Odenville’s Fortson Museum. Over the years, he’s donated countless display items and reference works to both places, including a wonderful old foot-pump organ that now graces the Fortson collections.

 

Joe, the poet

One of Joe’s favorite pursuits is writing poetry, particularly oddly-punctuated verse that doesn’t rhyme. He’s an active member of the Alabama State Poetry Society, and his works have fared well in regional contests. He’s printed several chapbooks of his poems, and at one time was the official Poet of the Year of Alabama.

Joe’s love of poetry goes all the way back to his high school days, when he often penned satirical works about his teachers, much to their chagrin and the delight of his fellow students.

One of his proudest possessions is a framed piece of sheet music with one of his poems, Evensong, as its lyrics. Written especially for Joe’s poem, the music got a lot of exposure as part of a Year 2000 millennium project sponsored by the White House Millennium Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Evensong can be found in Joe’s latest book of poetry, Learning To Tell Time.

Joe takes special pride in helping to connect an American family with a group in France working to erect a memorial to American flyers who had crashed there during World War II. One of those flyers was Richard Smith, whose family had contacted Joe for further information from an obituary he had collected. Smith’s family was invited to France for the dedication ceremony.

 

Dark clouds gather

A few years ago, Gail was stricken with cancer, marking the beginning of an epic struggle that gave courage to many others who were fighting their own battles. Her unflappable persona remained unchanged for the entire ordeal, always beaming that special smile that could not help but warm those around her.

Her passing in 2010 marked the end of 39 years of an idyllic marriage for Joe and Gail Whitten and brought hundreds into mourning.

Joe says she was cheerful until the very end. He recalls one of their last conversations on the day before her passing, when she was heavily infused with pain medicine and somewhat groggy.

He asked, “Do you know who I am?” She replied sweetly, “Of course I know who you are, Joe.” Some hours later, he leaned over close and whispered a final “I love you.”

Her answer: “I love you, too, whoever you are,” her eyes dancing as she spoke.

 

Finding peace

Joe says that God moved into their home after Gail passed and has kept him company through his years of loss and resolution. He’s since become involved in mission work to Ecuador as well as extensive world travel and plans to write a few more books.

Perhaps the first stanza of his signature poem, Evensong, tells it best:

The world is quieter now.
Mist rises to mist
and a quietness comes to me
like the quietness of an old house
that whispers long-loved contentment
to past and present.

A good-hearted town

Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith
Submitted Photos

Tucked unobtrusively between Shoal Creek Mountain and the Coosa River, the St. Clair County town of Ragland does little to pique the attention of passers-through. It’s like the town is taking a well-earned furlough from the generic commerce and sprawl that makes other cities seem so impersonal.

Save for a small dollar store, there’s not a single franchised big-box in sight; no Walmart, Winn Dixie, not even a chain restaurant. Many local folks see this as an asset and willingly drive to nearby cities for their major purchases.

Lifelong resident Joan (Davis) Ford says, “I have a loving heart for Ragland. It still has a lot of country to offer. How great it is to come home and enjoy the peace and satisfaction of owning a home and property here.”

She really understands the concept of coming home, having visited 40 American states and 20 other countries, including Russia.

Wendy Dickinson says of Ragland’s small-town motif, “We have one caution light, one one-way street, one alley, one school, and one red light.”

Mrs. Ford emphasizes that the city is actively seeking new industry, but of a nature that will not seriously alter the community’s idyllic lifestyle. As a former mayor, she’s always been active in education and civic affairs and participated in the formation of the St. Clair Economic Development Council.

The football field at Ragland’s Municipal Complex is named after her, to honor decades of service to the community. She sees the field as an example of how Ragland citizens and businesses have always pulled together to get things done.

Although she was the driving force behind its construction, she quickly shifts credit to others; “The community built that field. We had high school football players and volunteers from the cement plant who came after-hours to work there, and all I had to do was call National Cement and let them know what we needed, like a load of cement or rock or whatever, and they were right there with it. They also gave us a check for $10,000 to help cover expenses.”

Some of the hard labor was done by prisoners from St. Clair Correctional Facility, who were always eager to work because the town ladies fed them so well at lunchtime. “The guards said they would almost have fights at the bus every morning to see who got to go to Ragland,” she said.

In gratitude, the prisoners built a memorial barbecue pit next to the field, keeping it hidden under a tarp as a surprise for her when the project was done.

