The Shelby Hotel was first constructed in 1863 in Shelby County, Alabama in a thriving industrial center. "Horace Ware had built at his furnace at Shelby a large rolling mill with a capacity of twelve tons of heavy and small-sized finished bar iron. This was the first and parent rolling mill plant for Alabama...the beginning of an era in her history as an iron manufacturing state." (excerpt from Ethel Armes Book)
The old wavy glass windows...
The mill became a major supplier of Confederate iron. It was destroyed in 1865 by the Union troops of General Emory Upton's Division of Wilson's Cavalry Corps.
The hotel was totally destroyed by fire in 1898 and rebuilt in 1900.
In an advertisement for the Shelby Hotel in 1915 it stated "everything new electric lighted with hot and cold baths, and running water in every room!
It has been reported that President Theodore Roosevelt spent the night at the hotel. ("Wonder which room?" my friend asks)
"The food was fine!" reported a Mr. B. Runnel, "with at least eight passenger trains making a stop."
Oh yes, if these walls could talk...the stories they could tell...who else spent the night here, who danced the night away, who still walks these halls late at night?!! Ummmmm, something to think about!
The area is being renovated and I applaud those involved in the historic reconstruction, reclaiming reminders of our past!
Have a Blessed Day!! And see ya down the junkin' road!!
Jan
(Do you have historic buildings in your area too? Leave a comment!)
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