Courtland Historic District | |
Buildings on Tennessee St. in April 2017 | |
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| Location | Roughly bounded by Clinton, Madison, Van Buren, Jefferson, Ussery, Tennessee, Monroe and Academy Sts., Courtland, Alabama |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°40′3″N87°18′34″W / 34.66750°N 87.30944°W Coordinates: 34°40′3″N87°18′34″W / 34.66750°N 87.30944°W |
| Area | 100 acres (40 ha) |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, Modern Movement |
| NRHP reference # | 91000597 [1] (original) 98000710 (increase) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 13, 1991 |
| Boundary increase | June 26, 1998 |
| Designated ARLH | December 15, 1989 [2] |
The Courtland Historic District is a historic district in Courtland, Alabama. Courtland was founded in 1818 and incorporated the following year. Its location was chosen to be close to the Tennessee River to facilitate transportation, but also close to cotton plantations to the south. The town's founders envisioned becoming the county seat of the newly formed Lawrence County, but the title instead went to Moulton. Many of the earliest structures in Courtland were built of logs, and were later replaced with frame and brick buildings. Development plateaued by 1830, but received a slight bump from the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad beginning in 1834. The oldest houses in the district date from this era, including the 1828 Federal-style John McMahon House and several I-houses.
Historic districts in the United States are designated historic districts recognizing a group of buildings, properties, or sites by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, contributing and non-contributing. Districts greatly vary in size: some have hundreds of structures, while others have just a few.
Courtland is a town in Lawrence County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area, as well as the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The population was 609 at the 2010 census, down from 769 in 2000.
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as many of the Cherokee had their territory along its banks, especially in eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee village Tanasi.
The town saw a resurgence after the Civil War, with early construction including the Presbyterian church. Most of the commercial area around the public square was rebuilt in brick in the 1880s through the 1900s, while many older houses were replaced with Victorian examples around the same time. The Southern Railway built a depot in 1887 to replace the previous depot; it was converted to a library around 1980. In the 1920s, larger, older lots began to be subdivided and more modest bungalows were constructed. [3]
The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U.S. history. Primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles. The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture, and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.
The Southern Railway is a name of a class 1 railroad that was based in the Southern United States. The railroad is the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894.
The district was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1989 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. [2] The boundaries of the district were increased in 1998 to include buildings representing Courtland's working-class and post-World War II growth. [1]
The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties, which may be of national, state, and local significance, are designated by the Alabama Historical Commission. The designation is honorary and carries no direct restrictions or incentives. The register includes properties such as cemeteries, churches, moved properties, reconstructed properties, and properties at least 40 years old which may not normally qualify for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. There are approximately 1421 properties and districts listed on the Alabama Register. Of these, approximately 196 are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 5 are designated as National Historic Landmarks.
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
