Historical marker details unique, interesting history of Greenville, Ala.

This week’s featured historical marker is the “GREENVILLE / THE CAMELLIA CITY” marker in downtown Greenville, Alabama. The marker is located on East Commerce Street in front of Greenville City Hall, just east of the Greenville Post Office.

This marker was erected by the Alabama Department of Tourism and the City of Greenville in October 2010. There’s text on both sides of this marker, and both sides are unique. What follows is the complete text from the marker.

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“GREENVILLE: County Seat of Butler County: Named by early settlers who emigrated from South Carolina, Greenville was established as the county seat in 1821. Settlers traveling along the Old Federal Road were attracted by the area’s abundant natural resources and strategic location, major factors that have continued to shape Greenville’s commercial, agricultural and recreational activities. In Butler County, the Federal Road followed Bartram’s Trail, an ancient Indian path traveled by naturalist William Bartram in 1775. Early Greenville residents included Dunklin, Herbert, Cook, Bolling, Judge, Parmer, Caldwell, Black, Pickens, Graydon, Burnett, Hutchinson, Jones and Waters. The railroad was completed in 1861, enabling establishment of a Confederate Hospital. Greenville flourished in the 1870s and 1880s. By 1900, the town had thriving businesses, a streetcar line, electricity, telephone service, opera house, several colleges and many active churches. Greenville has maintained its historic integrity with hundreds of homes and buildings on the national and state landmarks registers, including the Ritz Theatre, restored to its 1930s Art Deco splendor. Named ‘Best Small Town in America’ in 2001, Greenville’s small town atmosphere continues to be important to its culture.”

“THE CAMELLIA CITY: Mr. J. Glenn Stanley, an ardent camellia enthusiast, dreamed of Greenville becoming ‘The Camellia City” and loyally promoted this slogan as editor of The Greenville Advocate. The city’s first Camellia Show was held at his antebellum Henry-Beeland-Stanley home in 1937. City officials, civic groups, garden clubs and individuals joined Mr. Glenn’s campaign by planting camellias in abundance. Local gardeners including Stanley, Steindorff, Beeland, Jernigan, Stabler, Ryan, Hendrick, Thagard, Langford and Fox began propagating camellias. Eleven Greenville varieties are registered with the American Camellia Society. In 1938, the Greenville City Council adopted the Camellia japonica as the Official City Flower. State Representative Lamont Glass of Greenville was instrumental in the beautiful camellia being declared the Official State Flower by Act of the Alabama Legislature on Aug. 26, 1959. The 50th anniversary of the camellia as the State Flower was celebrated in 2009. Camellias of all varieties are evident throughout the city as Greenville carries on its heritage as ‘The Camellia City.’”

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The marker described above is just one of many in the downtown Greenville area and check back at this site in the weeks to come for descriptions of those markers.

In the end, visit this site next Wednesday to learn about another historical marker. I’m also taking suggestions from the reading audience, so if you know of an interesting historical marker that you’d like me to feature, let me know in the comments section below.