FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Wendi Lewis, Marketing and Public Relations Manager  

wendi.lewis@ahc.alabama.gov, 334-230-2680

July 21, 2021

Alabama Properties Listed in National Register of Historic Places

(Montgomery, AL) The Alabama Historical Commission is announcing recent additions to the National Register of Historic Places.   

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a nationwide program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources. The National Register is an honorary designation that places no restrictions on property owners and includes a wide variety of properties, including buildings, structures, outdoor sculpture, historic districts, and archaeological sites. More than 1,200 Alabama properties have been listed in the National Register. The following Alabama properties were recently listed:

Atmore Commercial Historic District, Escambia County

Listed on June 18, 2021

The Atmore Commercial Historic District illustrates the town’s development into an important commercial center in Escambia County between 1900 and 1970. During this period, railroad expansion, agricultural and lumber production, industrial development, New Deal programs, and the automobile all contributed to the rise of a thriving downtown that was centered on the railroad tracks. The collection of industrial and commercial buildings in the Atmore Commercial Historic District represents locally significant examples of national architectural trends.

Edmonton Heights Historic District, Huntsville, Madison County

Listed on June 21, 2021

Located in Huntsville, near Alabama A&M University, the Edmonton Heights neighborhood is the only post World-War II planned suburb in Huntsville created for African Americans. The neighborhood developed between 1959 and 1975, a period when the city experienced rapid population growth and African American residents were displaced from downtown neighborhoods as a result of the urban renewal program, the Heart of Huntsville. Edmonton Heights was one of a handful of suburbs that Alabama developers Folmar & Flinn created for African Americans. The firm used federal housing loan programs that they gained access to through backroom deals that led to Folmar & Flinn’s downfall. In addition to its historical significance, the Edmonton Heights Historic District has a locally significant collection of mid-20th-century houses. The neighborhood reflects nationally popular architectural styles and suburban landscape designs and is typical of suburbs designed by Folmar & Flinn.

Magnolia Hall, Greensboro, Hale County

Listed on June 25, 2021

Constructed in 1857, Magnolia Hall in Greensboro is architecturally significant at the national, state and local levels as an outstanding example of Greek Revival style architecture. It is a rare surviving example of the Amphiprostyle form, in which both the front and back of the building have identical columned porticos that resemble Greek temples. Magnolia Hall retains much of its mid-19th-century appearance on both the interior and exterior and was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930s. The property also includes a slave dwelling, a former detached kitchen, and a building that may have originally served as an icehouse.

Water Avenue Historic District – Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation, Selma, Dallas County

Listed on June 25, 2021

An update to the Water Avenue Historic District in Selma expanded the boundaries and recognized the area’s significance in the African American Civil Rights Movement and in the Civil War. The historic district contains much of the route for a March 9, 1965, march known as Turnaround Tuesday. This march was one of a series of demonstrations that attracted national attention to civil rights violations in Selma and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Archeological resources in the historic district are associated with Selma’s military significance during the Civil War, when it was the second-largest war production center in the Confederacy and the largest in Alabama. The nomination update also added historic and archeological resources that are related to the district’s significance as Selma’s waterfront commercial and warehouse district.

“These new listings added to Alabama’s 1,200 National Register properties represent the complex history of our state with districts and buildings spanning diverse geography, periods of influence and communities,” said AHC Chairman Eddie Griffith. “We welcome the recognition that the National Park Service confers through the National Register of Historic Places and encourage all Alabamians to learn more about these properties and their influence on who we are as a citizenry today.”

“The addition of these Alabama properties to the National Register underscores the fact that historic places matter,” said Lisa D. Jones, Executive Director of the Alabama Historical Commission and State Historic Preservation Officer. “Recognizing the historical significance of places helps to preserve their stories for the future. It shapes the way we understand Alabama’s role in our nation’s story.”

The Alabama Historical Commission administers the National Register program in Alabama. Learn more at https://ahc.alabama.gov/nationalregister.aspx. This web page also provides a link to our Historic Preservation Map, which provides access to copies of the National Register nomination forms.

About the Alabama Historical Commission

Located in historic downtown Montgomery at 468 S. Perry Street, the Alabama Historical Commission is the state historic preservation agency for Alabama. The agency was created by an act of the state legislature in 1966 with a mission to protect, preserve and interpret Alabama’s historic places. AHC works to accomplish its mission through two fields of endeavor: Preservation and promotion of state-owned historic sites as public attractions; and, statewide programs to assist people, groups, towns, and cities with local preservation activities. For a complete list of programs and properties owned and operated by the AHC, hours of operation, and admission fees please visit ahc.alabama.gov  

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