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Farming For A Better Future, page 214
151
Landersville
“ Kimo Community was where I was born. Kimo was located about 3 miles from Moulton on the old Hillsboro Road. Once a post office and a one room school was located there. The school was located across the road from where my brother Larry Montgomery now lives. Mr. Bob Byars gave me this envelope which was post marked 21 May 1909 from Kimo.”
- Hilda Montgomery Terry
(Upper Left) School Census Card for the Preuitt Family with Children at Kimo School, 1936 (Left) Letter with Postmark from Kimo, Dated May 21, 1909 (Lawrence County Archives, Moulton, Alabama) northeast. On the map, the community of Kimo is not labeled; the school is the only thing indicating its presence. The school was one of about 20 rural schools for African American children in the early 20th century. It is included in the school census records for 1930 and on topographic maps in 1936 and 1951.
The community of Kimo was prominent enough to have its own post office. A letter stamped with the old Kimo postal name is on display at the Lawrence County Archives. It is postmarked May 21, 1909, Kimo, Ala. A small plaque reads: “Kimo: Given to the Lawrence County Archives Dec. 2010 by Hilda Terry.”
The majority of the community of Landersville is enumerated in the census district of Moulton in the early 20th century. The Moulton district is split into east and west; Landersville is in the western part of Moulton. While west Moulton has historically contained a smaller community of color than east Moulton, there are still a significant number of Africa American households and community landmarks. Also, some members of the community may have been captured in the adjacent Hatton and Mt. Hope districts.
Assuming the majority of the African American community of Landersville is in west Moulton, from 1900 to 1940, the community was relatively small and had few landowners. In 1900, west Moulton had 324 households, but only 27 (8%) of them were African American. The only landowning farmers were Andy Burgess, William Warren, Walter Shatton, and Eli Portis. West Moulton experienced more growth between 1900 and 1910 than the rest of the area. In that year there were 425 households, 41 (10%) of which were African American with eight landowners. Andy Burgess was the only farmer to own in 1900 and 1910. Other families such as the Hurt, Porter, Stephenson, Cooper, and McCord joined as landowners. The number of households and landowners slightly increased and then slightly declined from 1920 to 1930 with 11 and 9 landowners, respectively. Long-term landowners included Andy Burgress, who owned his farm from at least 1900 to 1920; Samuel D. Cooper, who owned from 1910 to 1920; and Alvin McCord, who owned from at least 1910 to 1930. By 1940, however, there was only one landowning farmer in west Moulton - Jim Taylor, who had owned a farm for at least a decade. - (4742)