Aldrich, Alabama

Aldrich, Alabama
Unincorporated community
Aldrich, Alabama
Coordinates: 33°06′27″N 86°53′28″W / 33.10750°N 86.89111°WCoordinates: 33°06′27″N 86°53′28″W / 33.10750°N 86.89111°W
Country	United States
State	Alabama
County	Shelby
Elevation	456 ft (139 m)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s)	205
GNIS feature ID	112976[1]

Aldrich is an unincorporated community in Shelby County, Alabama, United States, that is now part of Montevallo.^[1][2]

History

Coal was mined in the area around Aldrich beginning in 1839.^[3] In 1875, Truman H. Aldrich purchased the town surrounding the mines and named it Aldrich. He leased the mining operations to his younger brother, William F. Aldrich. Convict labor was employed at some time during the operation of Aldrich's coal mines, and is mentioned in Douglas Blackmon's Slavery By Another Name.^[4] A prison was built to house the convicts, and the convict cemetery is located near where the prison once stood.^[3] The community was once home to churches, a school, and houses that were all built by the operators of the mines.^[5] A post office was established in 1883, with William Aldrich as the first postmaster, and was in use until it was closed in 1965.^[6] From 1895 to 1902, Aldrich had a locally published newspaper, The Alabama time-piece.^[7] The mines were closed on July 5, 1942.^[3] Today, Aldrich is home to the Aldrich Coal Mine Museum.^[8]

Gallery

• 

  Farrington Hall

• 

  Aldrich Commissary

• 

  Artifact collection located in commissary

• 

  Superintendent's House (colorized from original photograph)

References

1. "Aldrich". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
2. Shelby County Highway Functional Classification System (PDF) (Map). Alabama Department of Transportation. 2004.
3. "Society: Work, Coal, Henry Emfinger". Northbysouth.kenyon.edu. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
4. Douglas A. Blackmon (6 January 2009). Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-0-307-47247-2.
5. "Mining". Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
6. "Shelby County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
7. "About The Alabama time-piece. (Aldrich, Ala.) 1895-19?? « Chronicling America « Library of Congress". Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
8. "Aldrich Coal Mine Museum, Inc. 1928 Company Store - Montevallo". Alabama.travel. Retrieved 2014-06-02.