Chase Depot and North Alabama Railroad Museum

The Chase Depot building, built in 1937 to replace the 1908 building

Once again, a memory of an event that seems so recent is proven to be much longer ago by the age of my children. It turns out the last time we visited the North Alabama Railroad Museum was over twenty years ago! Along with two of my nephews, who now have families of their own, we explored the museum and went on a train ride. We got to pull the whistle in the diesel locomotive and explore the baggage and dining cars during the ride. When I visited again recently I found I really didn’t remember that much about the place and, of course, there have been some changes.

Exploring locomotive 484 in 1999. It was built by ALCo for the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad in 1949. It was also used by the Reynolds Metals Company in Sheffield, Alabama. It is still operational and is in the colors and paint scheme of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway (with the museum's railroad name, Mercury & Chase).

The North Alabama Railroad Museum in 2020

The museum is an all-volunteer organization and is free to visit. (There is a charge for train excursions.) Volunteers are only on site at the museum two mornings per week, but you can visit “every day during normal daylight hours” and explore the outdoor exhibits on your own. Don’t be deterred if the big gates to the parking lot are closed. Park outside the gate and use the smaller pedestrian gate to enter. Information sheets are available in the waybill box on the side of the depot. You can visit the interior exhibits when volunteers are available and when train rides are offered. There is also a viewing platform where you can watch trains pass by on the Norfolk Southern mainline.

Locomotive 213 built by ALCo for Manufacturer's Railroad in 1941. It is operational.

The museum's collection includes a postal car, horse car, diners, sleepers, box cars, flat cars, coaches, baggage cars, a refrigerator car, and much more.



The Memphis & Charleston Railroad Company (M&C) built the first rail line through this spot in 1856. The line came from Memphis, through Decatur and Huntsville, and linked to the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad in Stevenson, Alabama. There was no depot here at that time. It was probably a water station stop but not a regular stop. (Huntsville, on the other hand, had a large depot by 1860 because it also served as the railroad’s eastern division headquarters). 

As a link in the only east-west railroad through the Confederacy, the M&C was strategically important during the Civil War. The Union captured its eastern headquarters at Huntsville early in the war. Their occupation of Huntsville spared the Huntsville Depot (now one of the oldest depots in the U.S.) and, although many depots and other railroad buildings were destroyed in other towns, the section of line from Decatur to Stevenson was “in excellent condition” at the close of the war. By November of 1865, M&C had the entire line passable again, except for the loss of the bridge over the Tennessee River at Decatur.

In 1887 a second railroad came through the area when the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis (NC&StL) extended its line south to Huntsville. The two lines came to within a few feet of each other at Chase (then called Fearns). 

The yellow dot is the location of Chase/Fearns. By 1892 the NC&StL reached the Tennessee River at Hobbs Island where the train was loaded onto a ferry for the ride to Guntersville (from there it continued by rail to Gadsden). (Photo of 1892 map from the Library of Congress: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3866p.rr005740)

In 1889, four brothers left Maine for Huntsville and started a successful nursery business on 600 acres of land in northwest Huntsville. In the early 1900s, the Chase brothers bought an additional 900 acres here, where the two railroads nearly met (and came to be known as Chase), in order to expand their shipping business through these north-south and east-west rail lines. By 1906 they had built a brick warehouse for packing and shipping their plants, and in 1908 they built a passenger depot which they leased to the railroads. Because the depot served two railroads, it was a “union” depot, the smallest in the U.S. They added the nursery office building in 1910. The depot was destroyed by fire in 1935, but the Chase family built the current depot on the same site in 1937.

The Chase Depot in 1915 (Photo from Internet Archive Book Images - page 7 of "Wholesale price list : fall and spring, 1915-1916" (1915), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34656754)

The former Chase Nursery office building, built in 1910, now a museum building. (The original ceramic tile roof had to be replaced.)

The former Chase Nursery warehouse is a partial ruin but the museum stores some equipment here.

Henry B. Chase (who became the president of the nursery company) also built a home across the road. He became a prominent Huntsvillian who served as the Mayor of Huntsville (1918-1920) and the first President of the Huntsville Historical Society. He died in 1961 at the age of 91. His nephew then ran the company. 

 Chase home, across the street from the Depot. It is now the Dogwood Manor Guesthouse.

