Talk:Montevallo Road
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Oops, I don't think everything labeled "Montevallo Road" was necessarily part of the same road. After seeing the mention of the section in Alabaster, I naturally presumed the portion in Leeds I stumbled across was also related since they both were Alabama 119. However, the personal discovery of a Montevallo Road connecting West Valley Avenue and Green Springs Avenue made me pull out Mapopolis on my PDA. The sections in Mountain Brook and Leeds run pretty much parallel to each other, so I'm not sure they were ever part of the same road. This makes me question whether the part in Alabaster is related to the one in Mountain Brook. What was the reference for the "predates Birmingham" portion and does it give any additional clues about the road beyond the the bit in Irondale?
In short, do we need to remove both the Alabaster and Leeds portions in this entry? Or reword the article into mentioning them without claiming they're part of the "main" Montevallo Rd? --Lkseitz 13:23, 21 August 2006 (PDT)
- The bit I was working from was in the McElwain Church history, and I think it referenced Ethel Armes, which I have access to, so I can check. I don't know what the best reference is for the pioneer roads. I'll look through my books and maps when I get a chance. --Dystopos 13:44, 21 August 2006 (PDT)
- Something I read about Moody references a "Montevallo Road" used as a stagecoach route between Ashville and Montevallo. --Dystopos 08:37, 5 October 2006 (PDT)
- In Montevallo, Highway 119 is called "Ashville Road" northward from downtown (where it is called "Main Street") until Moore's Crossroads, where it is simply called Highway 119 northward to US 31 in Alabaster. There are signs in Leeds on Highway 119 proclaiming it the "Ashville to Montevallo Road" but I don't remember if that extends into Moody via Highway 411 or not. --Wheresdib 11:52, 5 October 2006 (PDT)
- La Tourette's 1837 map definitely shows a major road connecting Ashville, Branchville P.O., and Cedar Grove P.O., but it tails out a little further southwest. Tanner's 1847 map indicates that the road from Ashville to Cedar Grove continues through the "Cahawba Valley" to Shelbyville, Flora, and south to Selma. Montevallo is shown to the east of that main road, on the road connecting Centreville to Columbiana (the two roads come to a junction at "Mahan's Creek". That second road continues east-northeast to Talladega. The same arrangement is visible in Mitchell's 1857 map. And the "Ashville Montevallo Road" is no longer showing as a major thoroughfare in US Land Office map of 1878. --Dystopos 13:11, 5 October 2006 (PDT)
- In working on the Shades Cahaba entry, I rediscovered a small tidbit. When the land for Shades Cahaba was bought in the late 1910s, Hollywood Boulevard was still known as "Old Montevallo Road." It changed names to Oxmoor Road at the Montgomery Highway (now Independence Drive) intersection, just as it still does today. Hollywood wasn't developed until 1926, which is when I'd guess that section was renamed. I thought the fact that, according to Summe, it was called Old Montevallo Road in the 1910s might be signficant. --Lkseitz 07:15, 22 April 2009 (PDT)
Southwest Birmingham section
I found a reference to Sixth Avenue Baptist Church moving to Montevallo Road in 1970. Their present address is on Martin Luther King, Jr Drive. I'll need to find a better reference before expanding this article. --Dystopos 11:46, 24 May 2008 (PDT)
- When travelling from Elmwood Cemetery to West Oxmoor along MLK Jr Drive, the road changes names to Montevallo Road. 6th Avenue Baptist is still located across from Elmwood, so I believe Montevallo Road was renamed MLK Jr Drive since 1970. --Wheresdib
- The 1988 7.5 minute map of that area still labels it Montevallo Road at that point. The earliest reference I can find for Martin Luther King, Jr Dr. in The Birmingham News online archives is 1993, which is about as far back as they go. That might indicate the road was renamed between those dates. (I'm not entirely convinced the maps were "up to the minute" on city road name changes.) Regardless, since King was killed in 1968, I sincerely doubt they renamed that part of the road before 1970. --Lkseitz 07:29, 27 May 2008 (PDT)
- Since the West Valley Avenue and Barber Court articles now link to this article, we need to add something about the SW Birmingham section, or create a separate page. Barber Court/Montevallo Road/MLK Jr Drive are all the same road from Homewood to Elmwood Cemetery. I just can't get my head around how to word it. --Wheresdib 21:30, 30 December 2009 (PST)
