National Register Listing

Foley Downtown Historic District (Boundary Decrease)

Parts of Alston, McKenzie, N. & S. Laurel & W. Orange Sts., Foley, AL

In September 1901, Chicago businessman, John Burton Foley met a south Alabama railroad agent, Col. J. M. Green, as they rode the rail to Washington, D.C., to attend the funeral of assassinated president, William McKinley. While traveling, Green told Foley about the economic potential of the sparsely settled, timber-rich lands in South Baldwin County, Alabama. One year later, Foley, president of Foley and Company which made and sold popular patented medicines, accepted Green's encouragement to visit Baldwin County. It was the Chicagoan's first visit to the South, and he was left so impressed with what he saw that he bought a 40,000-acre tract of timber land and named it "Foley." Located 10 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, 41 miles south of the town of Bay Minette, 21 miles east of Fairhope and Mobile Bay and about 30 miles west of Pensacola, Florida, the land was populated primarily with men working the turpentine stills and lumber camps scattered widely across the thick pine forests; marshlands dominated the coastal plains.

When Foley arrived in Baldwin County there were no roads, only dirt tracks and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad went only as far south as Bay Minette. The few people who visited the area were primarily wealthy northern families that vacationed in the resort community of Magnolia Springs, located just a few miles west of the land Foley bought. They usually reached Magnolia Springs by taking a train to Mobile, then taking a steamer boat across Mobile Bay to Fairhope, and traveling the remainder of the trip by horse-and-buggy.

Two years after he purchased his tract, Foley began to survey his land at his own expense and began construction of about 100 miles of dirt roadways. He also built a sawmill, sugar mill, a school and an experimental farm just outside the town limits none of which remains. In 1905, he formed and incorporated the Magnolia Springs Land Company and hired agents to sell the lands to Northerners. At the same time, he formed a partnership with F. P. Hamm of the Bay Minette and Ft. Morgan Railway, a branch of the L & N. The two approached the L & N about building a 36-mile spur south connecting Bay Minette and Foley. A deal was struck stipulating that Hamm and Foley would build the tracks if the L & N would operate the train.

The new L & N Foley Branch served extensive logging interests in Baldwin County, and also began to open up the area to new settlers. The train ran initially only on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, and on those days, according to one account, residents all along the line were "agog" with excitement. As the train brought prospective buyers in, land agents greeted them to make their pitch. The same year the line was completed, Foley had its first depot; unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire in 1908 (Ibid, p. 13-14). Within the year, however, a new larger Craftsman style depot was constructed which remained in its original location until 1971 when it was moved to Magnolia Springs. In 1995, as part of its overall efforts to preserve downtown, the City of Foley brought the depot back to its present site where it originally sat.

As hoped, the railroad brought growth and development to Foley primarily on the west side of the tracks. The east side remained swamp land, a dilemma that challenged the town until the 1950s when much of it was drained and filled in. Where possible, though, wood houses were built as were a few general merchandise stores and at least one blacksmith shop. One c. 1907 store, a one story building built with a projecting parapet, remains on North McKenzie Street.

At the same time, the Magnolia Springs Land Company began construction of Foley's first hotel, the Magnolia Hotel. It was constructed of heart pine with a lath and plaster interior. Because the town lacked a water or sewer system, two outhouses were built behind the hotel. Fresh water was brought into the hotel, kerosene lamps provided light and the laundry was washed in a large black pot and tubs with rub boards. The hotel soon became the burgeoning community's social center and offered "musical evenings" to its guests and area residents. In 1909, a windmill was built next to the hotel which is no longer extant. A short wire fence enclosed the yard to keep roaming cows and other livestock out of its yard. The Magnolia Hotel continued to operate as such until 1967 when John Snook, owner of Gulf Telephone Company purchased it and added a second story porch above the original sun porch. Today, the property is owner and managed by Marjory Snook, John's widow, and is being renovated back to a hotel.

Construction of the impressive hotel apparently signaled success of Foley's venture. In 1908, a L & N Railroad publication praised the attributes of the Foley area, in particular, its ideal climate, soil, bountiful fresh water supply, nearness to the Gulf and other natural wonders. Those qualities, the paper claimed, made Foley a virtual mecca for those whose suffered from rheumatism, catarrh or Bright's disease. "There is an abundance of sparkling clear water,'" it read,' "springs are common, and wells are easily dug and good water is found at twenty or thirty feet1".

In 1909, Foley's newspaper, the Onlooker, bragged that the town now had "a new 20 room hotel with bath and sample room, good livery, two general stores, drug, feed, furniture and hardware store, meat and fish market, cotton gin, rice and grist mill, pole and fence post outfit, two sawmills, painters, good school, local and long distance telephones, doctor, weekly newspaper, barber, bakery, creamery, jeweler, bottling plant and two churches." The town still had a need for a doctor, butcher, cannery, pickle factory, lumber yard and barrel factory, nursery and greenhouse. Persons interested in filling any of these positions were advised to contact the Magnolia Springs Land Company in its Chicago office.

That same year, in an article that appeared in the Mobile Register, a writer noted that "[f]or a three year old, the Town of Foley scarcely has an equal in the whole country. It has a familiar look to one who has traveled through the western states where towns have sprung up as if by magic. The houses are all new, substantial and well painted. The streets are broad and laid out with system and everyone seems to be in a rush. One has to pause and reflect to remember the town is really in Alabama, so little does it resemble the typical Southern village." The writer continued on in that vein by stating that a creamery was being started in the town and there were "good" churches and schools located there. Also, the writer noted that there was a shingle mill, a new bakery was under construction, and plans were under way to build a town hall with athletic quarters. In 1909, the Stelk brothers announced they would build a $5,000 building at the corner of South McKenzie Street and West Laurel Avenue.

A 1910 article in the Birmingham Age-Herald appeared impressed by Foley's growth as it noted that the area had been nothing but marshlands four years earlier. "But, the railroad built down into the marsh and stopped. A supply store or two were established to supply the transient demands of the wandering adventurers, the vanguard of the mighty tide of immigration that was soon to set in. The sag (depression in the earth) was drained out, sidewalks thrown up, plank walks built and some more houses erected. The growth has been steady, almost unnoticed. The population in the immediate vicinity now will show something like 750. The town has never been incorporated. The people are too busy to think of such things".

By then, the Onlooker and others, had begun to pressure the government to build a military highway from Fort Morgan to Foley. In January 1909, a Congressman Wiley introduced a bill to construct a road 28 miles long at a cost of $200,000. According to a 1910 article in the Onlooker."' A military road is needed. The road will open up 75 miles of coast; people from many states would buy summer homes'" Not much happened, though, and in 1914, the Alabama Good Roads Association worked to revive the project.

In 1911, the State Bank of Foley opened for business and, with John Foley its president, moved into the Stelk Brothers building. The bank had "paid-in capital" of $10,000 and was located in a new two-story brick building one block north of the Magnolia Hotel and just north of the Onlooker. By 1912, the town had a two-room school, Methodist, Baptist and Catholic churches, a bank, four hotels, fertilizer factory, sawmill, broom factory, bottling works, town hall, four general stores, hardware, furniture and agriculture implement stores, meat market, barber shop with bath and pool room, two liveries, undertaker, photograph gallery, two blacksmith shops, cotton and grist mill, jewelry, doctor, dentist, real estate and insurance agents, two shipping associations, telephone system and line and a newspaper (Ibid). Residents also built homes including, according to Manufacturers Records, a number of bungalows in 1912 - 1914. None remain in the downtown neighborhood.

