Aliceville POW Museum

Aliceville Museum.jpg

Title

Aliceville POW Museum

Subject

Aliceville, Alabama--History
World War II
Museums
Prisoners of war

Description

Aliceville is the largest city in Pickens County, Alabama. It was home to a World War II German prisoner of war camp, which is now the focus of the Aliceville Museum.

Located in the southern part of the county, Aliceville is named for Alyce Searcy Cochrane (1875-1922), wife of the city’s founder, John Taylor Cochrane (1873-1938).

Cochrane was a West Alabama railroad pioneer who worked with a group of civic leaders in Carrollton to build a railroad to connect the Pickens County seat to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad’s new line at Reform – 10 miles away. Later, Cochrane had the foresight to run the railroad south and west toward the Tombigbee River, where he established the new town of Aliceville on land he had purchased. The line was first brought into Aliceville in 1902.

The little railroad was eventually extended by Cochrane into Mobile and was named the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad.

The town of Aliceville was incorporated in 1907. In 1908 the town decreed that every street should have ten-foot sidewalks, built and maintained by the property owners; this was essentially complete by 1910. By that time the town was considering installing water, sewer, and water utilities.

In World War II, the German prisoner of war camp was located in Aliceville to house 6,000 prisoners, delivered to the site by St. Louis – San Francisco Railroad. The population of the camp rarely exceeded 3,500 in its use from 1942-45. The Aliceville Museum and Cultural Arts Center opened in February 1995. The museum has permanent exhibits on Camp Aliceville.

Creator

Aliceville Museum

Date

1942

Contributor

Betty Slowe (Description)

Type

Photograph

Identifier

2305

Coverage

Pickens County (AL)

Original Format

Photograph