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Farming For A Better Future, page 356
Considering the relatively high number of farms owned by people of color in Meridianville, each census records numerous families that owned several farms. There was often at least two farms owned by members of the same family. In 1900, the Douglass family owned at least seven farms in the area. They continued to have a significant presence in Meridianville through at least the 1920s. The Connelly family owned four farms in 1910 and 1920. Also, in 1920, the Robinsons, Battles, and Stewarts all owned four farms each. The Robinson family was joined by the Briggs and Popes in owning four farms in 1930 and by 1940, the Battles had five farms and the Stewarts owned six farms altogether. One of the most prominent couple of color who purchased their own land, farmed, built a church, and were pillars of the community were David and Lucy Crutcher. They are enumerated among the farmers in Meridianville.
(Above) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map, Meridianville, Alabama Quadrangle
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Meridianville Bottom School
Located on Meridianville Bottom Road, the school is one of the only African American schools that still stands. It is a one-room schoolhouse that dates to at least 1920. Madison County land records show that the school was located on land owned by Lula Jones and her heirs from at least 1920-1959. The school is not on the land records in 1960 and was not included on the 1964 topographic maps of the area.
The identity of Lula Jones could not be verified using the census records. There are several women by that name, both women of color and white women, though none of them lived in Meridianville. A good indication that Ms. Jones was a woman of color is the lack of the honorific of “Mrs.” or “Ms.” in front of her name in the land records. It was often the case that only white women were afforded this measure of respect, such as “Mrs. Bertha Abraham,” who owned the parcel adjacent to the school..
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Morris Chapel School*
The Morris Chapel School for Colored Children was located on Weatherly Road east of Redstone Arsenal. According to local historian William Hampton, the building was built in the late 1800s and was used as a school, church, and masonic lodge, like many of the rural churches in communities of color in Madison County. The building was razed by the Huntsville Fire Department in 2004.
(Above) Photograph of the Meridianville Bottom School House that Still Stands as of 2017 (Huntsville Revisited Facebook Page) (Below) Meridianville Bottom School on Madison County Land Records, 1920-1932 (Index of Land Records, Madison County, Alabama) (Opposite) Meridianville Bottom School on Madison County Land Records, 1933-1944 (Index of Land Records, Madison County, Alabama)
* Indicates a Historical, Non-Extant Resource - (4884)