Browse Items (4796 total)

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  "The head of Big Spring Huntsville Ala."

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  "Hotel Monte Sano."

  The hotel opened on June 1, 1887 as a luxury health resort. It was built by the North Alabama Improvement Company with funding from Michael and James O'Shaughnessy. The hotel closed in 1900 and was demolished in 1944.
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  "Lilly Lake -- Monte Sano."

  This photo shows a scene at Lily Lake on the grounds of Col. James O'Shaughnessy's home on Monte Sano. According to the Historic Huntsville Quarterly, the structure in the foreground of the photo is a "four-tiered vertical framework covered with ivy, and reaching an impressive height of twelve feet or so."
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  "The Valley of Huntsville."

  The view shows Athens Pike (now Holmes Avenue) in Huntsville, Alabama, with Monte Sano Mountain in the background.
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  Monte Sano Boy Scout troop on a camping trip.

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  Photo of the cast of a production of Snow White at the Monte Sano community pool.

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  Topographical map of Monte Sano.

  This map was drawn by William W. Varnedoe, Jr. and published by the Monte Sano Civic Association. It shows Monte Sano's neighborhoods, the state park, and the mountain's natural features, including springs and caves. The map also notes changes in elevation.
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  "Your Family Survival Plan."

  The pamphlet instructs readers how to build a fallout shelter and includes instructions for storing food and water, specifications for building materials, and charts for keeping track of food and water supply, shelter supplies and equipment, and first aid.
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  Transcript of a speech given by Wernher von Braun to the Alabama Legislature.

  Von Braun, then the director of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, delivered this speech to the legislature in 1961. In the speech, he emphasizes that Alabama must take advantage of its position in the aerospace industry and create a robust "academic and research environment" in Huntsville to attract businesses that "will give birth to major new industries throughout the state." He exhorts the legislature to fund the newly established University of Alabama Research Institute (now part of the University of Alabama in Huntsville), arguing that "the Institute will not only be self-sustaining, but will enrich the State both financially and culturally." The legislature later approved von Braun's request of $3 million for the Research Institute, enabling the purchase of 200 acres of land for the campus and the construction of the Institute in 1964. The speech includes copies of slides von Braun used during his presentation, including diagrams of Saturn and Nova rockets as well as a mockup of a Saturn rocket on the lawn of the state capitol in Montgomery.
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  Official program of the Monte Sano State Park Celebration.

  This celebration was held on the park's opening day. Events included a parade, an address given by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives William B. Bankhead, a history pageant, and a "Queen's Ball" that evening at the Russel Erskine Hotel. The program includes a description of the cabins, the "Legend of Monte Sano," a history of Huntsville, and a program for the history pageant, titled "The Parade of Progress."