Hobson City Museum preserves the rich history of Alabama’s first Black city
The main room of the Hobson City Museum displays artifacts from the town's rich history. (Joey Blackwell / Alabama News Center)
Walking down the hallways of the old Calhoun County Training School in Hobson City, the sound of footsteps on old wooden floors echo through the corridors. Yellow-painted cinder block walls are broken up by occasional display cases, each containing artifacts from the small Alabama town’s rich history.
At the corner of the hallway, a sign denotes the entrance to the latest addition to the old school building: the Hobson City Museum for the Study of African American Culture & History.
“What we want to do is tell the story of everyday people who lived and worked here in Hobson City,” said Hobson City Mayor Alberta McCrory. “Worshipped here, attended school here — because at one time, this school building was the only school where African Americans living in Calhoun County could receive a high school education. There was a city school, but there wasn’t a school for those that lived out here in the rural areas. So, growing up during the Jim Crow era, we just wanted to save as much of that as we could to tell the story.”
Hobson City is a town full of history. Founded in 1899, the town was the first all-African American city in Alabama, and just the second of its kind in the United States. While the 2020 census shows that the town’s population is around 777 people, its small size does not correlate with the cultural impact the town has had on the state.
While the old Calhoun County Training School building is the current site of the city’s Town Hall, 2023 brought another addition to the building. At Hobson City’s 124th Founder’s Day Festival — the town’s annual celebration of its history — the Hobson City Museum held its grand opening. Situated in two adjacent rooms down a corridor from the city offices, the museum houses artifacts, documents and personal accounts from the city’s residents spanning its 125-year history.
“Years back when we conceived the idea of establishing a museum that could help us save some of the history of Hobson City, that included collecting artifacts and documents about the town’s history and the people who lived here and worked here,” McCrory said. “We attended a workshop at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where they have a huge archival collection of things from historic Black towns and so forth, and so we wanted to do something similar in Hobson City because of its rich history.”
The city began collecting artifacts and documents, asking people to donate items of significance that helped tell the story of the town. Over time, the collection grew, and the museum began to take shape.
Artifacts and documents alone are not all that’s needed for a museum, though. With the space inside the former school designated as the museum’s location, work needed to be done to convert the space. The building sustained damage to its roof that required repairs, and the renovations to the building are ongoing. However, thanks to donations of both local residents and organizations alike, the building and its museum are in much better shape than in prior years.
The Alabama Power Foundation recently provided a donation to the Hobson City Museum to help fund its growing exhibits. McCrory said the funds will help purchase additional display cases for the museum’s artifacts as well as go toward the ongoing repairs to the building.
“It is a privilege to support the Town of Hobson City in its mission to preserve 125 years of rich history,” said Terry Smiley, vice president of Alabama Power’s Eastern Division. “The collaboration between the Alabama Power Foundation and the Hobson City Museum is crucial in preserving the town’s heritage, fostering community pride and ensuring that the legacy of Hobson City continues to inspire future generations to come.”
McCrory believes Hobson City can grow to be a tourist destination for those seeking to research African American history and culture. On top of completing renovations to the school building and converting it into a multifaceted asset for the community, the plan is to also install a computer setup so researchers can stop by and study Hobson City’s history.
“There’s an interest here for the museum, and people are really interested in learning about the people of Hobson City [and] the people of Alabama. As much as we can in the space that we have, we want to provide a good museum for people to visit and learn,” McCrory said. “That’s what we’ve set out to do, and things are working out very well for us.”
To learn more about the Hobson City Museum for the Study of African American Culture & History, click here. If you would like to learn more about the Alabama Power Foundation, click here.
