Talk:Baileyton

History

Additional Baileyton history from the former town website, via archive.org (I chopped it up a bit):

Members of the first town council included Bobby Martin, Burl Shedd, Ralph Walker, James Howell and Leon McElroy. Others serving on the council down through the years include: Robert Roper, Troyce Hadley, Roy Shedd and Greg Hendrix. Billy John White served as town clerk from 1973-1990. Ruth Walker Rodgers has served as town clerk since 1990.

Mayor Bailey was elected to a four-year term in 1992, re-elected in 1996 and again in 2000. Council members for the term 1996-2000 included Bobby Martin, James Fulmer, Joe Golden, Wendell Guthrie and Joe Hendrix were elected for the 1996 – 2000 term. The Town of Baileyton recently elected its government officials to include: Wendell Guthrie, Bobby Martin, Sandra Parker, Donald VanZandt, and Joe Golden.

One of the first official acts of the new town council under the leadership of Mayor Rolfe Burks, was to purchase a brand new fire truck.

present Post Office on the Baileyton-Fairview road (adjoining the old Loda G. Burks property.) The two-story frame building is believed to be Baileyton's first store. Old photos with the Post Office sign out front show that it was later owned by W. H. Martin whose daughter, Marietta, was postmistress from 1899 to 1907.

John B. Burks contracted for a Star Route from Cullman to Warrenton in 1891 and established headquarters at Baileyton. The route to Warrenton in Marshall County by way of Joppa, May Apple, Arab and Grassy, and a second route to Cullman by way of Welcome, Etha, Lloyd and Simcoe established the first daily mail service between the two-points. Carriers were Loda G. Burks and F. E. Burks who carried the mail in saddlebags on horseback.

Two rural routes were established in 1904 with L. G. Burks and J. L. Taylor as carriers. Within a year, two routes served by T. B. Hodge and J. H. Smith had been added. Early transportation was by horse and buggy. The routes were later consolidated and L. G. Burks served as carrier. Both E. W. Tipton (1905-1938) and E. M. Hancock (1938-65) have the distinction of serving this route for three decades.

The Baileyton Post Office was moved into the first Post Office building on the main highway in 1936. It was a fourth class station until July 1944, when it became a third class facility, which is the present status. A new building on the original site (Hwy. 69) was opened in 1968. The one rural route covered 59 miles daily in 1972.

In 1998, Baileyton Post Office was modernized when we saw the doors of our new Post Office open for the first time. The Post Master is Patty Harbaugh. The facility is centrally located at the intersection of Alabama Hwy. 69 and Fire Station Road.

Local citizens built a subscription school around 1885. The one-room unpainted frame building was located across the road north of the cemetery on land donated by Gilbert C. Cordell. Professor Doggett taught the school in 1888-89. Prof. B. C. Burks, P. P. McAnnally, Miss Daisy Ryan and Miss Ollie Burden were among the teachers in the 1890's. Fifty students were enrolled during the winter session of 1900.

In 1916, a two-story, four-room school was built east of the present post office (on property now owned by Howard Burden.) The school went to the eleventh grade but was reduced to nine grades around 1927. Two additional rooms were added when Mt. Pisgah and Eidson Chapel schools were consolidated with Baileyton in 1930-32.

An appearance at this school in 1936 by an unknown entertainer named Sarah Ophelia Colley of Centreville, Tenn. led to the birth of one of the (Nashville) Grand Ole Opry's most famous and beloved stars who related the story on a national television program, "This Is Your Life," in 1957.

It all began when a local couple, Jim and Matilda Burden, went up to Miss Colley after the show and invited her to spend a few days with them. During the visit, Mrs. Burden entertained her guest with many homespun tales told in a pure southern style. When Miss Colley later repeated the stories to her friends in Tennessee, they were delighted and kept urging her to repeat them at every opportunity. Gradually, Miss Colley created a comedy act which she made famous as Minnie Pearl. After joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1940, Miss Colley (now Mrs. Henry Cannon) returned for a show date at Minnie Pearl's birthplace.

The Hulaco School was consolidated with Baileyton in 1947. Two years later, a modern brick and glass with eight classrooms and a combination-auditorium was constructed on the site of a former air strip across the road west of the cemetery. A lunchroom was added in 1953, followed by a library and additional classrooms in 1964. The gymnasium was severely damaged when a tornado ripped through the area in 1977. Extensive renovations were made along with repairs.

