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Farming For A Better Future, page 51
received support from the community in return. Trenholm High School served as a center for the community until 1969 when desegregation plans closed the school's doors and students and faculty were moved to Deshler High School on the north side of Tuscumbia. Trenholm High School was subsequently torn down, but the school has an active alumni association which erected a historical marker and a plaque listing all the former principals at the site where the school once stood. A walkway around the markers bears inscriptions of memorials, commemorations of alumni, and school activities. Reunions are usually held on Labor Day weekend. 381 Tuscumbia According to census records, the area around Tuscumbia still had some agricultural land from 1900 to 1920 before becoming almost entirely urban. The total number of households in the rural area around Tuscumbia held about the same as the population grew but agricultural land was taken up by urban development. As the total households of rural Tuscumbia was between 514 and 444, the percentage of African American households in the area amounted to 37% in 1900, 39% in 1910, and 51% in 1920. Despite constituting half of the households in Tuscumbia in 1920, only one in five African American households owned a farm. That year the majority of African American households lived on the east side of the Tuscumbia and Russellville Pike, closer to the Muscle Shoals area that was still developing. In 1900, there were 25 African American-owned farms, although few families had more than one member who owned a farm. The exception was the Byrd family who owned three farms and the Ragland family who owned two farms. By 1910, there were 29 farms owned by African American farmers. The Byrd, Ragland, and Ricks families owned two farms (Below) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Tuscumbia, Tuscumbia, Alabama Quadrangle Aerial Photograph of Southeast Tuscumbia in 1949 (University of Alabama, Historical Map Collection, Online) (Top Right) 1952 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Tuscumbia, Tuscumbia, Alabama Quadrangle (Bottom Right) 1971 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Tuscumbia, Tuscumbia, Alabama Quadrangle 51 - COLBERT - (4579)