At age 81, she remembers a much more vibrant Ragland. “This place was hopping in the 40s and 50s. The streets were lined with businesses of all kinds, and people crowded the streets and sidewalks on weekends.” She also recalls when all the roads were unpaved and full of horses, wagons and carriages.

Mrs. Ford reminisces about town life during her childhood: “There were all kinds of businesses downtown, with several restaurants, one of which even allowed dancing. There was a movie theater called the BoJa (pronounced Bo Jay).

When the Walt Disney movie Bambi came to town in the late 40s, school let out and the kids got to walk across town to see it. Mr. Haynes sold bagged peanuts and popcorn balls in front of the theater.”

Ragland is home to two major companies that have been in operation more than a hundred years each — Ragland Brick Company and National Cement Company. Besides these plants, Ragland was once heavily committed to the coal and lumber industries, providing products and minerals of high quality that were distributed worldwide.

Truckloads of lumber regularly left the Dickinsons’ sawmill for Birmingham and beyond, while Ragland’s superb low-sulfur coal was much in demand for blacksmithing and the iron industry, even during the Civil War.

When Mrs. Ford’s father worked at the cement plant, the Davises lived in a community of some 15 company houses called Frog Town, so-named for the abundance of croaking frogs at night. Company officials lived in another neighborhood of swankier homes, called Society Knob.

Mrs. Ford remembers catching fishing worms along the banks of a little branch, and her horror when she caught some baby water snakes by mistake. She’s presently working with Ragland officials to obtain a historical marker for the Frog Town area.

She also tells of Elmer “Paw Pa” Davis driving a wagon that hauled mail sacks from the train depot to the post office, a simple but important daily event for many small towns.

A big black man called Patches sat beside Paw Pa on an old wood bench seat. Sometimes she joined them there, but would ride with her legs hanging off the tailgate if she was with friends. The wagon was drawn by a retired army mule named Maude, who had the letters US branded onto its side.

Mrs. Ford sees Ragland as a place with real heart, where people have always pulled together during times of need, a sentiment echoed by others. “If there was anything that happened, deaths or disaster or whatever, it didn’t matter who you were or what you believed in, you got help,” she said.

She’s especially proud of her church, Hardin’s Chapel Bible Church (non-denominational), whose facilities saw heavy usage during the months following the tornado that wracked Shoal Creek Valley.

“The whole community responded with volunteer work, food, supplies and clothing. Seven ladies and I fed hundreds of people from our kitchen. We came in at 5:30 in the morning, and rotated 12-hour shifts. I told them to be ready for a long haul, because this thing would not be over in a few days, more like several months. And bless their hearts, they stuck by us the whole time.”

She also recalls when the tornado of 1974 came through, tearing things up so badly you could not get to Ragland on any road, and how people had pulled together then, like they always do.

It seems Ragland has been blessed over the years with folks whose love of community and their fellow man inspired them to empathize and share what they had with their neighbors. Such a man was Pop Dickinson, for whom Alabama Highway 144 was re-named shortly before his death in 1982.

 

POP DICKINSON

Leon Ullman Dickinson, always known as Pop, came to Ragland from Lincoln in the late 1930s as the Depression was winding down and quickly became legendary for the way he treated (and trusted) people.

He freely gave credit to customers at his sawmill and lumber operation in Ragland, which he and his brother Hal had begun while still in Lincoln. Pop was also known for financing mortgages for those whom the banks had refused. Pop ran these business interests with help from son Lowell Leon “Buck” Dickinson and his grandson, Robert Leon “Bob” Dickinson (all three men had Leon in their names).

According to granddaughter Wendy Dickinson, when Bob wanted to foreclose on a woman, recently widowed, who could no longer make payments, Pop told Bob that if he needed that house more than the widow needed it, he would buy Bob’s part of the company and absorb all the loss himself. Bob relented and simply gave up his share.

Meanwhile, Buck went on to other ventures, which included starting the first telephone exchange in Ragland with nine old magneto crank phones, like the ones seen on vintage TV shows where you crank a handle and ask an operator to connect you.

This company later expanded into the present-day Ragland Telephone Company, operated by Bob after Buck’s death in 1959, thence by Bob’s widow, Peggy Alexander Dickinson, after his death in 1982. It has always been a privately held utility, with no connections to the big comms like AT&T.

The Dickinsons were well-involved in local politics. Buck and Bob both served as mayors. Bob was a Democratic Party delegate in the 1960s and also started Ragland’s first TV cable company.

