Kaulton
Kaulton was a model company town constructed by the Kaul Lumber Company of Birmingham around its new sawmill just south of Tuscaloosa in 1912.
Kaulton's 80-acre layout was designed by George F. Miller of Boston and took the shape of a palm "fan", with streets curving out away from the sawmill. In line with the company's relationship with forest products, the streets were named for, and planted with, trees such as Oak, Elm and Poplar. Existing specimen trees on the site were also preserved. The white and African-American sections of Kaulton were separated by a railroad track.
It featured generous lots (57-70 feet wide by 125-140 feet deep) on which four-room houses were built of wood with stained rough-sawn wood siding in a palette of harmonious colors. Each was equipped for water, sewer and electrical service and had two chimneys. Kaul built a company store and offices, and also constructed a 20-room Spanish-style hotel, churches, schools, clubhouses and parks. A company-sponsored Industrial league baseball team played on Kaulton Field.
Founder John Kaul described the development as a product of the "new welfare emphasis in the southern lumber industry." He further explained that, "our aim was to create conditions promoting healthfulness and contentment that we might have an efficient working force."
The experiment did not survive long after Kaul's death as investors, including his son, Hugh, shut down the mill in 1931. The lumber company continued to collect rents from occupants of the houses and other buildings, but did not update or maintain the them adequately.
The City of Tuscaloosa annexed the former Kaulton site in the early 1950s. In the 1960s city officials relocated most of the residents and demolished the substandard houses, leaving a few houses on Pine Street and part of the former commissary intact. Kaulton Park and Kaulton Field were preserved as city parks.
Most of the lumber company's files regarding the town were lost as part of the firm's policy of destroying outdated records. Some photographs and other documents survived and are part of the Kaul Land and Lumber Company collection at the Birmingham Public Library archives.
References
- Armes, Ethel (March 22, 1913) "Timber Camp Planning in Alabama". The Survey. Vol. 29, No. 25, pp. 887-888
- Cruikshank, George H. (1920) History of Birmingham and Its Environs: A Narrative Account of Their Historical Progress, Their People, and Their Principal Interests 2 volumes. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections