Old store near Little Rock/Butler Street/Steadham area
The late 1800s-mid 1900s saw the appearance of many small communities in our area as settlers moved in to get cheap land. Many of these settlements had at least one store, a post office, a school, usually more than one church and several families.
Steadham, Alabama was no different. Steadham exists now only in the yellowing pages of dusty old newspapers and few, if any, still remember the community. Little is known of the history of the settlement but it appears to have been situated south of Huxford and north of Little Rock, along Butler Street. The only semblance of time one can garner for the time frame of the community is from the 1890s to about 1940.
Whereas by no means an authority, this writer had never heard of Steadham so I had to pull together several sources to give a shot at an accurate reflection of what the tiny community's history was based upon the weekly chronical of newspaper articles that followed the community for over fifty years in local papers.
An early Pine Belt News article from September 23, 1909 talks of the community having a baseball team and a school. The Steadham boys beat Butler Street 16-8 in that long ago outing. Some of the residents involved in the game who lived in the community were the following:
Brother Driskell (served as the Umpire), a young Mr. Kirby who was the pitcher. Others who lived at Steadham during the early 1900s were: Mrs. P.B. Kirby, Mr. Frank Hixon, and Eli Brantley.
Steadham's store was a central location for the community although where it was located appears unknown. In the late 1920s the Atmore Advance reported on a box supper given at the school house on Saturday night, November 12 1927. "Quite a crowd attended, and Steadham is proud to say that, although she has not enjoyed the best of reputations in the past, everything was carried on very nicely and without interruption Saturday night. The people have considered that a good omen for the future." What the story behind the reputation may have been is lost to history.
We do know that a Ms. E.F. Slay was a teacher at Steadham in the late 1920s. The school was closed for a time in 1929 due to a flu epidemic. Yet the school closed sometime in the early 1930s. Among the residents of Steadham in the late 1920s-early 1930s era were: Miss Willia Grayou Henderson, Mr. Ed Grant, Mr. Rue Mason Jr., Miss Lizzie Granf and Minnie Kate Granf, and Mrs. G.W. Gulsby. Mr. Sanford Grant and family of Repton moved to Steadham in 1929 as well.
Dances were popular in Steadham in those days and Mrs. George Parker entertained a crowd of young people at a party on a recent Saturday night, according to the Atmore Advance from December 1, 1932. The same article also notes Mrs. S.B. Parker and children visiting Mrs. Jessie Helton and family the same week.
A surprise to this writer was learning that my grandfather lived in Steadham for a time in the mid 1930s as well in that an article from 1936 records a shopping trip to Atmore. The same article mentioned Mr. George McKinley as well, who may have owned a store at Steadham.
Steadham seems to slip from the pages of the old newspapers in the early 1940s, why the community's name fell into disuse is a mystery. No sign or old foundation of the school exists. If any readers know more about the Steadham community, or have family ties to any of the names mentioned here, please contact me at the number above in that I would like to research the history of this community further.