- I noticed this too. I even typed out a nice long paragraph: "Yet another road that bears the name Montevallo Road stretches from the intersection of Dennison Avenue/Green Springs Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive. It begins eastward where Martin Luther King Drive leaves off until its southeastern terminus at the intersection it shares with West Valley Avenue, Barber Court, and West Oxmoor Road." Before publishing it, I decided to check here and lo and behold, it's already an issue being looked at. I also think it's interesting that Birmingham has two streets both named Montevallo Road on opposite ends of town. You'd think the city would have called the one through Mason City "Montevallo Road SW" or something.--Jared Johnson 17:47, 18 March 2011 (PDT)
- "Being looked at" is a relative term; nothing's been done in the year plus since I posted my thoughts. --Wheresdib 07:08, 19 March 2011 (PDT)
- I think I've got a solution. Maybe we can make a separate page titled "Montevallo Road Southwest" since I think technically that's what this road is called? The US Postal service seems to think so, anyway. --Jared Johnson 23:32, 11 April 2012 (PDT)
- I thought this was a good idea, until I saw that the road in Leeds is "Montevallo Road SW" and "Montevallo Road SE". (These can probably be combined into a single "Montevallo Road (Leeds)" article for our purposes.) Obviously, we need a Montevallo Road disambiguation page. The question is how to differentiate the SW Birmingham road from the Irondale/Birmingham/Mountain Brook one? ("Montevallo Road (SW Birmingham)" vs. what?) And for the Shelby County road, do we need to differentiate the portions in Alabaster from those on Montevallo from those on unincorporated land between the two? (I'd say probably not for now.) --Lkseitz 09:21, 12 April 2012 (PDT)
- I think I've got a solution. Maybe we can make a separate page titled "Montevallo Road Southwest" since I think technically that's what this road is called? The US Postal service seems to think so, anyway. --Jared Johnson 23:32, 11 April 2012 (PDT)
- "Being looked at" is a relative term; nothing's been done in the year plus since I posted my thoughts. --Wheresdib 07:08, 19 March 2011 (PDT)
- I noticed this too. I even typed out a nice long paragraph: "Yet another road that bears the name Montevallo Road stretches from the intersection of Dennison Avenue/Green Springs Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive. It begins eastward where Martin Luther King Drive leaves off until its southeastern terminus at the intersection it shares with West Valley Avenue, Barber Court, and West Oxmoor Road." Before publishing it, I decided to check here and lo and behold, it's already an issue being looked at. I also think it's interesting that Birmingham has two streets both named Montevallo Road on opposite ends of town. You'd think the city would have called the one through Mason City "Montevallo Road SW" or something.--Jared Johnson 17:47, 18 March 2011 (PDT)
- Since the West Valley Avenue and Barber Court articles now link to this article, we need to add something about the SW Birmingham section, or create a separate page. Barber Court/Montevallo Road/MLK Jr Drive are all the same road from Homewood to Elmwood Cemetery. I just can't get my head around how to word it. --Wheresdib 21:30, 30 December 2009 (PST)
- The 1988 7.5 minute map of that area still labels it Montevallo Road at that point. The earliest reference I can find for Martin Luther King, Jr Dr. in The Birmingham News online archives is 1993, which is about as far back as they go. That might indicate the road was renamed between those dates. (I'm not entirely convinced the maps were "up to the minute" on city road name changes.) Regardless, since King was killed in 1968, I sincerely doubt they renamed that part of the road before 1970. --Lkseitz 07:29, 27 May 2008 (PDT)
- Some study has revealed that the designation "Montevallo Road" predates any sort of street naming system, and also predates Birmingham by several decades. It was the name for any road leading from the place you were at to Montevallo. So the Montevallo Road from Elyton runs past Elmwood and the Montevallo Road from Irondale/McElwain runs through Mountain Brook, and they join at Oxmoor Road to follow Little Shades Creek out of the valley toward Brock's Gap and thence south to Montevallo. How to make this all clear? Remains to be seen. --Dystopos 15:16, 12 April 2014 (PDT)
- I'm going with Montevallo Road (Elyton) for the historic road. Then Montevallo Road (from Irondale) and Montevallo Road Southwest (Leeds) can disambiguate. --Dystopos 15:29, 12 April 2014 (PDT)
Location of the Shelby County section?
Logically, it seems like the Shelby County section of the page should proceed Homewood, since geographically the list proceeds from West/South to East/North. --David Bains 2021-Dec.-05
- Honestly I personally think it is fine where it is. As someone who previously lived in Montevallo, we never called Highway 119 "Montevallo Road". --Wheresdib (talk) 11:14, 6 December 2021 (PST)