Anniston, Alabama's 'Purification By Fire:' Six police officers killed over eight months, and a trial that led to a hanging
Violence has always been an enemy of law enforcers in Anniston, Alabama, but in 1914-15 that truth reached new heights. Over an eight-month span, six Anniston Police Department officers were shot and killed in a spasm of violence directly related to bootlegging and illegal saloons in the city. Twice Anniston had two police officers shot and killed on the same day. One of its police chiefs was murdered by a bootlegger. And one of the subsequent trials produced a swift verdict and a delayed execution that Annistonians watched against the sheriff's wishes.
28 Jul 2020
Remember when the Army practiced biological warfare on Anniston, Alabama?
In 1952, the Army disregarded the advice of a top officer and decided to hold open-air biological warfare tests at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama. In those tests the Army used two different bacterial agents that seem to have led to elevated rates of pneumonia cases among Anniston residents that winter. The bacterial agents were delivered in gaseous plumes and bacterial-filled bombs. But no one in the general public knew about it -- until a reporter for The Anniston Star newspaper used the Freedom of Information Act in 1981 to get declassified documents and publish these astonishing details.
8 Jul 2020
Prostitutes, whiskey and stolen cows: The early vice in Anniston, Alabama
Sam Noble and Daniel Tyler, the founders of Anniston, Alabama, wanted to create a utopian factory city in the postwar New South that not only made them money but kept vice from creeping onto its streets. But they failed. As soon as the city was opened to the public in 1883, Anniston became known for its rampant whiskey reputation, and arrests of prostitutes and their clients at "bawdy houses" were common. So much for their Model City being free from vice.
17 Jun 2020
Why is the largest road in Anniston, Alabama, named after a Confederate Army chaplain?
When the founding families of Anniston, Alabama, laid out the city's street grid, they named its largest road after C.T. Quintard, an Episcopal priest who served as a Confederate Army chaplain during the Civil War. But why? Quintard had no true connection to Alabama or Calhoun County -- other than, of course, his close relationship with a very important person in Anniston's past.
1 Jun 2020
Camp/Fort McClellan: Why was Anniston, Alabama's Army post named after a Union general?
If Anniston's politicians and newspaper had their way, the Army post created in 1917 during World War I wouldn't have been named after Union Gen. George B. McClellan of the Civil War. McClellan was a Philadelphian who graduated from West Point and had no connection to Alabama -- plus, he was a Yankee! And a New Jersey governor! And a failed presidential candidate! In this week's episode, Annie's Town takes a look at what names Annistonians preferred for their new Army post and the disappointment they felt when Little Mac was the Army's choice.
15 May 2020
The Anniston Tragedy: An Alabama newspaper editor, an offended reader and 3 men shot in the newsroom
In 1888, William Edmonds, editor of The Hot Blast newspaper in Anniston, Alabama, began a scorched-earth editorial crusade against vice and bootlegging in the city. He didn't make friends with the police (who were corrupt) and the bootleggers (who didn't want their revenue curtailed by a journalist). That October, two men confronted Edmonds in his office and shot him and two other men, which led to arrests and a lengthy list of occurrences that didn't end until the 1890s out in Los Angeles. It remains one of the craziest stories about the city's many years of vigorous newspapering.
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6 May 2020
The day the Freedom Riders came to Anniston, Alabama
The story of Anniston’s role in the Freedom Riders civil rights story is well known. But while racial violence was taking place in the city on Mother’s Day 1961, many Annistonians were oblivious and attended church, played golf and visited with their families.
29 Apr 2020
Anniston, Alabama’s first 24 laws - drunks, dead animals, guns and prostitutes
The founders of Anniston, Alabama, installed the city’s first 24 ordinances in 1877 and designed them to shape behaviors, uphold morals and keep rotting animals from fouling downtown. (Seriously.)
17 Apr 2020
Annie Scott Tyler — the namesake of Anniston, Alabama
Historians don’t know much about Annie Scott Tyler, who gave her name to the city of Anniston, Alabama. But we can learn snippets about her life by examining her background, her fascinating Confederate father and her social circle.
10 Apr 2020
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An introduction to Annie’s Town, a new podcast about Anniston, Alabama, a quirky and frustrating Deep South city and its historical cast of characters and catalog of stories.
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