Williams Station Day: Walnut Hill Man Responsible For Founding Atmore

October 23, 2009

williams10.jpg

A Walnut Hill man’s founding of the railroad supply stop that would later become Atmore will be celebrated this weekend with the annual Williams Station Day.

This weekend’s Williams Station Day  remembers Atmore’s past, a past that started with William “Uncle Bud” Larkin Williams of Walnut Hill.

In 1816, John Gaylor settled in the Walnut Hill area on land from a Spanish Land Grant. A great deal of that land was later sold to Williams who began a logging and cattle operation in the Walnut Hill area sometime prior to the Civil War.

Just after the Civil War, in 1866, Williams opened a supply stop along the Mobile and Great Northern Railroad in the area that would later become Atmore. The area around the supply stop thrived, later becoming known as Williams Station. The name of the settlement was changed to Atmore in 1897.

As for Walnut Hill’s Williams, he served as a spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was captured by the Union Army but was later released after he convinced the Union soldiers that he was just an innocent man traveling to Pensacola.

Williams allowed the Florida 13th Cavalry to camp at his Walnut Hill home, which was near the current Ernest Ward Middle School. A number of those soldiers died during their stay and were buried in a small cemetery. That cemetery was located between the current Walnut Hill Community Center and Bradberry Park. It is no longer recognizable.

Walnut Hill’s first log school and a Methodist Church were built on land owned by Williams near the present-day intersection of Highway 97 and Arthur Brown Road. The log church was later rebuilt and named the Annie Jones Methodist Church.

Sources: “Walnut Hill, A Historical Overview” compiled by Billy R. Ward from Escambia County Land Records researched by Robert Glenn Thrower, Sr. and “History of Ernest Ward School” by William Arthur Brown; and from northwestfloridacomm.com, compiled by students at Northview High School.

Pictured: William “Uncle Bud” Williams, the Walnut Hill man that founded Alabama settlement that would later become Williams Station and then Atmore. This photo is believed to have been taken at his 88th birthday celebration in McDavid on February 18, 1895. Click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “Williams Station Day: Walnut Hill Man Responsible For Founding Atmore”

  1. interested reader on October 23rd, 2009 5:26 pm

    THANKS for the great info. This is a wonderful bit of history. We just don’t know what we will find when we start looking. I always wondered why it was called Williams Station day! Keep up the good work. We here in the north end would still be in the dark if not for this great site.

  2. Century girl on October 23rd, 2009 5:10 pm

    My dad always said that Atmore was first called “William’s Switch”. Does anyone know if it was ever called that too?

  3. Ernest Ward Student 1965/Bratt resident on October 23rd, 2009 2:22 am

    William, This is so neat. I did not know any of this. I have always heard about C.P. Atmore and his work but not old, “Uncle Bud”. I wonder if he is kin to any of the present day Williams that a still around. Hum…
    William is there any books by Thower, Ward or Brown/Students?
    I sure would like to read about the area.

    Thanks

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News