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JASPER -
NEWS ARTICLES
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Northern Alabama: Historical and Biological
by Henry McCalley Birmingham, Ala.
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Smith & De
Land, 1888 - transcribed and submitted by Veneta
McKinney
Jasper, county seat of Walker, is
located at the junction of the Kansas
City, Memphis, & Birmingham, and Sheffield & Birmingham
Railroads, forty-four miles west of Birmingham, 210 miles east from Sheffield, and
fifty-six miles northeast of Tuscaloosa. The country around
Jasper is like most of Walker County, broken and
mountainous. The growth and prosperity of the town depends on
coal, timber, and agriculture in the valley......
Jasper has two churches - Methodist and Baptist - a Masonic
Lodge, twenty-five business houses, including a bank with a paid up
capital of $200,000 and two hotels. Its population is now about
1,500, and is daily increasing. It is an active and bustling
place, full of hope and enterprise. The value of town property has
advanced ten-fold in the last eighteen months.
The city of Jasper was incorporated Dec. 22, 1887; and GEORGE H.
GUTTERY was its first mayor; W. F. FOSTER its first secretary and tax
assessor; B. M. BRADFORD, marshal and collector; and J. B.
SHIELDS, W. C. ROSAMOND, D. L. STOVALL, and W. G. GRAVLEE its first
Board of Councilmen.
The streets are all laid off, and some grading done, a
corporation building, including a court room and council chamber and
prison, has been erected, and the entire town has been platted,
extending over one mile square. The Sheffield
& Birmingham Coal, Iron and Railway Company are now building at
this place 250 coke ovens and the largest coal bins in the state.
The trestle over which the railroad track runs will be about fifty feet
high, and the coal will be placed in the bins, taken thence and placed
in the ovens without being handled from the time it leaves the mine. The
intention of the company is to increase the number of ovens to 1,000 and
when completed will have a capacity of 1,000 tons of coke per
diem.
The city of Jasper is not yet old enough to have
made much history. .........Among the prominent members of the legal
profession of Jasper may be named: W. B. APPLING, E. W. COLEMAN,
C. J. L. CUNNINGHAM, S. M. GUNTER, S. LACY, and JOHN MCQUEEN, while the
other professions are well represented.
Among the oldest families in Jasper is the MUSGROVE family, in
fact they were the first settlers of the town. Dr. E. G. MUSGROVE
moved to that section of Alabama before the state was admitted into the
Union, and immediately after the formation of the county of Meeker, he
laid out the town of Jasper and gave the entire town to the county,
conditioned upon locating the county seat there, which was accepted, and
a court house and jail was immediately built. This family has been
continuous residents of Jasper. First after the death of Dr.
MUSGROVE came his oldest son, Capt. F. A. MUSGROVE, who was born and
reared in the place and was among the first citizens of the town and
county, having filled various positions of trust and honor in the county
and served one term in the State Legislature. At the beginning of
the war he went into service as Captain of Company L, Twenty-Eighth
Alabama Regiment. He was wounded at the Battle of Murphreesboro, and
after his recovery went into service as major of a Calvary company which he raised at home
during his illness. Following in his direct line of the
descendants comes L. B. and J. C. MUSGROVE, his only sons, who are still
living at the old homestead, and are both closely identified with the
building of the city, and also in the development of the coal and iron
interest of the county.
The Jasper Land Company was organized on December 19, 1887, by
the election of the following Board of Directors: GEORGE H. NETTLELER, President
of the Kansas City, Memphis, &
Birmingham Railroad; JAMES F. JOHNSTON, President of the Alabama
National Bank; J. G. CHAMBERLAIN, General Manager of the Sheffield &
Birmingham Coal, Iron and Railway Company; A. G. FRANCIS of the Corona
Coal & Coke Company; J. C. MUSGROVE, W. L. WALLIS, R. H. ELLIOT,
Chief Engineer of the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad; F.
A. GAMBLE and S. B. MUSGROVE.
The following were elected the active officials of the Company;
JOSEPH F. JOHNSTON, President; L. B. MUSGROVE, Vice-President and
General Manager; J. M. BURRELL, secretary; and WILLIAM S. FOSTER,
Treasurer……….
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On the evening of October 28th, MR.
D. E. GALLAHER’S crib was burned, together with all of his corn, fodder,
wheat, oats, and molasses, also a new set of buggy harness, and came near
loosing his buggy. It is
thought that the fire caught from a pipe. It is a pretty heavy loss, and all
the community sympathize with UNCLE DALE – [Jasper Eagle] - (Vernon
Clipper-, Lamar County AL- Nov 14, 1879 - Transcribed and
submitted by Veneta McKinney)
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Eldorados are becoming quite
numerous of late. The booming town of Jasper, Walker County, has an oil
well and says it is the most wonderful thing on record, and is destined
to make Jasper the Eldorado of the state. - (Marion
Herald -Marion County AL- April 26, 1887 - Transcribed and submitted by
Veneta McKinney)
The weekly Headlight is a new paper
published at Jasper, Ala. We received a copy on last week and found it
to be a lively sheet, full of hope and a determination to leave nothing
undone that will tend to the advancement of the cause of Walker County
and her citizens. (Marion Herald -Marion County AL-
June 16, 1887 - Transcribed and submitted by Veneta McKinney)
The town of Jasper, as in fact the
whole of Walker county seems to be moving on and upward, and as best as
we can judge from the present state of affairs she will continue to
ascend the hill of prosperity with her colors flying - (Marion Herald -Marion County AL- June 30, 1887 - Transcribed
and submitted by Veneta McKinney)
Jasper is still advancing and there is
no telling what wonderful discoveries may yet be made in and near that
thriving little city. The latest is the discovery of Sulphuric acid gas
in her new artesian well. By holding a lighted match above the stream as
it issues out of the pipe you can see the change in the flame that is
produced by the burning of the gas. (Marion Herald
-Marion County AL- Nov 10, 1887 - Transcribed and submitted by Veneta
McKinney)
The cornerstone of new Methodist church of
Jasper was laid on
the 19th inst. The ceremony was performed by Rev. J. T.
Morris and J. L. Ferguson (Marion Herald -Marion
County AL- November 1, 1888 - Transcribed and submitted by Veneta
McKinney)
The
little daughter of Mr. BEN RIGGANS, of near Jasper, was dangerously
burned on last week and it is thought cannot recover. (Marion Herald -Marion County AL- March
6, 1890- Transcribed and submitted by Veneta McKinney)
JASPER IN ASHES - TWO ENTIRE BUSINESS BLOCKS GO UP IN
SMOKE
Seventeen Business Houses and Their Contents Destroyed-
List of the Losses
Jasper Eagle, Nov. 29
A large portion of Jasper is in
ashes.
The mad flames did their work quickly and
completely.
The business part of town almost wiped out by that terrific
fiend, fire.
What yesterday was a thriving business part of our quiet little
city is today a black, smoldering mass of
debris.
The alarm was given by the ringing of bells and blowing of
whistles at about 7 o’clock last night, and in less time than it takes
to tell it, perhaps, the whole town and many people from the country had
gathered at the scene of the fire, men, women, and children, both white
and black, and excitement reigned supreme. Every body present seemed
willing to do all in their power to save what they could from the hungry
flames, which leaped high in the heavens and spread from building to
building with great rapidity.
With blankets and buckets, the only weapon at hand with which to
combat the flames, a large force of men, lead by a few cool-headed
gentlemen, went ahead to save the adjoining buildings, and men worked as
never men worked before, but only to be driven from building to building
by the onward march of the mad fiend bent on
destruction.
The fire broke out in FILES’ vacant store building, in the rear
of J. M. WILLIAMS’ hardware store, in which Col. VINCENT CURRY, Esq.
colored, slept, and a defective flue is said to be responsible for its
origin.
The night was clear and the flames went straight up towards the
heavens, there being not as much as a mild breeze, which was fortunate,
as there is no telling where the fire would have stopped. When the fire was discovered it
had gained such headway that it would have been folly to have attempted
to extinguish it, and it was evident that the adjoining buildings were
doomed. Large forces
composed of men, women, and children went to work to save what they
could from these buildings.
In the mean time large forces were a work endeavoring to save
LONG Bros’ large brick building on the north and KILGORE’S buildings on
the south. Thanks to good
work and bravery displayed by many of our citizens, the fine brick
structure of LONG Bros. and the large warehouse in the rear were saved.
But on the south, the faithful men on KILGORE’S buildings, which were
wooden structures, were completed to give way to the heat of the
flames. At times it seemed
they would succeed in saving them, but not so, they were doomed. From Kilgore’s buildings the
fire spread two small buildings on the west around by J. A. BARTON and
BABB’S new buildings on the south, and eastward to W. WORTHINGTON’S
store, continuing on in that direction, consuming SPAIN’S restaurant Dr.
ROSAMOND’S drug store and E. W. MILLER’S building on the corner,
occupied by G. D. O’REAR & Co., and J. W. SAXON. Here, by tearing down Col. W. B.
APPLING’S law office, the fire was topped by vigorous work in keeping
the corner building on the east side of the public square covered with
wet blankets.
Within two hours after the fire was discovered it had swept every
business house off the south and west sides of the public square. The residence part of the town
was not reached.
While the fire was raging the merchants and others interested
were not idle. With the
assistance of many friends they were busy removing goods from their
buildings, carrying them out on the public square and dumping them in
one great conglomerated heap, which made the square look like a mammoth
warehouse. Some in this
manner saved nearly all their goods, but not without considerable
damage, due to rough handling under excitement and other
causes.
Even many ladies turned out and rendered valiant service in
fighting the fire and saving valuables from the burning buildings. A
great many of them displayed remarkable coolness and
courage. The colored people, many of them, worked like heroes, for
which they deserve a great deal of
credit.
The loss is estimated to be about $25,000, as follows: D. L.
STOVALL, on buildings and furniture, $3500 – no insurance; Eagle
Publishing Company entire plant $3000 – insured in London & Globe
for $1000; J. C. SCOTT Building $500 - no insurance; FILES Bros.
Building $500, damage to stock $75 – no insurance; MUSGROVE BROS. $1500
– no insurance; D. J. FILES building $500 – no insurance; J. R. KILGORE Buildings $2000, to
stock $200 – no insurance; J. A.
BARTON Building $300 – no insurance; G. D. O’REAR & CO., $200
– no insurance; H. O. RABB, buildings, $900 insured with Home of N. Y.
$600; W. WORTHINGTON, buildings $700,
on stock $1500 – no insurance; G. W. GRAVLEE, building $300 – no
insurance; W. C. ROSAMOND, building, $1000 stock $400 – no insurance; E.
W. MILLER, building $100 – no insurance; V. M. MILLER, building $1000 –
no insurance; W. B. APPLING, building $500 – insured; J. M. WILLIAMS
goods $1500 – no insurance; CLIFTON BROS. goods $500 – no
insurance. (Hamilton Free
Press -Marion County AL- December 6, , 1893 - Transcribed and
submitted by Veneta McKinney)
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