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Description:
In the early 1880&rsquo, s, the area that is now downtown Thomasville was a forest of tall timber and dense undergrowth.
This wilderness provided food for the Choctaw Indians who roamed its trails and trapping for the pioneers as they pushed back the frontier. But it remained inviolate until the echoes of the hammers were heard pounding the rails into place to make way for the giant iron horses of the railroad.
In 1887 the town began to take shape. Its settlers were deeply rooted in the nearby community of Choctaw. This community was located on a high plateau between the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, and because of its wide view of the surrounding area it was called ", Landsee", by the Indians. This vantage point between the two rivers made the community a growing and prosperous one, Choctaw was the largest trade center in Clarke County in the 1850&rsquo, s.
After the Civil War, when talk of the railroads began to dominate everyone&rsquo, s conversation, the merchants of Choctaw began considering the advantages of having access to rapid shipment of goods and improved travel that would be provided by the trains. These progressive businessmen of Choctaw Corner decided to move closer to the railroad.
Despite the swampy terrain and deep woods, the people set to work with a will and the town sprang up almost by magic. The railroad was to reach from Birmingham to Mobile via Selma. By the time the first run was made on February 14, 1888, carrying a group to Mardi Gras in Mobile, there was already a town growing in the hills east of the present downtown business sector.
The town&rsquo, s founding father was a railroad man, W.L. Henderson. The name Thomasville came from another railroad man, General Samuel Thomas, who reciprocated by giving $500 for the building of the first school.
The Hall brothers, George and Edward, came to the area from Pennsylvania. One was a surveyor who divided the land into lots, the other set up a sawmill that cut the timber for many of the early homes and businesses.
The swampy places were filled in with timber and other debris, and a bustling town was built atop this debris. This is thought to have led to the epidemic of a mosquito-spread fever that swept through the town in 1889, wiping out dozens of people and causing some families to pack up and move away. With the coming of winter, the disease gradually disappeared and the town returned to normal.
Ten years later, another disaster struck. A fire began in the downtown area that almost completely wiped out the business district. The buildings had been hastily constructed of timbers from trees cut to clear the land. After the fire, business owners vowed to rebuild with brick, and they did. Thus, almost all of the businesses in Thomasville&rsquo, s downtown district were constructed in 1899.
Thomasville quickly became a leading trade area, as residents of surrounding communities came into this new town to do their shopping. There were also several hotels and boarding houses for the railroad employees and for the traveling salesmen, or ", drummers", , who came through on the trains. Early mercantile stores offered everything a housewife needed.
A wooden school building was built, and in 1928, construction began on a new brick high school. Unfortunately, the old building, which was to continue in use as a grammar school, burned and all grades were moved to the new brick building shortly after it opened. This brick building on West Front Street is no longer a school, it is to be renovated for use as a Civic Center.
Like the rest of the nation, Thomasville was hit hard by the Depression years, and many of the city&rsquo, s young men went away to serve in the First and Second World Wars. When news reached the town that World War II was over, some of the city&rsquo, s most staid and upright citizens dragged a rockola fr
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