Bob’s wife, Judith (Mitchell), formerly of Leeds, was Ragland’s first female mayor and also served two terms on the Board of Education. She was highly praised in her 2007 obituary by current BOE Superintendent Jenny Seals. Judith’s brother-in-law, Ed Goodson, was a mayor of Leeds.

Birmingham News writer Thomas Spencer describes Judith, “Judy … loved to wear outlandish hats to church; a red felt one with netting on the front and a big feather sticking out of a bow in back, and a pink one with sequins and a ponytail holder.

“At Christmas she wore one festooned with colored lights. She was flamboyant and fearless about what other people thought. She just wanted them to smile. … At her request, they played the bombastic, cannon-firing 1812 Overture at her memorial service.”

Wendy tells of Pop’s personality, “He was a very good man, who never touched liquor or missed church, although one time he fell asleep in church because of the time change, and everybody thought he was dead.”

Wendy says Pop loved to fox hunt, but never killed a fox because he just wanted to hear the dogs run. “He beat the heck out of one of his dogs once for killing a fox, but later found out the poor dog hadn’t done it, and he felt bad for weeks afterward, cuddling that dog and telling him how sorry he was for the beating.”

She adds that Pop made his own dog food from scratch and openly carried a gun while patrolling their neighborhood at night.

Several vintage Raglanders spoke of Pop’s total lack of driving skill, often weaving all over the road at breakneck speed, running traffic signs and never giving turn signals.

Wendy says Pop once bought a pickup truck with an automatic transmission, hoping it would allow him to concentrate less on shifting and more on driving, but quickly tore the transmission up trying to shift gears anyway.

A Mr. Barnhill, with whom your writer chatted at Ragland Civic Center, tells that he once rode in a carload of kids along with Pop. They were on their way to a ball game, and Pop made the owner of the car pull over and let him drive because he felt they weren’t going fast enough. Barnhill still recalls how quickly that ride turned fearsome once Pop took the wheel.

Pop passed away in 1982, just days from his grandson Bob’s demise, and is buried in Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery.

The Pop Dickinson Highway sign is long- gone, but most anyone in town will affirm the real name of Alabama 144.

 

WATT T. BROWN, GODFATHER OF RAGLAND

Some refer to Watt Brown as the Sumter Cogswell of Ragland. He was there in the town’s earlier years and was largely responsible for its coal industry as well as active interests in virtually every other major endeavor in the area.

In her book, From Trout Creek To Ragland, historian Rubye Hall Edge Sisson says of Brown, “His influence would color Ragland more than any other individual.”

It’s said that at one time he owned so much land that one could walk all the way from Ragland to Odenville and never set foot off his property. Indeed, he contributed greatly to the development of Odenville and Coal City as well.

Born at the closing of the Civil War in the Talladega County settlement of Kymulga near Childersburg, Watt grew up in Ohatchee. At age 18, he partnered with the Green mercantile firm, then joined his brother James as a stockholder in Ragland Coal Company, soon to be joined by another brother, Adolphus.

Always a mover, by 1893 Watt had become president of the company, and the brothers started buying up mineral-rich lands all over St. Clair County, reaching as far as Coal City and Odenville.

He succeeded in getting a major portion of Coal City incorporated as Wattsville. The town’s name was also given to a major seam of fine coal that underlies a large part of St. Clair.

Ragland had originally been known as Trout Creek, after the stream that still flows through the heart of town and once caused a major flood with great damage. In 1899, Brown and others petitioned for Ragland’s incorporation, naming it after the family who owned Ragland Coal Company. Watt presumably served as its first mayor.

A few years later, he married Ashville Judge Inzer’s daughter, Lila, gaining both connections and a stepson in the process. He also formed Brown Construction Company to take advantage of the economic boom he was helping to create.

Over the next two decades, Watt served in the State House of Representatives, as chairman of the St. Clair County Executive Committee, as alderman for Ragland, and as a state senator. With others, he formed the Ragland Water Power Company, hoping to build a hydroelectric plant at Lock Four, but was pre-empted by another project proposed by Alabama Power Company.

Sisson lists more of his accomplishments: “The Progress, a newspaper published in Pell City, endorsed Watt Brown … in his first run for Senate (saying that) during Watt’s term in the State House he had helped the Pell City cotton mill, brought the brick plant to Ragland, and had been a moving force in securing the cement plant.

“Other newspapers … proclaimed him a captain of industry who had made millions. He was president of Odenville Bank, a director of Anniston National Bank and Alabama Life Insurance Company, and trustee of the Jacksonville State Normal School.”

