George Little's Memoirs (1924) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018017700&seq=7
from page 114
The wave of failures that followed that of the Baring Brothers struck the United States with full force in 1893, and brought about one of the worst panics that this country has ever known. The bottom fell out of the boom all over Alabama; many furnaces in the Birmingham district closed down, and new structures were left half finished. In Tuscaloosa a furnace which was to have been built east of the A. G. S. depot and to which a spur track had already been built, was abandoned. A railroad known as the Tuscaloosa Northern had been started and graded as far as the mouth of Hurricane Creek, and two piers erected for a bridge over the river at this point; this was also abandoned, and years afterward these piers were taken down and the material in them used for constructing the M. & O. bridge at Tuscaloosa. A land and development company, composed of a large number of Tuscaloosa citizens was organized, and nearly all of the suburban property around Tuscaloosa was bought by this company to sell to the thousands who were expected to flow into our borders. When the crash came these stockholders gradually let go their holdings for one reason or another, and very few ever got back half what they put in it. The few who stayed in to the end, however, reaped large returns when the second boom came after 1900, F. W. Monnish in particular, bought up much of the old stock and amassed a fortune out of his acquisitions.
from page 115
But though money was scarce and industry dead, there were some compensations. One of these compensations was the Sun Down Club which met in the drug store late in the afternoon. My brothers who had had the store before me, had encouraged visitors and kept a good supply of chairs around the stove in the rear of the building. Here all of the men of literary taste in town would gather for a social chat when the burdens of the day were over. There was no formal organization, but the band came to be known as the Sun Down Club. Among the members of this club were: J. H. Fitts, the veteran banker and churchman; A. B. McEachin, historian and politician; ex-congressmen John Martin and Newton Clem- ents; Prof. Alonzo Hill, of the Methodist College, and E. H. Murfee, of the Baptist College; Dr. Stillman, founder of Stillman Institute; Dr. Praigg, a teacher in the Institute; Rev. A. L. Phillips, superintendent of Colored Evangelization of the Presbyterian Church and President of the National Association of Charities and Correction; James Maxwell, farmer and politician; President Jones and Drs. Wyman, Meek, McCorvey, Parker and Hardaway, of the University. Judge H. M. Somerville, Chief Justice of Alabama, and S. M. Peck, the poet, always met with the club when they were in town. Not all of these would be there every day, but there would always be enough to make an interesting meeting. The sub- jects discussed included Ancient and Modern literature, science, theology, agriculture, politics, or in a word, practically the whole range of human knowledge. The discussions were usually amicable, but occasionally the sparks would fly.
George Little https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130752415/george-little
https://www.lib.ua.edu/Alabama_Authors/?p=1547
J. H. Fitts https://tavm.omeka.net/items/show/2589
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68710361/james-harris-fitts
https://tavm.omeka.net/items/show/166
A. B. McEachin https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108413469/archibald-bruce-mceachin
John Martin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mason_Martin
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7366018/john-mason-martin
Newton Clements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Nash_Clements
https://www.geni.com/people/Newton-Clements-U-S-Congress-CSA/6000000037974947582
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7366007/newton-nash-clements
Alonzo Hill https://discover.stqry.app/en/story/86178
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98282844/alonzo-hill
E.H. Murfee https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Murfee-37
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21677060/edward_h_murfee
C.A. Stillman https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68623842/charles-allen-stillman
https://tavm.omeka.net/items/show/463
https://www.pcahistory.org/HCLibrary/periodicals/spr/bios/stillman.html
https://www.logcollegepress.com/stillman-pulpit-and-pastorate
https://aampca.org/person/rev-dr-charles-allen-stillman/
J.G. Praigg https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144169530/john-grant-praigg
https://cdm17336.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/u0003_0000863/id/6039
A.L. Phillips https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57944570/alexander-lacy-phillips
J.R. Maxwell https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90191351/james-robert-maxwell
https://www.lib.ua.edu/Alabama_Authors/?p=1700
R.C. Jones https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47835480/richard-channing-jones
https://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/digital/collection/u0003_0000078/id/264/
W.S. Wyman https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68707952/william-stokes-wyman
B.F. Meek https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68134372/benjamin-franklin-meek
https://archives.lib.ua.edu/repositories/3/resources/1337
T.C. McCorvey https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112341698/thomas-chalmers-mccorvey
https://www.lib.ua.edu/Alabama_Authors/?p=1786
W.A. Parker https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153127064/william_asa_parker
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L5JC-P5K/william-asa-parker-1835-1908
R.A. Hardaway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Hardaway
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41750442/robert-archelaus-hardaway
H.M. Somerville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henderson_M._Somerville
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117903340/henderson-middleton-somerville
S.M. Peck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Minturn_Peck
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166574579/samuel-minturn-peck
TUSCALOOSA COUNTY HISTORY https://tavm.omeka.net/items/show/2395
MATT CLINTON https://www.tuscco.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TuscaloosaEarlyDays-39.pdf
The next six months I spent on the Geological Survey of Mississippi, which had been commenced under Hilgard. My first trip was from Oxford to Pontotoc, thence through the prairie region via Okolona, Columbus and Macon to Meridian; thence in a boat down the Chickasawhay River to Enterprise. From Enterprise I wanted to go across the country through the piney woods to Brookhaven; but was told that there was only one house in that section where lodging could be had, and the head of this house had twelve children; so I decided to go by the more traveled route via Jackson to Vicksburg. As late as 1885 this part of Mississippi was still a virgin forest. My friend, William Pettis, of Oxford, Miss., moved to Ellisville about that time and told me that he established the first bank that was ever organized in the entire quadrangle bounded by Jackson, Meridian, New Orleans and Mobile; but twenty years later this was one of the most prosperous and progressive sections in the South.
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