Glenville (also spelled Glennville) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Russell County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States which used to be in Barbour County. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, Company "H" of the

15th Regiment Alabama Infantry The 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment was a Confederate States Army, Confederate volunteer infantry unit from the state of Alabama during the American Civil War. Recruited from six counties in the southeastern part of the state, it fought mostly ...

was raised from Barbour and Dale counties and called the "Glenville Guards". The Glennville Historic District, containing the

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

core of the community, is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

History

Glennville was the first permanent community in what is today Russell County. It was founded in 1835, after the

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Here they waged war again ...

removal, by

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

preacher James Elizabeth Glenn. The town quickly developed into an economic and cultural center of East Alabama. In addition to the Methodist Church, the community was home to Male and Female Academies and the Weyman School for Girls, all of which were renowned throughout the South for their classical curricula. The town also had a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, stores, a

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

, and an

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

. The town incorporated in 1854, seeking to attract a rail line, but the line was opposed by many planters in the community. With railroad bypassing Glennville and diminished power and influence of farmers after the

, the town gradually faded. ''See also:''

Geography

Glenville is located in the rural southern portion of Russell County along

U.S. Route 431 U.S. Route 431 (US 431) is a spur of U.S. Route 31. It currently travels for approximately from U.S. Route 231, US 231/Alabama State Route 210 and U.S. Route 231 Business (Dothan, Alabama), US 231 Business (US 231 Bus. ...

, approximately north of Eufaula and southwest of

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

Demographics

Glenville appeared on the U.S. Census in 1850 when it was located in Barbour County. It did not reappear again until 1880 with a much-diminished population after the borders were redrawn between Barbour and Russell Counties and it was moved into the latter. It last appeared on the 1890 census.

Architecture

The historic district consists of 32 main structures, 27 outbuildings, and 6 cemeteries. The most prominent are

plantation houses A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, Plantation houses in the Southern United Sta ...

, most of which exhibit

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style. The Methodist church (built circa 1850) is also Greek Revival, while the Episcopal church (1926) shows Gothic influence. Late 19th- and early 20th-century

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and ma ...

houses are more modest, and reflect the changing fortunes of the town.

Notable person

* William Curran Dawson, former member of the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

Gallery

File:Abandoned Store (ca. 1920) in the Glenville Historic District.jpg, alt=, Abandoned Store - September 2018 File:Episcopal Church in Glenville, AL.jpg, alt=, Episcopal Church - September 2018 File:Glennville Historic District.JPG, alt=, Glennville Historic District Historic Marker - September 2018 File:Glenville Historic District Monument.jpg, alt=, Glenville Historic District Monument - September 2018 File:St. John's Methodist Church (c. 1850).jpg, alt=, St. John's Methodist Church - September 2018

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Russell County, Alabama Unincorporated communities in Alabama Columbus metropolitan area, Georgia National Register of Historic Places in Russell County, Alabama Historic districts in Russell County, Alabama Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama