A Visit to Florence, Alabama

Whether you call it the Heart of the Shoals, the Renaissance City, the Bible Belt, or Flotown, about forty thousand people call it home. Florence, Alabama is located at the foot of Muscle Shoals on a hill overlooking the Tennessee River. Life is simply beautiful in Florence, from the beautiful University of North Alabama campus to the historic downtown area to the view of the Tennessee River. Florence is one of the oldest cities in Alabama being established in the early 18th century. But how did this historic city begin and grow into what it is today?

The land of Florence, Alabama used to belong to the Chickasaw Indians. The Cypress Land Company purchased the land in 1818. John Coffee, Andrew Jackson’s best friend, hired Italian engineer Ferdinand Sannoner to survey the land. Coffee was so impressed by his work, that he let Sannoner name the land. He named the land Florence, after his hometown in Florence, Italy. The Cypress Land Company was hoping that Florence would become a major commercial town because of its location up on a hill looking over the Tennessee River but the town never lived up to the company’s expectations. The city was officially established on March 12, 1826. People were attracted to Florence because they believed that the elevation above the Tennessee River protected them against some diseases that went around in the valley. Others came to Florence to be educated at LaGrange College (“Brief History of Florence, Alabama”).

LaGrange College was established on January 11, 1830 in Leighton, Alabama. It was the first state-chartered college in Alabama. LaGrange College opened with seventy male students and three faculty members. In 1855, The Session of Alabama and Memphis Annual Conference voted to move LaGrang...

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...vern, the Trail of Tears at Tom’s Wall; a wall built in memory of Tom Hendricks grandmother, a Yuchi indian, or the only coon dog cemetery in the country. Florence has approximately one hundred forty churches, eleven schools, ten thousand families and over forty thousand people. Florence has grown so much threw the years and continues to grow everyday.

Works Cited

"A Brief History of Florence, Alabama." Historic Downtown Florence. Ed. Clyde R. Beaver. The City of Florence Mainstreet, 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2014

"Historical Markers Around the City of Florence." Alabama's Renaissance City. City of Florence, 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

Lindley, Alex. "University of North Alabama (UNA)." Encyclopedia of Alabama. University of North Alabama, 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

"Pope's Tavern Museum." ci.florence.al.us. City of Florence, Alabama, 2008. Web. 15 May 2014.