Hi Chick,
Back in the 1950s, there was only the TriCities: Tuscumbia, Sheffield, Florence. Even the newspaper was called the TriCities Daily. At that time, Muscle Shoals was considered part of Sheffield -- and all the kids living in the Muscle Shoals area went to Sheffield schools. I lived in Muscle Shoals, on Central Avenue, for several years -- and it was always part of Sheffield.
So, with Tuscumbia to the south and Florence to the north, that puts Sheffield in the middle. Hence, the center of the Shoals area. Makes sense to me.
And, at this ad from the 1920s tells us: Sheffield, Alabama: Heart Of Muscle Shoals.
Way to go, Ian.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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As that ad tells us, Shurfiel' had some things going for it in the 1920s that it certainly no longer has. Yep, Shurfiel'--"high rank as a manufacturing center" and "City of Opportunity!!
And note that description of "transportation unexcelled by any city in the Tennessee Valley."
They must not have had that notorious railroad crossing back in the 1920s.
Lo, how the mighty has fallen!
Shurfiel'--no place to go but up.
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I think back in the 20's a railroad in the downtown was considered an asset. Sheffield used to have trollies, and not so much automobile traffic, which was probably why the tracks were not such a negative issue .
It does seem strange to me tho, that Sheffield has not managed to rise to the level of the big cities like Corinth that has what seems like a world of underpasses on it's streets, or Iuka which has an underpass and an overpass.
Also, in the 20's Woodward Ave had not even been thought of , and hwy 20 to Decatur was not too much, maybe not even paved. All traffic East and West on hwy 72 went thru Sheffield as well as Tuscumbia and Florence once the bridge was built, but now East and West traffic does not even think of going thru those towns.
As the bypass we now know as Woodward Ave, along with the bypass we now know as Hwy 72 and 20 , business left all the down town areas and moved along those routes plus the suburbs and the automobile kinda ended the downtown concept and Sheffield suffered the worse of the bunch. Maybe the main thing is the question someone has to ask themselves is "how do I get to downtown Sheffield without tearing up the undercarriage of my car, and why would I want to go there in the first place ?"