Montgomery Avenue and beyond: Tracking down Sheffield’s finest historic streetscapes

Anticipate finding an abundance of charm in this Alabama city’s historic districts. The Sheffield Downtown Commercial Historic District will delight historic-places enthusiasts. But, it’s the Victorian streetscapes found in the expansive Sheffield Residential Historic District — that make the downtown a requisite Shoals-area point of interest.

At the onset of Sheffield’s early days, the 1880s civil-engineer-designed grid layout called for the main thoroughfare of the town to be much wider than other avenues. Today, you can’t go wrong if your sidewalk or bicycle tour begins and ends there. One hundred feet wide from sidewalk to sidewalk, and featuring bike lanes, N. Montgomery Avenue is the boulevard of choice for finding the city’s best historic streetscapes.

Gothic houses of worship, big hardwoods and an impressive variety of Victorians provide beautiful streetscapes along N. Montgomery Avenue

Above, the c. 1890 Gregory House and c. 1903 Grace Episcopal Church. The church appears on today’s online maps as the Old Grace event venue.

Montgomery Avenue runs directly north and south with the commercial area at the bottom and the river bluff at the top. Whether you explore it by sidewalk, bike lane or in your SUV, you’ll find its fine residential streetscapes coming into view as you approach the Neo-Classical-style city hall at 600 N. Montgomery Avenue. Keep going and you’ll discover that the span from the 700 block to 1300 block is the heart and soul of the Sheffield Residential Historic District.

Above, from top left: The c. 1926 city hall, the c. 1891 J.B Lagomarsino House which is across the street from city hall, the c. 1915 First United Methodist Church and another look at the c. 1903 church.

Standing where the 700 block begins, the High-Victorian Gothic c. 1915 First United Methodist Church and the Gothic-Revival c. 1903 church greet you as you enter the residential portion of N. Montgomery Avenue.

Above, the 700 block also contains the lovely Blair House, a c. 1892 Queen Anne Victorian.

Next, the 800 block contains a mixture of wood and brick 1920s bungalows and some unique Victorians, an unusually plain 1905 Victorian and a 1889 brick Victorian that appears to have been heavily remodeled. At 809 and 811 N. Montgomery, you’ll see matching c. 1905 Queen Anne Victorians that appear to have stone-veneer siding:

Continue on to the 900 block and you’ll discover three more Victorians and a big brick c. 1916 Craftsman. The colorful c. 1887 Thomas R. Roulhac House, at 903 N. Montgomery, sits at the corner of Montgomery and 9th:

A few yards to the north, more lovely streetscapes await you at 904 and 910 N. Montgomery:

Pictured are two late Victorian Queen Annes, the red c. 1905 house and the distinguished c. 1890 Chambers-Robinson House. The latter was individually listed with the National Register in 1993, and it’s listed as the Samuel Cooke House with the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage.

The 1000 block features the Robert Mullen Park on the left and only two houses which were built in the mid- to late-20th century on the right. The park and its wooded acreage continues on the left side of N. Montgomery through the 1200 block. On the 1100 block, another Victorian is found at 1100 N. Montgomery — the tall c. 1905 Dr. R. J. Thurmond House — followed by four 1925 bungalows. The 1200 block contains Veterans Memorial Park, an extra-large brick 1916 Craftsman, a 1920 bungalow and a stunning c. 1905 Victorian located at the corner of N. Montgomery and 13th. The 2.5-story Victorian has a three-story, window-filled tower:

Now nearing the river bluff, you’ll see some of the district’s best streetscapes on the 1300 block, home of the c. 1905 Colonial-Revival brick house and the c. 1886 Queen Anne Victorian Habbeler House:

The right side of the street also contains a 1946 Colonial Revival house. On the left side of the street, a pair of 1940s Neo-Classical Revival houses can be tough to view due to the lush vegetation:

If you make it this far, you have reached the upper end of N. Montgomery where the Sheffield Standpipe and Overlook are found:

The 80,000-gallon water tank and its accompanying waterline on Montgomery Avenue were constructed in 1888 to provide for the needs of the boom days that were taking place at the time.

