My husband spent the day driving me around Florence; he would stop and let me out long enough to take a few pictures.
We stopped in the Marriott's parking lot to get a picture of The Father of Rock' n' Roll, & Sam Phillips in Florence.
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| The Father of Rock' N' Roll Sam Phillips fell in love with the miracle of sound and the unifying power of music. Moving to Memphis, Tennessee, he embraced the beauty of the blues through his early recordings of Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and other Delta artists. In 1951, the maverick producer cut the first "Rock' N' Roll" record, "Rocket 88." Three years later, he revolutionized American music with his discovery of the dynamic Elvis Presley. His credo was passionate conviction, originality, and extreme individuality. His Sun Records label unleashed the earth-shaking, rule-breaking sounds of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Charlie Rich. "Rock' N' Roll is the freedom of the rhythm of the soul." He once said, "And I was looking for that little piece of soul magic." |
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| Sam Phillips in Florence Sam Phillips had a vision. It sprang from the land. It sprang from the river. Long after he had achieved fame and worldwide recognition, he always spoke of Florence as the birthplace of his inspiration. He pointed toward the people he had grown up with, the family upbringing he had enjoyed, and the freedom he had learned to cherish in Alabama. His great heroes were from the place of his birth and often of the humblest origins. He loved, as he always said, "the soil, the water, the trees, and the beautiful Tennessee River." He learned from his father how to plow behind a mule, but he told the world to continuously seek that unplowed row. Above text by Peter Guralnick. |
We stopped on Veterans Drive so I could take a picture of the Florence Wagon Works Marker; it was very worn.
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| Florence Wagon Works Moved here from Atlanta in 1889, this industry made Florence a household word throughout the South. It was the largest wagon factory in the South, reportedly the second-largest in the U.S., with 250 employees and an annual production of 12,000 wagons. World War I army wagons were made here and sent all over the U.S. and to France. The increasing use of motorized vehicles led to a gradual decline in factory activity. The firm was liquidated in the 1930s. |
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| East Florence Historic District The East Florence business area began during the industrial boom of the 1880s and 1890s and continued to develop through the 1920s. Originally known as "Sweetwater", the small, locally owned firms were established to serve the growing population employed in the area's industries. The district contains twelve buildings of historical and architectural significance, including a home, drug store, grocery, bank, cafe, fire station, and railroad. |
We stopped on Veterans Drive behind the Hampton Inn so I could take a picture of the John McKinney marker.
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| John McKinney, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court |
We rode uptown Florence, where I took pictures of the Site of Fame Studio, Father of Rock ' n ' Roll, marker located on the corner of Florence Boulevard and Seminary Street.
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| Original Site of Fame Recording Studios, early 1960s Following the limited success, the partnership dissolved. Rick Hall took the publishing company and FAME name in return for the studio equipment. He relocated the studio to an empty tobacco warehouse in Muscle Shoals. His next recording of "You Better Move On" by Arthur Alexander was acclaimed as the Shoal's first worldwide bestseller. Over the next several decades, FAME recording studios became one of the most successful producers of rhythm and blues, pop, and country in the world. Rick Hall became known as the "Father of the Muscle Shoals Sound". |
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| Original Site of Fame Recording Studios, early 1960s This marks the site of the pioneering music company, Florence, Alabama Music Enterprise (FAME), a name that became renowned worldwide as the home of the "Muscle Shoals Sound". FAME was founded in the early 1960s by three young local entrepreneurs, Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill, and Tom Stafford, who improvised a make-shift studio in a vacant room above the City Drug Store that once stood there. FAME's earliest recording sessions launched the careers of such music business legends as Arthur Alexander, Rick Hall, Billy Sherrell, Norbert Putman, David Briggs, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and many others. |
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| St Joseph Catholic Church 1898 The Roman Catholic Church in Florence established its first church here in 1898, with Gammelbert Brunner, OSB, as pastor. They earlier met in private homes attended by visiting priests. Churches in Tuscumbia and St Florian served the Shoals at large. The original wooden church and its school were the center of the surrounding Catholic Hill neighborhood for seventy-five years. A brick church replaced the wooden building in 1974. When St. Joseph Church and School was founded, it mainly served the working-class areas of East Florence. At the time, it became the chief religious and educational center for area Catholics.
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 In the College Place Historic District, there are two of these markers: one at Lelia Ave & Willingham Road, and the other at the end of Willingham Road and North Sherrod Avenue. |
| The land on which this district rests was part of the 1818 sale by the Cypress Land Company, which established the City of Florence. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers constructed breastworks here to defend Florence. House construction began in 1907, and thirty-three were built before 1929. This lovely neighborhood contains fine examples of Prairie Missio, and English Tudor architectur,e but the Bungalow style dominates. A tour of the district reveals the excellent condition of the homes, the tree-lined streets, and the comfortable life available here. The neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. |
 Florence's Early Water Tower 1890 |
| Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this tower of native stone was completed in 1890 as the foundation for a wrought-iron tank with a capacity of 280,000 gallons of water. It is 70 feet high and sits at the city's highest elevation. Water was pumped from Cypress Creek here. It was constructed during the Industrial Boom, when Florence's population increased from approximately 2,000 in 1887 to over 6,000 in 1889. It was replaced by the adjoining standpipe in 1935. |
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| Florence's Early Water Tower, 189,0, no longer in use, located on Seymore Avenue. |
 Ante-Bellum Cotton Mills 1840 is located at the intersection of Appleby Blvd and Cypress Mill Road.d |
| About one mile west of here is the site of the Globe Cotton Factory, which was erected on Cypress Creek in 1840. By 1857, its operations included three cotton mills, a flour mill, and two corn mills, all powered by three dams. By 1860, the factory employed 310 people, including many women and children, at an average weekly salary of $2.50. These mills were burned by the Union Army in May 1863. One factory, Cypress Mill, was rebuilt after the war, but its operations were never successful. |
 Lone Cedar Church of Christ 1898 |
| Christians first met here in a log building, which also served as a schoolhouse. In 1909, a frame building was constructed. Because of a single cedar tree in prominent view, it was given the name Lone Cedar by Wilbert M (Will) Behel, an early dedicated gospel preacher. In 193,8, a more modern stone building was completed by these diligent Christians. A larger auditorium was added in 1977. This early Christian meeting place soon became a landmark and a vital part of the Greenhill Community. |
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| Lone Cedar Church of Christ 1898 The front has a new addition located on the Old Jackson Highway. |
We stopped at 1350 North Pine Street to get a couple of barbecue sandwiches for lunch at Dick Howell Barbecue Pit.
