Historical Society Program Videos – 2025
On April 27, the audience at Parnell LIbrary was treated to an interesting and entertaining program from Ruth Beaumont Cook, author of a book about Sylacauga Marble entitled, "Magic in Stone". The recent discovery of gravestones made of Sylacauga Marble in Montevallo City Cemetery prompted the invitation to Ruth from the Montevallo Historical Society.
Our January 2025 program was a tag-team presentation about Montevallo's once thriving bus company, Alabama Coaches Co. Telling the bus company's interesting story and showing photos and graphics was Jim Brown, son of the company's owner Wyman Brown. Jim was assisted by MHS program chairman, Clay Nordan.
At our October general membership meeting, in conjunction with the recent installation of a historical marker at the entrance to Montevallo City Cemetery, MHS program chairman Clay Nordan narrated a slide show of photography he made in the cemetery that illustrates the rich history of this 200+ year old local graveyard.
Following the presentation on the cemetery, MHS director Anita Williams offered a slide show of photographs shot in 2013 that showed how the historic house on the Mahler property north of town looked when it was still occupied by Betty Mahler in 2013. Ms Mahler died in 2015.
Her estate documents bequeathed the house and farm property to the city of Montevallo and stipulated that the property should be used for the public good. Accordingly, the city has since established the donated property as a public park now known as Shoal Creek Park. The photographs shown by Anita were made by Marshall Goggins, who has been documenting Montevallo's history in photos for many years.
The Montevallo HIstorical Society has recently signed a lease with the City of Montevallo giving it the authority to undertake a historical restoration of the old Mahler farm house if adequate funding to cover project expenses can be secured from various philanthropic sources.
Carmichael Library at the University of Montevallo hosted a series of programs in October of 2025 that focused on the War in the Pacific during World War II (1942 - 1945). The first program was a conversation in October os 2025 with Henry Sledge moderated by UM Arts and Sciences Dean and professor of history, Dr. Ruth Truss.
Henry Sledge is the younger son of former UM Biology Professor, Dr. Eugene B. Sledge, the acclaimed author of “With the Old Breed”, an account of his harrowing combat experiences as a U.S. Marine infantryman fighting against the Japanese.
Henry has written a companion to “With the Old Breed” that offers fascinating additional analysis and explanation of his father's story as well as a considerable amount of previously unpublished text that was not included in Dr. Sledge's original.
A recording of this highly interesting one hour conversation between Henry Sledge and Ruth Truss is now available for listening.