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An aerial view of Central Foundry.

At one time, the plant on the banks of the Black Warrior River was the largest cast-iron pipe maker in the world. It survived the Great Depression and boomed during WWII and the Korean War. In the early 1980s,…

This photo shows the south side of University Boulevard in downtown Tuscaloosa (Ala.) looking west. In the foreground is Gray's Men's Shop. Next to it is Pizitz department store, then Woolworth's and Central Drug Store.

Gray's Men's Shop was owned…

This postcard was mailed from France from James L. West to his father, L. H. West in Samantha.

The message says: Helo (sic) How are you all tonight? Fine, I hope. For self, getting along fine. Say I heard you all had a big snow back in the stats…

Main Street In Gordo, Ala., with its unpaved Main Street and with electric poles running down the middle of the street. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad is shown in the foreground.

Settlement of the town of Gordo, located on U.S. Hwy 82, 23 miles west…

This mill, Alabama's first paper mill, began operations in April, 1929.

In 1884, Herbert Euguene Westervelt began a career in the paper making industry in Illinois. In 1928, the mill and offices were consolidated and moved to Tuscaloosa as the…

A fire destroyed seven businesses in Gordo on March 7, 1901.
Gordo was originally founded about a mile north of its present location but moved south to be near the Mobile and Ohio Railroad when it came through in 1898.

The store in the background…

The Willams Hotel was located on Main Street in Gordo, Alabama. The date of its construction is unknown, but is after 1900. The building was demolished in the 1960s.

Settlement of the town of Gordo, located on U.S. Hwy 82, 23 miles west of…

Main Street in Gordo before 1898.

Settlement of the town of Gordo, located on U.S. Hwy 82, 23 miles west of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in east-central Pickens County, began before 1847. A web site, www.postalhistory.com, reports a post office in Gordo…

Photograph Construction of the Oliver Lock and Dam on the Black Warrior River.

The William Bacon Oliver Lock and Dam is located in Tuscaloosa on the Black Warrior River. Completed in 1940, it was named after U. S. Representative William Oliver.…

The original Druid City Hospital opened Mar. 28, 1923, on the University of Alabama campus. Prior to that time, Tuscaloosa had had a number of privately owned and managed hospitals. The movement for this new hospital began in 1919 when a group of…