The city of Hamilton in Marion County, Alabama was first known as Toll Gate & was the site of the first toll road
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When I think of Hamilton I always think of the divorce scandal.
I have a lot of good memories growing up in Hamilton. Alot of wonderful friends and some family.
tell us more
What scandal?
It was in the 50’s or 60’s . Alabama used to be a quickie divorce State. Many famous people came to Hamilton to get one . Onasis and some others. It turned out that the lawyer was just throwing the papers in a closet and years later the people found out that they were not divorced .
I even heard that they built the runway in Hamilton long enough for private jets.
Also the Long Runway was for fighter jets, in the early 60’s we had fighter jets fly in and out during training….. That is why we have the long runway ….Yes Hamilton di have quickie divorces so the story goes..
At one time the U.S. Air Force used the Airport at Hamilton to touch down on,
their student pilot’s in training would fly a Jet from Columbus, ms Air Base & turn around heading back toward Columbus & would touch down at the Hamilton Airport. They didn’t make a full landing, just touched down & then
they just proceeded on back to Columbus.
Very interesting read. My grandfather, traveling from Itawamba County, Mississippi, looking for timber stands, planted his portable sawmill west of Hamilton for a time during the Great Depression, before moving on to Walker County.
I love your site. It’s interesting to be able to see history thru the eyes of those who experienced it.
I
really enjoy the site, because I like history and especially Alabama history
My 3rd great grandfather, John Valentine Bull D.1840 buried near Bear Creek, had a gun shop on the this road on Bull’s Mountain. It was once named Warrior Mountain. G grandfather, Thomas Washington Carpenter, settled in Hamilton bout 1850. I’ m looking for anything on my Shelton side. G grandfather was Mathew Downs Shelton. His father I think was Joshua L Shelton and mother unknown Downs.
I’m from the area and like history. Old timers (years ago) told me that your G grandfather buried rifles in oil filled drums somewhere on Bull Mountain; this was to prevent the Union soldiers from destroying them and also give him a chance to start over after the Civil War. An area legend perhaps.
My in-laws are from Hamilton.
My childhood home, built by GGGrandfather Wood, sat very close to the Military Ford to which this story refers. John Bibb Wood built the house beside a stream/branch that emptied into the Buttahatchie River, where Andrew Jackson’s troops crossed. The area was known as Wood’s Creek Community. Robert Clark’s father William ‘Bill’ Clark brought his family, including sons Robert, Jasper (another of my GGGrandfathers, William, and wife Chloe Baxley Clark, to the area when Alabama Territory opened. I love the area where I grew up.
Where can I learn more about Andrew Jackson’s road? Does a current AL route largely follow Jackson’s road?
Highway 43, NW Alabama follows Jackson Road.
The runway was at one time the 2nd longest runway in the state behind Huntsvilles. Rankin Fite who at one time was one of if not the most powerful man in the state ruled it and seen that Hamilton was the quickie divorce capitol of the nation. Desi and Lucille Ball, Onasis as mentioned above plus numerous more got divorces in Hamilton and a few select attorneys got the cash.
I was HHS Band president for the class of 1965. For our band banquet that year, I looked in old yearbooks and found pictures of the HHS Band officers from 1915 and was able to locate one of the members (or maybe he was the band director? I can’t remember.) At any rate, several band members and I went to visit him and wrote down his recollections of being an HHS Band member. We printed his story and included it as an insert in the program at the banquet. We also invited him and he was our special guest at the banquet that year. As I remember, the school was more like an agricultural school in his days, and one of their football games was against Auburn University. I just wonder if there’s a copy of this program on file at the high school now.
I believe the School was orignally called Northwest Ala. Agricultural School, The
Two story house out in front was where the principal lived, there was also a farm
that was called the State Farm that was associated with the school, the farm
was I believe used as an Experimental farm & was handled by Auburn university.
Folk’s going to school had to pay $2 or $3 dollars a month & achieve an “A” on
Their average in order to attend the school. The farm in later years was ontained
by Mr. W. A. Guyton. After the school became Hamilton High School it burned
I think in the 1960s.
The HAMILTON-SULLENS house sits across the street from the United Methodist Church in Hamilton. It has been renovated and will be open for touring the last Saturday of October during Hamilton’s Fall Festival. So proud to live in Hamilton, Capt Hamilton’s have, located in the City Cemetary, not far from the renovated home has a beautiful tombstone with inscribed history about Captian Hamilton himself.
Nice information on the City of Hamilton. It was good to see the vintage photos of the people. Great post!
I recently moved into a little blue house with white awnings over the windows. It’s on Bexar Avenue east (hwy 278) can anyone tell me any information about this house?
Can someone tell me who named Bull Mountain (going toward Vina) and why it is named Bull Mountain?