Sisson also credits Watt Brown with building a St. Clair High School in Odenville in 1908 that served students from the whole county. He spearheaded a drive to get a high school for Ragland, offering huge tracts of his own land to sweeten the deal.

But not every project started by Brown came to fruition. He’d wanted an industrial school in Ragland, but the powers chose to build it in Gadsden instead. Likewise, his bid for a tuberculosis sanitarium was rejected, as well as a cotton mill using local resources and labor to make shipping bags for the cement plant.

Brown never tired of promoting Ragland. Sisson continues: “When the Alabama State Land Company proposed to publish information on … the natural resources, climate etc. of Alabama, Watt described Ragland in glowing terms. … Alabama State Land encouraged him to print his own brochure. This brochure was sent all over the country.”

Jenna Whitehead, in a 1974 story in St. Clair News Aegis, quotes (another writer) as saying, “During the Depression, Brown wrote down a 10-point plan that would pull the country out of the Depression,” remarking that it was almost identical to the plan later tendered by President Franklin Roosevelt.

Yet, for all his forward-looking ideas and tireless promotion of the towns he loved, not everyone approved of Watt T. Brown. In a recent interview, your writer encountered a lady who claims that her mother would never use the name Wattsville, always clinging to its previous name, Coal City, even to the point of getting a post office box in another town so her mail would never bear his name. It’s also said that a man had rented some retail space in Odenville’s Cahaba Hotel, which Brown built and owned outright. While the tenant was moving in, Brown approached him and asked how he intended for customers to enter his business.

The man told him they would enter the front door — how else? Brown then informed him that he owned the sidewalk and the tenant would have to pay a usage fee.

In 1930, Brown ran for governor, with a brilliantly conceived platform that was way ahead of the times. He put everything he had on the line, and lost.

Apparently, he had overestimated the admiration of his constituency. Watt T. Brown quickly sank into destitution and obscurity, dying in poverty some 10 years later. The man who had practically fathered at least three towns and made a huge fortune for his family was so poor he was buried in a borrowed spot until his family finally moved him to their own plot at the Methodist Cemetery.

Today, only a few eastern St. Clair old-timers (and a historian or two) even recall his name.

 

MEET RAGLAND

From US 231 at Coal City, it’s only a few pleasant miles’ drive to Ragland. Along the way, you’re treated to numerous pastoral scenes, some with long, white wooden fences.

There are several historic churches, among them Harkey’s Chapel Methodist and the aforementioned Hardin’s Chapel. Watch for interesting road names, such as No Business Creek, Memory Lane, Homebrew Knob and Center Star Road as you drive.

Near Ragland, a wooded bend in the road suddenly opens to expose one of the town’s main industries, National Cement Company, alongside the remnants of an old football stadium, barely visible through the overgrowth.

Alabama 144, aka Pop Dickinson Highway, becomes Church Street, Ragland’s main crossroad, thence to Main Street. The historic, picturesque Champion Drug building, originally the Lee Hotel, dominates this intersection. Now awaiting repurposing, this fine old structure played various roles in the town’s early history.

Trout Creek crosses Church Street next to the railroad tracks, the Methodist Church and the old depot. Ragland Brick is just west of the church.

Before leaving town to the east, consider taking a few side roads to see dwellings more than a hundred years old, many of them company houses.

As you exit the downtown area, there’s a fine library and the town’s main supermarket, the Food Barn, reminiscent of an earlier, less gaudy era. Shopping there is almost like stepping into a time machine.

A mile or two farther eastward on Alabama 144 lies Neely Henry Dam, thence onward to Ohatchee at Alabama 77. Just a few blocks northward on Alabama 77 is the Spring Street turnoff for Janney Furnace and Museum, a great site to visit at GPS coordinates 33 47.712N 86 1.164W

 

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

While Ragland is typical of many aging Alabama towns with a more vibrant past, it’s currently primed for new ideas and energy. As Mrs. Ford said in our opening paragraphs, it would be a great place to call home and start a new business that doesn’t depend on heavy road-frontage traffic.

The municipal complex, tucked quietly away on landscaped grounds just west of downtown, is totally adequate for official, recreational, senior citizen, and athletic functions.

Among its amenities are a splash pad, a walking track designed by Judith Dickinson and Rufus Bunt, the Dustin Lane Ford baseball and softball complex, a very active Senior Citizen Center, and a playground.

Everything one really needs for a simple, front-porch life is right there. Best of all, a century-old tradition of togetherness and mutual aid still thrives in Ragland.

In a word, it’s home.