While commerce got a foot hold in Foley, however, its success depended largely on the area's agricultural promise. According to the 1908 L & N publication, the soil in Baldwin County"' is very fertile, it is a rich sandy loam, from 8 to 18 inches in depth, overlying a heavy clay which serves to retain moisture and fertilizer applied.'" In 1910, the Baldwin County Producers Corporation formed under a special act of the State legislature to act as buying and selling agent for vegetable growers all over the county. One year later, records showed that the railroad shipped 7,648 tons of farm projects or supplies. The next year, it had drastically increased its shipping to 11,412 tons. At the same time, membership in the producers' corporation had risen to143 growers.

One of the county's primary crops was potatoes (both sweet and Irish) which, until the late 1940s, was an Foley economic staple. Potato sheds dotted the town's landscape until at least the 1960s, although only one remains. Other important crops were peaches and oranges. According to a December 1908 edition of the Folev Onlooker."' the New York Fruit Trade Journal, Kishi, a Japanese of near Orange, Texas, had introduced from his native land some Satsuma oranges he claims are immune from frost and of fine flavor.'" Just over a later, a Dr. W. H. Ludwig planted 2,000 orange trees just northwest of Foley which yielded 1,200 crates of the fruit less than three years later. That same year, in 1913, Fole's newspaper reported also that a J. Cudahy planted to plant 10,000 Satsuma orange trees. Other major Foley crops were velvet beans, 40 acres of which John Foley planted, pecans, and grapefruit trees. Milk production also became important, and in 1912, the town looked forward to construction of a large dairy barn with feed troughs.

In January 1915, by a count of 21 - 6, citizens of Foley voted to incorporate. Although G.I Weatherly was elected its first mayor, he had, by October resigned, and C. A. Boiler was appointed to serve about a year. At that point, October 1916, he was elected to a four year term. With that, the town had the power to plan for its future, and to regulate its growth, health and welfare. One of the most pressing problems was Foley's location in and around swamps that caused significant health problems related to influenza. As a result, in 1918, the town passed an ordinance, pursuant to a recommendation by the Governor, that privies be regulated, and that all premises be kept free of trash, and waste. In addition, waste containers were to be tightly shut and removed from the city limits at least once a month. The same year, the town voted to improve its electrical light system, install twelve new street lights, organize the town's first telephone exchange, and build its first concrete sidewalks at a cost of 11 cents per square foot.

By 1919, the subject of the town's poor roads began to attract substantial interest. Cars had appeared, but roads had not improved enough to accommodate them. Aside from the private toll road nearby in Lillian, most inland traffic was haphazard and rugged. According to Mayor Boiler, the road from Foley to Bay Minette at that time crossed the railroad tracks 24 times." ' I always said,'" he later recalled,"' the road builders were afraid they would los sight of the railroad tracks and get lost.'" Other citizens and groups began to mobilize and in April 1919, Baldwin County residents and some from Pensacola, met in Fairhope to discuss building an Interurban Road through Baldwin County. At its close, they resolved to endorse a Coast Interurban and motor highway linking New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola, that Mobile and Baldwin Counties would cooperate, and that the road would go through Baldwin County. They also voted to apply for federal funding to build it.

As Foley and Baldwin County made plans for the future, many important commercial buildings and homes were constructed in town. One house remains, a two and one half story Colonial Revival style house on West Laurel Avenue where other houses were built during the 1920s-40s three of which remain. In addition, c. 1915, John Foley deeded a major tract of land in the middle of town for a city park where baseball games, the Foley Fair, and other activities were held. Five commercial buildings remain from the 1910s including a quaint one story free standing weatherboard store with a front parapet containing fish scale shingles (Inv. # 98), the Farmer's Mutual Co-op now H. H. Hamburg & Sons potato shed, a very nice two story brick Mission Revival style bakery which provided baked goods throughout the county, and the 1917 Progressive Club Building. The Foley Progressive Club had been organized in 1910, and that year, the Magnolia Land Company donated land for it to build a club house from which it could see to the town's interests. Until 1916, a year after the town incorporated, the building continued to be used for official town business and boosterism, as well as dances and parties. That year, however, it burned down but was rebuilt in its present location.