The 1970-71 enrollment was 228 students. James W. Meherg was Principal over eight faculty members, a librarian and one Head Start teacher with twelve preschoolers.

Following a tornado on February 16, 1994, which completely destroyed the Joppa school, the faculty and 80 students were transferred to the Baileyton school and housed in temporary classrooms for the remainder of the 1993-94 school year. The Joppa faculty and students officially consolidated with Baileyton at the beginning of the 1994-95 school year under the leadership of Edward Dahlke, principal at Baileyton.

Due to a countywide mandate by the State Board of Education, the ninth grade of all Jr. High Schools in Cullman County were transferred to area high schools at the beginning of the 1996-97 school year. Baileyton thus became a kindergarten through eighth grade facility with a student enrollment of 251. There are currently sixteen teachers and one aide in nine classrooms in the main building and four portable classrooms. Other staff members include a part-time librarian, two part-time custodians and five full-time lunchroom workers.

A new school for grade kindergarten through eight has been constructed and moved into during January 1998. Dr. and Mrs. Myron McEachern of Tampa, Florida donated forty-two acres of land for the new school in memory of Mrs. McEachern's father, Jesse Smith, whose father originally settled the property. The entire tract of property, located across from Baileyton Methodist Church at the junction of Highway 69 and Grandiflora Road, was deeded by the Town of Baileyton to the Cullman County School Board as the site for the new school. The C. D. Walker family of Baileyton (owners of Walker Brothers LTD., ) made a contribution of $2,000,000 toward the construction of the new school.

Parkside School was moved into in February of 199 with Mr. Edward Dahlke at the helm. After a successful start to a new school, Mr. Dahlke retired in the summer of 1999 and now enjoys farming and traveling. Mr. Ronald Barnes was hired in 1999 to take over as Principal of Parkside School. Mr. Barnes is a Graduate of Jacksonville State, Alabama A&M and the University of Alabama. Parkside presently has 335 students. Some folks say that Parkside has the best lunches in Cullman County.-->

A petition for Baileyton Masonic Lodge No. 472 dated March 3, 1889, was signed by James M. Heaton, Thomas M. Entrekin, B. J. Garrison, W. C. Winn, John W. McKelvey, J. W. Chambers and James K. P. McCasley. It was recommended by Cullman Lodge No. 421 as the Mother Lodge, and the charter was granted on Dec. 3, 1890. James Heaton was elected the first Master. The old Masonic building in the southeast corner of the crossroads was one of Baileyton's earliest landmarks. The first floor of the two-story building housed a general merchandise store until it was razed and replaced by a brick building in 1964. The Baileyton chapter is the third oldest Masonic Lodge in the county. The Baileyton Order of the Eastern Star was organized in 1947.

Dr. John T. Winn, a native of Georgia, established a medical practice and drug store in 1898 and served the community until 1936. Joseph Elrod brought a shingle factory to the community in 1900. Shortly thereafter, Robert and Jacob Elrod established a cotton gin in the present location on the Baileyton-Fairview road. It was destroyed by arson in 1929 and rebuilt. It remained in operation until the 1960's. When cotton production in the area began to dwindle as poultry and cattle production grew.

The business section of Baileyton has expanded greatly over the years. In 1970, boasted a modern supermarket, two general merchandise stores, two Laundromats, four beauty shops, two barber shops, two garages, a radio-TV repair shop, a butane gas company, cafe, building construction and supply (with sixty employees), cotton gin, horse stables, tin shop, four nurseries, fabric shop, furniture store, trading stamp redemption store and drag strip.

Forty-nine members chartered the Baileyton Civitan Club on April 10, 1971. James Meherg was elected the first president.

The town purchased twenty-five acres of land on Highway 69 from George and Willie Screws in 1992 for the development of an industrial park. Two commercial buildings were constructed in 1995. An access road was constructed in 1996 with an $80,000 grant from the State Department of Transportation. One of these was occupied by a company employing----people in December 1996.

At the town's request in 1996, the State Department of Transportation widened Highway 69 to provide a turn lane through the business section. Curbs and gutters were also constructed. The town also constructed a building adjacent to Baileyton Town Hall in 1996, to house a medical clinic staffed by personnel from the Cullman Internal Medicine Group. The clinic officially opened November 1, 1996 and currently serves an average of twenty persons per day.