Over the years, the railroads changed hands. The Memphis & Charleston became the Southern Railway in 1898 and then Norfolk Southern in 1982. Norfolk Southern still operates on this east-west line next to the museum. Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis became L&N in 1957, then Seaboard System Railroad in 1982, and the line from from Decherd TN to Chase was abandoned in 1985. The nursery went out of business in 1993. (Most of the nursery property now belongs to Alabama A&M University.) The Chase family had already converted the depot into a museum in 1966. With the demise of the north-south rail line, the North Alabama Railroad Museum moved to Chase and bought some of the track and right-of-way. The volunteers rebuilt 3 miles of missing track, so they are able to offer train rides of 10 miles round trip on their own Mercury & Chase Railroad.

A concrete Watchman's Hut, donated by Southern Railway. Huts were located at street railroad crossings and manned by crossing guards.

Sleeper car built in 1949 for the Southern Railway by Pullman-Standard

L&N passenger car

Motor car (maintenance car used by track inspectors) built by Fairmont for the U.S. Army in 1980

Baggage wagons in the museum's picnic pavilion

A loaded baggage wagon in front of the 1908 depot. (Photo from Huntsville Madison County Public Library Digital Archive)

Great Western diner car

Another view of the Chase Depot

Caboose built in 1947 for Southern Railway

Old Brick Kiln at Brickyard Landing Decatur

I saw a picture of this kiln posted on Glenn Wills “Forgotten Alabama” Facebook page (I love his books). I had to drive right over to check it out the same day. I had no idea this is “hiding” right behind the Ingalls Harbor Pavilion in Decatur. It is the only remaining kiln from the Alabama Brick & Tile Company, which formerly occupied this site (now occupied by the Brickyard Landing Marina). 

Patio at the Brickyard Landing Marina shop - The kiln is on the edge of the shop's parking lot

The Alabama Brick & Tile Company was established here, on the banks of the Tennessee River, in 1897. It operated many kilns; a sketch on a company-branded thermometer shows eight of them. 

Photo from Decatur Parks & Recreation

When the brick plant was razed, one kiln was left as a historical monument, although there is no sign posted. It is open and accessible to the public.

The beehive kilns were made of brick with domed roofs (similar to the beehive Coke Ovens at West Blocton Park).

The kiln dome

The brick making process began with a boat crew piloting a small tugboat and barge upstream to alluvial clay deposits along the riverbank. A 1964 TVA report lists the company’s clay pit as located at river mile 333.4 R, which puts it about where Aldridge Creek empties into the river at Ditto Landing in Huntsville. 

Bridge over Aldridge Creek where the creek joins the Tennessee River. Alabama Brick and Tile Company’s clay pit was in this area. (The bridge was built in 1925. It’s now closed.)

The boat crew consisted of just two employees: the boat pilot / machine operator and the deckhand / locomotive operator. A National Labor Relations Board Decision in 1948 described their duties as consisting of “running the barge in which the raw clay is transported to the plant, and operating the dragline, the locomotive and other machinery by means of which the clay is taken from the bank and loaded on the barge.” The daughter of a boat crew employee said they would be gone about four days at a time and sleep and cook on the boat. They returned with the clay to the company’s “major freight terminal,” which was established at the plant in 1938 with a dock, slip, crane, cable car, and electric hoist used to transfer the clay. At that time,  the president of the company was W. B. Neher. His son, Herbert Neher, was employed “in a general maintenance capacity, and the record indicates that he may be called on to perform some managerial functions.”

I haven’t been able to find many other details about the company or their brick making process. The bricks would have been shaped by molding or extruding, dried, and then stacked in the kiln.  Presumably, the carts currently in the kiln were used for moving the bricks in and out.

The two large openings in the kiln were for loading and unloading the bricks. 

Carts currently inside the kiln

The bricks were stacked in patterns (depending on the type of clay and type of brick surface), which allowed for the flow of the heated air from the top of the kiln, down through the perforated floor, into an underground flue, and out the chimney. The chimney was, apparently, torn down. 

Perforated floor of the kiln

The beehive downdraft kiln directs the hot air up the dome and down through the floor for even and efficient heating.

The heat was generated by burning coal in the ten fireboxes evenly spaced around the kiln. The fires would have been tended around the clock for 4 to 5 days. The company spent over $36,000 on Alabama-mined coal for one year of production in 1948. The walls of the kiln are several feet thick for insulation.

The thickness of the wall can be seen in the archway

Kiln temperatures, as well as the rate of heating and cooling, are crucial to brick making. In 1922, the “Brick and Clay Record” reported that Alabama Brick & Tile had recently installed pyrometer equipment as an aid in the burning operation. (Pyrometers measure very high temperatures.)

One of ten fireboxes on the kiln

More fireboxes on the kiln

The bricks were removed from the kiln after cooling. One employee’s work consisted of “pitching brick from the kiln to the wheelers, directing the wheelers to the proper part of the kiln to pick up their loads, keeping count of the loads of brick and checking the time of the wheelers.” He was paid at piece rates, and his piece rates were higher than those of the wheelers. 

Some of the brick sold was shipped by the adjacent railroad; some was hauled by trucks owned by the brother of the company’s president; and a small quantity was picked up by the customers at the plant.

This building, near the kiln, looks like it may have been part of the brick plant (and/or built with their bricks)

Brickyard Landing waterfront condos near the kiln

A second condominium complex, Lighthouse Landing, was proposed to be built next to the Brickyard Landing condos back in 2007, and the developer said he would register the kiln with the National Register of Historic Places. As far as I can tell, his development deal fell through (there is a Home2 Suites by Hilton on the site now) and the kiln has not been added to the register. The Decatur Parks and Recreation Department has included the kiln in their recent “Where Am I?” online scavenger hunt.

Another beautiful view from Brickyard Landing

Embracing Huntsville's Space Age Courthouse

Portion of mural by Marvin H. Thomas, 1971, located in the Madison County Courthouse lobby

When I moved to Huntsville in the early 1990s I immediately fell in love with the historic architecture. I grew up in a city where most buildings were from the 1960's and the lone building over the advanced age of 75 was a museum). Downtown Huntsville amazed me with its three historic districts encompassing homes from 1814-1955 with a smorgasbord of architectural styles including Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Victorian, Craftsman Bungalow, and many more. 

The commercial buildings of downtown are just as impressive and range from the 1835 Greek Revival style First National Bank to Italianate, Art Deco, and early 20th century Commercial Style buildings.

In the midst of all this traditional architecture, at the center of the downtown square, the International Style Madison County Courthouse stands in stark contrast, but it would have fit in just fine in many other locations around the world (and right across town at the Marshall Space Flight Center). By the 1990s, however, the International style (and its contemporary, Midcentury Modern) was aging and seemed boring. It had become so ubiquitous that architect James Nagle told an audience in Chicago, “You got off an airplane in the 1970s, and you didn't know where you were.” I became one of the many Huntsvillians who thought the courthouse was an eyesore amid the beauty of the older architecture, and I too was appalled to learn of the beautiful courthouse that had been torn down to build it.

1960s-era postcard "Madison County Courthouse, Huntsville, Alabama, 'Space City, USA.' The new multi-million dollar building gives the county government more room to serve the people of Madison County."

However, replacing the courthouse was nothing new at the time. The current building is the fourth courthouse to occupy the square. The first was built in 1811 (with the second story completed in 1818), and was topped by a cupola, weathervane, and gilded eagle. The first governor of Alabama was inaugurated in that building. In 1837 it was sold at auction and removed. 

The second courthouse was completed in 1840. It was generally considered to be quite beautiful, and a herd of pet deer lived on the lawn. A four-faced clock tower and bell were added to the dome in 1849. Surprisingly, after a failed attempt at remodeling the decaying building in 1913, its columns were found to be hollow and crumbling. They were not reused on the third courthouse, although the clock tower, bell and weathervane were installed on the new building.

Madison County’s second courthouse 1840-1913, by local architect George Steele (photo from the Historic American Buildings Survey Collection, Library of Congress)

The third courthouse was built in 1914. Solid stone columns were specified in the plans this time. They survived the razing of this building and are now at the Huntsville Botanical Garden. The weathervane is atop the old First National Bank building; the bell has recently been put on display outside the current courthouse; and five courtroom chairs are on display in the lobby. The location of the clock is unknown. 

Madison County's third courthouse (1914-1964), designed by C.K. Colley of Nashville

A few items from the razed courthouse can be found around Huntsville.

Huntsville's population grew in the decades of the 1940s-1960s with the establishment of military manufacturing plants, Redstone Arsenal, NASA and the Space Race. By 1961 plans were being made, once again, for a new courthouse. As before, there were those who wanted to retain the current building and find other solutions for the lack of space, but the majority wanted a new Space Age courthouse to represent the “Rocket City.” 