In 1920, Foley had a population of 242, but by the next year, it had soared to 441, and prosperity seemed at hand. On Friday, January 13, 1921, though, a devastating fire burnt through downtown leaving most of the business district in ashes. Over a dozen businesses were affected. When the State Bank of Foley on the southwest corner of Laurel Avenue and McKenzie Street was threatened, the bank's president and local citizens removed all its deposits and most of its furnishings from the building. The fire moved from the south up the western side of McKenzie Street, the town's main north/south thoroughfare. Some of the businesses destroyed were Manning's barber shop, Huff news stand, the Idle Hour Theatre and Williams lunch stand. After the fire, Foley officials voted to require building permits, and wooden buildings could no longer be built within the business district.

Within a year after the fire, Foley's first post office had been completed on the corner of Laurel Avenue and McKenzie Street. Supervising architect was James A. Wetmore of Washington, D. C. and "local" designer was prominent Montgomery architect, Frank Lockwood. In c. 1925, a number of very important buildings were constructed downtown including the $200,000 Italian Renaissance Revival style hotel designed by the prominent architectural firm of Warren, Knight & Davis, and included 46 rooms 33 of which included private baths, a theatre, as well as six stores in what is likely the state's first indoor mall; the two story Mission Revival style Masonic Temple designed by George B. Rogers, and the Orange Crush Bottling Company built by the George C. Randolph Company.

Many other commercial buildings were built during the 1920s including several of the district's houses. A fine Tudor Revival style house remains in the northern end of the district. Two Craftsman style houses are also extant from the period including one on Jessamine Avenue and one on West Laurel Avenue. Several commercial blocks also went up on South McKenzie including especially in the 100 block, and plans were drawn up to landscape the park and build sidewalks through it.

By 1928, Foley's population had nearly doubled (Comings and Albers). As a result perhaps, of so much growth and development, one issue that worsened and persisted was Foley's inability to drain off excess surface water. According to then mayor James Dumas, the town was" experiencing growing pains." In 1920, the town adopted an ordinance to establish a datum which was established at" a level plane, at the same height above sea level, as a point one hundred feet below the top of the concrete block on the south east corner of the platform at the L. & N. Depot.... [and that thereafter] all grades established for any purpose [ must comply with the datum]." He, and succeeding Mayor Arthur Hoik, also pushed for a water works and sewerage system. In the summer of 1924, the town voted to hire civil engineer, R. J. Greenwood, to draw up plans for a sewerage system and assess all property that would be affected by it. Bids were received and the job went to the Loxley Construction Company.

Mayors Dumas and Hoik also focused on better roads. In October 1922, Mayor Dumas introduced a new "movement" to build a causeway to Mobile and "various towns in Baldwin County were asked to help bring pressure on the Highway Department to bring this about. The State Highway Department at this time consisted of twelve members and were in session at Mobile, to consider the feasibility of such a project." As a result, Dumas recalled, he headed a delegation to Mobile to invite the Highway Commission to a Banquet at the Foley Progressive Hall... [There], he said, "we voiced our approval of connecting Baldwin and Mobile County by a highway." Frank Barchard Sr., owner of the Onlooker, however, according to Dumas, "was violently opposed to the building of this road, as he thought it would hurt Baldwin County Merchants, never giving a thought that there were a hundred thousand people in Mobile, that were anxious to come across the Bay to live, and to commute to Mobile".

Unfortunately for the Onlooker owner, according to Dumas, "on the day that the Highway Commission visited us the Onlooker came out with a special edition, with big headlines stating that the Foley Business Men went on record as favoring the building up of Mobile in preference to Baldwin County. The Foley business men took this as a slap in the face, and thirteen of them withdrew their advertising from the Onlooker".

By the mid 1920s, developers had begun to plan major beach projects that needed smooth access to the coast. In 1924, according to the Manufacturers Record. W R. Healie, president of Beverly Farms Corporation, acquired 508 of land on Perdido Bay and "contemplates" construction of a clubhouse at a cost of $1,000,000. In 1927, a George C. Meyer was reported "interested in developing beach properties" .

