Tuscumbia Historic Sites Survey

Swope, Caroline

"This project was initiated by the City of Tuscumbia through their application for a CLG grant from the Alabama Historical Commission. The city wanted to update the existing 1985 National Register nomination and sought funding to complete a reconnaissance level survey to evaluate current conditions and to explore possibly expanding the district. Kingstree Studio was selected as the consultant for the project and placed under contract in February 2019. ...This project documented 642 buildings within Tuscumbia, 4 of which are previously listed in National Register or as a National Historic Landmark. The final results for this survey (which reviewed 638 buildings for status) had 440 of these buildings (69%) listed as contributing, 234 as non-contributing. ...There has been significant erosion of eligible structures on the west side of the district. The integrity of the west edge should be examined with the possibility of condensing the district on that side. Hook Street at a minimum, and possibly Indian Street should be reviewed as new district boundaries on this side. The original reasoning to cross the district over East Commons South solely to pick up two houses is unknown. The district should be bounded by the west side of East Commons, unless there is interest in including the Modernist Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church within the district. The east end should be brought in line with the west side of East Commons. The north boundary of the district is North Commons, but there are few contributing resources there (and Ivy Green stands on its own and will not contribute to a district). The boundary could be adjusted to Almon Avenue, or it could run down the center of North Commons Street West, thus including the remaining vacant common ground in the district. This is the only portion of the municipal common area that is visible to the casual observer, and should be treated as a character defining aspect of the district. On the south boundary 8th could be removed on the east end, and 7th and possibly 6th on the west. An effort should be made to consider adding the abandoned school off 7th, and the spectacular mid-century modern Police/Fire department on Dickson, as well as the current Tuscumbia Utilities building. All of these large structures have significant architectural merit, and the vacant school would likely benefit from historic status, which would allow use of both state and federal historic tax credits for future development." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Alabama Historical Commission administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P18AF00005).

Tuscumbia Historic Sites Survey

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