Downtown Florence Historic District
About this property
The Florence Downtown Historic District is a historic district in Florence, Alabama. Florence was founded in 1818 by the Cypress Land Company, who counted among its trustees Creek War General John Coffee, future Governor of Alabama Thomas Bibb, early Huntsville settler LeRoy Pope, and future United States Senator and Supreme Court Justice John McKinley. The company hired Italian surveyor Ferdinand Sannoner, who divided the land into over 400 lots and named the town after Florence, Italy. The first Lauderdale County Courthouse was completed in 1822, and the oldest extant building in the district, the Gothic Revival First Presbyterian Church, was completed two years later. Most of the early buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1866. Development resumed in earnest in the 1880s as Florence's industrial economy developed with the addition of several cotton mills, and the Florence Wagon Works, among others. Other booms occurred in the 1920s with the construction of Wilson Dam, the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s, and during World War II as metals and chemical plants were drawn to the area. The majority of buildings in the district are either one- or two-story brick commercial blocks, the older buildings having Italianate and Classical Revival detailing. Notable buildings in the district include the Art Deco Rogers Department Store, the Italianate Southall Drugs, the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse built in 1913, and the Art Moderne old Public Library, built in 1944. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 and was extensively expanded in 2001.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Downtown Florence Historic District
This page lists Downtown Florence Historic District. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
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Questions about this property
When was Downtown Florence Historic District listed on the National Register?
Downtown Florence Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1995.
What type of historic resource is Downtown Florence Historic District?
Downtown Florence Historic District is classified as a district in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Downtown Florence Historic District?
The period of significance for Downtown Florence Historic District is recorded as the listed era.
Can I research the history near Downtown Florence Historic District?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Downtown Florence Historic District will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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An Aubrey US report for an address near Downtown Florence Historic District will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.