Soon, of course, in 1929, the stock market crashed and the nation was plunged into its worst economic crisis ever. Even as late as 1930, though, according to a report from the Alabama Industrial Development Board, some believed that the catastophe might not hit Foley. "' Foley is a prosperous town ..., read.'" '"It has excellent water and is served electricity by a local company. It has a compact business section and a number of fine homes, a nine-hole golf course and club house. Excellent fishing is available in the Gulf of Mexico and Perdido Bay.'" The report continued, saying"' The Gulf and Bay shores offer recreational opportunities, particularly fishing, second to none in this entire Gulf section . . . [but] there is not a first class resort hotel or club in the county'".

The sunny outlook found in this report, though, was wrong. During the 1920s, crop prices had not risen for Foley farmers, while farm supplies had. Potatoes that had sold for $1 dollar per hundred pounds in early 1931 had fallen to 65 cents by the end of the year. Corn fared no better, nor did cucumbers and other major crops, and farmers were going under. County banks struggled to hold on, and in 1932, the Foley Farmers & Merchants Bank (formerly the State Bank of Foley) closed down. According to local historian Tom Stoddard, "The two years following the banking crisis were disastrous. Baldwin County farmers shipped fewer than 1,000 cars of potatoes and only 1,872 cars of all produce in 1932. The following year was only slightly better." Owners of the beautiful Foley Hotel, opened just five years, moreover, had their property seized and sold at auction.

Public improvements projects during the1930s and 40s, however, began to reverse Foley's economy. In 1930, workers began surveying the area between Perdido Bay and Mobile Bay, as the first step toward the long awaited for Intracoastal Waterway between Pensacola and Mobile Bay. But, before dredging could get underway in 1931, ' Mobile interests ' began to agitate for a more southerly route through Lake Shelby and Little Lagoon. South Baldwin groups opposed that, though, and "won the fight," according to Stoddard. Dredging soon began, he noted, but it was heavily"' supervised '" by Baldwin county residents Upon completion, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach "truly became an island." (Ibid, p. 54).

The same year that the Intracoastal Waterway got started in 1930, Governor Ben Miller visited the Gulf Beaches and expressed his desire to have a state park there where everyone in Alabama would be able to visit the coast and to"' breathe the wonderful salt air.'" Getting the state legislature to go along with the idea, however, was to prove problematic. According to George Meyer, a developer interested in the project, convincing the legislature proved one of the most challenging efforts of his life. Meyer's wife remembered, "' They couldn't understand. George said the day will come when you will understand'.

Meyer and his partner had bought a large section of beach property and gave about 700 acres to the state. Facilities were spare and only included seven camp buildings, a picnic shelter, two piers and a caretaker's house. There were also 40 acres where poisonous plants, snakes, alligators and feral pigs lived, according to the Onlooker. By 1937, Meyer had given or sold another 4,500 acres to the state, and at that time, the federal government and the U. S. Army made a contribution by sending 20 to construct barracks for workers being sent down by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). By 1941, the CCC had completed roads into the state park, as well as cottages, and a " 'Big Casino'".

Other programs of the New Deal also supported Foley's new beach economy and growth. Included were the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) effort to convert the winding sand trail from Gulf Shores to Fort Morgan onto the Fort Morgan Highway. By 1937, 62 miles of surface road had been paved including the 15 miles from Foley to the Lillian Bridge. Work on the Foley-Gulf Shores continued. According to local historian Tom Stoddard, "Foley felt the growing popularity of the beach in increased road traffic... Crosby's Drug Store ... became a popular stopping place for the ice cream made there, as well as a sweet orangeade the Crosbys whipped up".