Beyond N. Montgomery Avenue

Other nice streetscapes are found throughout the Sheffield Residential Historic District, but few rival the sidewalk scenes along N. Montgomery. At the standpipe, you can continue on Gordon Avenue where three large 1920s houses are found. If time allows, head for the 700 block of Nashville Avenue and the 600 and 1200 blocks of Columbia Avenue. This c. 1905 2.5-story Victorian is found at the corner of 7th and Raleigh, just a block from N. Montgomery:

“Grand and resplendent,” the c. 1890 Chambers-Nathan House, below, is among north Alabama’s most-dashing Victorians:

Only a lovely green space separates the house found at 109 Park Blvd., from the 1000 block of N. Montgomery Avenue. W.L. Chambers, the president of the Sheffield Land, Iron & Coal Company, began constructing it at a time when Sheffield’s status as an economic powerhouse seemed certain. According to the Sheffield Residential Historic District 2002 National Register application, “The grand and resplendent ... home ... is as fine a Victorian as there is in the state.”

The c. 1892 Alabama Avenue School, or Sheffield Public School, on 6th Street is three blocks from N. Montgomery Avenue:

Now home to Sheffield Board of Education offices, the 132-year-old school building features Richardsonian Romanesque architectural styling, according to sources.

You’ll want to take in this cluster of sights around corner of 7th and Nashville:

Pictured are some streetscapes around the area behind the city hall. From top left: The porch of the c. 1925 house at the corner of 7th and Nashville, the c. 1905 Victorian across the street, the c. 1887 Methodist Church which is now a residence, and another c. 1905 Victorian located directly behind city hall.

Proof of multiple economic booms found in the Sheffield Downtown Commercial Historic District

A variety of handsome streetscapes is also found in the Sheffield Downtown Commercial Historic District. The residential district with all those Victorian beauties is just to the north, and N. Montgomery Avenue is also the main street of the old commercial part of the downtown. There’s more three-story buildings than is typical for a small, old downtown.

Listed with the National Register in 2010, the district contains only a pair of structures left over from the town’s first boom days which took place in the 1880s like in most Southern small cities. One other structure remains from the mid-1890s. A second boom took place after Southern Railway decided to locate its headquarters in Sheffield, as evidenced by 25 the still-standing commercial buildings that were built between 1903 and 1910. The First Presbyterian Church was built in 1911. Six remaining commercial buildings were constructed between 1915-1916.

On the heels of the railroad-related growth, a third boom started around 1917, when two nitrate plants were built in Sheffield to support World War I efforts, and the Wilson Dam was built on the Tennessee River to provide power to the plants. When the war ended soon thereafter, Henry Ford tried to buy the nitrate plants and the dam. Many believe that if Ford had got his way, Sheffield would have been the largest city in the South, and the Shoals area would have been a hotbed of auto-manufacturing activity. Remaining buildings from that era include six from 1919 to 1922. Additionally, seven other roaring-’20s commercial buildings — built between 1927 and 1930 — still stand.

Credit the post-depression federal New Deal creation of the TVA for Sheffield’s fourth boom. As it was throughout the U. S., the prosperity lasted well into the post-World War II period. Downtown buildings include 16 built between 1940 and 1950. Seven were built between 1952 and 1956, and six were built in the 1960s.

Pictured, from top left: The c. 1908 Sheffield Hardware building, two snapshots of the c. 1888 Blake Building, and a scene looking south from in front of the c. 1888 Montgomery Block.

Pictured, from top left: Looking south from the intersection of Montgomery and 4th, a c. 1903 building on the 300 block, 1910s-1920s buildings on the 200 block, under the big awning shown in previous picture, c. 1903 building on the 100 block, and two c. 1908 buildings on the 200 block.

Above, the aluminum 1950s-era singer by metalwork artist Audwin McGee located at the fork of Alabama Avenue and Montgomery Avenue. Unveiled in 2012, it’s one of two sculptures in the Shoals area that pay tribute to the legacy of Muscle Shoals music.

Shown above are some of the interesting structures that are not on Montgomery Avenue. From top left: the c. 1922 Chamber of Commerce Building on Alabama Avenue, the c. 1905 Fire Department on Raleigh Avenue, the c. 1911 Presbyterian Church on East 5th Street, and the 100 block of 3rd Street West.

Sheffield is one of northwest Alabama’s most outstanding small cities for historic-places enthusiasts. The unexpected number of nicely restored and preserved Victorian houses from the 1890s to 1910s era and the unique collection of historic commercial buildings from the days when many speculated that the city was poised for a large amount of growth invites you to imagine horse-and-buggy days, or when a street car system connected Tuscumbia, Sheffield and Florence.

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