Madison County's fourth courthouse, 1966, designed by Jones, Crowe, Mann & Associates and Northington, Smith, Kranert & Associates 

The 11-story building was completed in 1966 in the then-popular International style which began in Germany in the 1920s and featured new construction techniques with glass, steel and concrete; the emphasis of volume over mass; a lack of applied ornamentation; and the elimination of all reference to past architecture. This may sound boring, mainly because we have become so accustomed to the style, but it was new and exciting at the time. 

"The Court House that Space Built!!!"

The Huntsville Times called it “one of the most modern buildings in the South.” “The architectural work in the new courthouse is regarded by authorities as ‘the best anywhere.’” The booklet handed out at the 1967 dedication ceremony summarized the feeling at the time: “This new, modern structure will tell visitors that Madison Countians are progressive and ambitious.” 

The low-rise, high-rise design was not primarily an aesthetic choice; it was due to the north side of the site being located above Big Spring Cavern and thus unable to support the weight of a high-rise. The design was a corporate honor award winner in the 16th annual Gulf States Regional Conference of the American Institute of Architects. 

The glass curtain walls of the Madison County Courthouse and the Chicago Federal Center (by the father of modern architecture, Mies van der Rohe, 3-building complex completed between 1959 and 1974)

The International style may be lacking in “applied ornamentation” but there are plenty of details to appreciate, both interior and exterior, starting with the “mushroom” columns forming a colonnade on all four sides of the Madison County Courthouse (more indicative of the New Formalism style of the same time period). The more I look at the details of architecture, and the more I learn about any style, the more I begin to appreciate it. Although, I admit, I am still trying to learn to appreciate the high rise tower portion of the courthouse.

Mushroom columns on the Madison County Courthouse

Just like Frank Lloyd Wright's SC Johnson Building's columns, the courthouse columns are tapered toward the bottom, providing the appearance of effortlessly supporting the weight above. 

Mushroom columns on the Madison County Courthouse

"Mushroom/Lily Pad/Dendriform" columns in Frank Lloyd Wright's SC Johnson Administration Building, completed in 1939 (Photo from scjohnson.com)

The Hawaii State Capitol, built 1965-69, has similar columns except they taper toward the top.

The Madison County Courthouse has a magnificent set of undulating, multi-level staircases reminiscent of those in the iconic TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport, but on an even grander scale.

Madison County Courthouse lobby

The recently restored TWA Flight Center, designed by Eero Saarinen, built in 1962

Madison County Courthouse lobby

While the exterior of the courthouse features concrete and glass,  the interior incorporates travertine walls and terrazzo flooring, along with a beautiful 3-story tall mosaic mural depicting the history of Madison County.

The top two stories of the three-story tall mosaic, by artist Norman Thomson, mosaicist Ramon Sanches, and historian Dr. Frances Roberts

As examples of this type of architecture slowly disappear, along with other midcentury styles, a re-appreciation is emerging and many cities are capitalizing on their Modern Era (1930s-1970s) architecture. Cities such as Palm Springs, Sarasota, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and Columbus, Indiana draw overflow crowds for their versions of “Modernism Week.” They also have self-guided architectural tour maps, guided tours, and other events that draw tourists year round. The Historic Huntsville Foundation is moving Huntsville in this direction by initiating the listing of the McThornmor Acres neighborhood (homes) to the National Register of Historic Places, in anticipation of it becoming Alabama's first Space Age Historic District. I would love to see a map for a driving tour of some of Huntsville's interesting examples of Modern Era architecture. We have plenty of them!

The Imperial Gardens Apartments, 2024 Memorial Parkway NW, built in 1965

Former Parkway Country Club (and Plush Horse nightclub), now Restoration Church, 2021 Golf Road SW, built in 1962

The Landmark, 2400 Bob Wallace Avenue SW, built in 1963. The owner, Bob Burkett, has plans to refurbish the columns, and he would like to add lighting beneath the decorative stainless steel grates (above the long windows), just as the building had when it was new. You need to look at these buildings up-close to appreciate the variety of rich materials. This facade incorporates three different types of stone with markedly different finishes.

Insurance Market, Inc, 2021 Clinton Avenue West, built in 1962. Concrete screen block!

West Station Post Office, 3605 Governors Drive SW. 

United Church of Huntsville, 7906 Whitesburg Drive

Huntsville has many Modern Era churches and, of course, the fabulous Eggbeater Jesus Church must be on any list of architecture to see in Huntsville.

First Baptist Church, 600 Governors Drive SW, built in 1966

Rather than lament the architecture that is already gone, let's focus on enjoying what we still have (along with advocating for high-quality architecture in new construction).