Foley's economy was noticeably stimulated by the investment and excitement generated by these big, federally funded projects. Private investment came too. In 1936, hospital facilities were being completed in the second floor of the Stelk Brothers building. At the same time, a new hospital was completed next door in a fine two story stucco building. Together they were dedicated as the Holmes Memorial Hospital. At about the same time, the town built a new city hall north of the commercial center on North McKenzie Street, as were several warehouses, commercial buildings on South Alston Street and new houses were constructed including one two story brick house that remains extant on West Laurel Avenue. In 1937, moreover, the American Legion Post 99, organized the State's first such group in Foley (Comings and Albers) and moved into the Progressive Club building where it constructed a ballroom and skating rink inside. It remained there until the late 1940s.

By the 1940s and 1950s, Foley's economy experienced a major boom partly owing to a revived agricultural base based on potatoes but also increasingly on harvesting gladiolas for sale, and partly owing to the new tourist traffic industry. In 1940, the census reported a population of 864; by 1950 it would grow to 1,292. In 1940, according to Tom Stoddard, the economy was still based on " farming and small farms, at that." As a result, during the late 1940s two major agricultural-related industries built huge facilities in Foley. One was the International Farm Implementation Dealership plant which was constructed in a fine Art Modern Style, and the other was the Reimers grainery near the heart of town which processed and stored corn, and manufactured insecticides.

Meanwhile roads continued to be improved including completion of the highway to Magnolia Springs, making it easier for industries of all sorts to get in and out of the coastal area. As a result of that, as well as Foley's proximity to Mobile Bay, by 1941, the war industry began to make a significant impact on Foley's economy and growth. In 1941, Fort Morgan was reactivated, and a year later the Barin Naval Field was established with airstrips at Foley, Gulf Shores, Magnolia Springs, and Silverhill. Within two years after that, prison of war camps had been set up in Foley and Loxley. All resulted in new people in town, many of them with money to spend, and new travel up and down the highways connecting Foley to the beach and other county towns.

With car traffic, of course, came the need for fuel and car maintenance, and by the mid 1940s, Foley's downtown district became dotted with automobile-related business. By c. 1945, there were three gas stations on the way in or out of Foley that remain, and by the late 1940s, there were two new major garages in Foley, one on the north end on North McKenzie Street, and one on the south end on South Alston Street. In 1946, the new Art Deco car
dealership was under construction on South McKenzie Street (Sanborn Map, 1946), and the next year it was completed. Many commercial buildings were built downtown as well during the late 1940s, including a number of one story Art Moderne style buildings. Two churches were also built including the First Presbyterian Church on North Alston Street, and the First United Methodist Church on the far western edge of the district. Across the street from the Methodist church, an International style doctor's office was also built.

In 1947, moreover, Governor Jim Folsom dedicated the Alabama Beach at Gulf State Park (Ibid, p. 144). Three years later, Baldwin Oil Mills located in Foley but no longer remains. By the early 1950s, tourist traffic and the war industry teamed up again to boost Foley's economy and development, and nearly tripling the population from 1950 to 1970. In 1951, Foley's National Guard unit was activated for the Korean War, and Barin Field was reopened for business in Foley. At the same time, dozens of officer's quarters were being constructed about a half mile east of the downtown district where they remain virtually intact. Houses and new businesses came too including one c. 1950 commercial building that remains on North McKenzie Street and a 1952 gas station on the southern edge of town. In 1954, the Dairy Queen was built downtown in what was seemingly the perfect location at the western end of the commercial area, adjacent to several houses on one side, the Methodist Church on the other, and across the street from the 1948 doctor's office.

Throughout the 1950s - present, Foley and Baldwin County has experienced some of the most dramatic, if not the most dramatic growth in the state. Roads and beach traffic remain its life's blood with the last phase of the Bayway having opened in 1977, and in 2000 the Foley Beach Express was finished. Such an abundance of traffic led, in the 1990s, to the development of huge outlet retail stores in Foley about a mile outside downtown. Such prosperity has brought enormous pressure to Foley to manage the preservation and protection of its historic resources, while building a profitable economic base. As part of that effort, the city, among other things, had funded this effort to document its historic downtown.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2012.