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Farming For A Better Future, page 358
added in 1930. With this addition, the total cost came to $2,725. For most of the early 20th century, the land provided for the Mt. Carmel School was owned by a white man named Kirby Cartwright. However, land records show that George W. White, an African American farmer from Tallapoosa, owned 180 acres around the school from 1920-1923. In 1924, Cartwright resumed ownership of the land. The school is not noted on the land records until 1933, possibly coming to the attention of the land surveyors after the expansion of the schoolhouse. Therefore, the identity of whomever donated the land is still unclear. The land might have been part of the Flint River Place, also known as the Ryland Plantation. In 1850, much of the land in the area was owned by Samuel O. Nuckles. Nuckles “was among the wealthiest planters in the area before the Civil War, having assets of $90,000.” In both the 1850 and 1860 censuses, Nuckles owned more than 30 slaves. In 1957, the schools of the area were consolidated into the nearby town of Brownsboro. Afterwards, the Antioch Primitive Baptist Church took over the building. While there is no photograph of the Mt. Carmel School in the Fisk Rosenwald database, the building still stands today. 1-7 ■ Mt. Lebanon School (Rosenwald)* The Mt. Lebanon School was one of nine Rosenwald schools in Madison County. It was one of the more expensive to build, costing $3,050. The two-teacher schoolhouse was made possible by the donations of $1,500 from the African American community, $950 of public funds, and another $600 from the Rosenwald Fund. Mt. Lebanon School was approved for the 1923-1924 budget year. At that time, the land was owned either by Emanuel Hereford, an African American landowner and farmer who passed away in 1926 and left the property to his son, Dorman, or by the adjacent (Above) Mt. Lebanon School in 1968 (Huntsville Revisited Facebook Page) property owner, John W. Garner, who was also an African American farmer. 481 Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church Located in the community of Toney off Dan Crutcher Road, the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1892 in neighboring Limestone Country, Alabama at a location known as “Frog Hollow.” Although there are many hollows in northwest Limestone County and into neighboring Tennessee, no place named “Frog Hollow” could be located on a map. The first appearance of the church in the Madison County land books is as a one-acre section on the land owned by Willie Gardener, Sr. from 1920- (Above) Mt. Zion Church on Madison County Land Records, 1933-1944 (Index of Land Records, Madison County, Alabama) 1938. The north half of that land was deeded to Willie Gardener, Jr. from at least 1939-1944. The congregation of Mt. Zion still meets at the original location, although not in the original church building. 491 Mullins Flat* The Mullins Flat community was in south Madison County on the land that is now Redstone Arsenal. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Mullins Flat was predominately a community of people of color. Selfsufficient and with strong ties to the land that date before the Civil War and before Alabama was a state, the community had everything a family would need. Mullins Flat included the Silver Hill School, Center Grove Church, a blacksmith shop, Bates gin, a mason lodge, and a general store. Many of the families owned their land that their ancestors settled in the 1820s and 1830s. Adolphus (Darphus) and Moses Love were brothers who owned over 300 acres and Indicates a Historical, Non-Extant Resource - (4886)