Dale County (Completed)

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1.   Claybank Log Church – E. Andrews Ave.   Ozark
2.   Samuel Lawson Dowling House – 311 Owens St.  Ozark
3.   J.D. Holman House – 409 E. Broad St.   Ozark
4.   Oates-Reynolds Memorial Building – Oates St.   Newton

[Guidedawg]

1.   Claybank Log Church – E. Andrews Ave.   Ozark

Claybank Log Church is a historic church in Ozark, Alabama. The building is the second church on the site, replacing a similar structure built in 1829. The current building was constructed by a Methodist minister, although the church was also used for various community functions. It is believed to be the oldest extant building in Dale County. In 1873, the congregation built a new church closer to the center of town. The log church was used only sporadically after 1900, and was purchased by the Claybank Memorial Association in the 1960s. The interior of the church was restored to its original appearance in 1980.

The church consists of one large room, measuring 30 feet, 5 inches, by 25 feet, 3 inches (approximately 9 by 7.5 meters). The walls are formed by pine logs ranging in diameter from 12 to 15.5 inches (30 to 40 cm) joined at the corners by dovetail joints.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places November 7,1976

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2.   Samuel Lawson Dowling House – 311 Owens St.  Ozark

The Samuel Lawson Dowling House is a historic residence in Ozark, Alabama. The house was built in 1870 by Samuel Lawson Dowling, whose family was one of the first groups to settle in Dale County, Alabama. Lawson's grandfather, Dempsey, was a Methodist minister who came to the Wiregrass Region from Darlington County, South Carolina, and helped found Claybank Church near Ozark. Samuel was a farmer, county treasurer, and construction contractor who built the first Methodist church in town.

The house is similar in style to a Tidewater-type cottage, which was popular on the Atlantic coastal plain where many of Dale County's early settlers came from. Being built just before the railroad came to Ozark, it was one of the first architecturally styled homes in the area; most previous houses were log structures that emphasized function over form. The single-story house is five bays wide, with a steeply pitched gable roof and exterior chimneys in the gable ends. A shallow porch covers the front door, which features a transom and sidelights, and a pair of six-over-one sash windows on either side of the door. The windows were originally six-over-six sashes, but were replaced around 1920. The interior is laid out in a center-hall plan, with two large rooms at the front of the house on either side of a hallway, and two smaller rooms behind. A two-room ell was added to the rear of the home around 1900.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996

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3.   J.D. Holman House – 409 E. Broad St.   Ozark

The J. D. Holman House is a historic residence in Ozark, Alabama. One of the most elaborate Neoclassical homes in the Wiregrass Region, it was built in 1912–13 for Jesse DeCosta Holman, a prominent local merchant. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

History

Holman, a native of Ozark, began in the livestock business in the 1890s by selling a mule belonging to his father. The business flourished, and allowed him to invest in other enterprises, including a cotton mill (one of the first in Southeast Alabama) and a Buick dealership.

The house was built in 1912–1913 at a cost of around $75,000 (equivalent to $1,963,889 in 2020). Following Holman's death in 1960, it remained in the family until 1982, when it was purchased by Jack Mizell for $120,000. The city of Ozark purchased the house in 2013 for $296,000.

Architecture

The Holman House is a two-story structure, measuring about 62 feet (19 meters) square. It was designed in a Neoclassical style by Montgomery architect C. Frank Galliher.

Two identical porticos are centered on the front and west elevations, facing Broad and Mutual Streets. Four Corinthian columns support a triangular pediment and entablature. An elaborately outlined oval window adorns the center of the pediment. The main entry is surrounded by a latticed transom and sidelights, which are flanked by pilasters with capitals that match the main columns. Above the main entrance is a balcony with wrought iron railings, which features a door with similar transom and sidelights as that below. The portico is framed by pilasters against the house which match the main columns.

A wrap-around porch stretches around the west, south (front), and east sides of the house. On the front elevation, French windows with fanlights on either side of the portico open onto the porch. Casement windows with lattice lights above sit on the second story above the French windows. On the east side, there are two French windows with casements above and a porte-cochère below a small balcony. Windows on the west elevation are one-over-one double-hung sash windows, except for casements on a sleeping porch off the rear of the house.

The interior of the house is laid out with a central hall with two bedrooms and a library on one side, and a dining room and salon on the other. A mantel in the library features reliefs of a horse and a mule, emblematic of Holman's early business. The stairwell at the end of the hall is flanked by Corinthian columns. The second floor corresponds to the first, with a central hall between three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dressing room, and access to the sleeping porch

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4.   Oates-Reynolds Memorial Building – Oates St.   Newton

The Oates–Reynolds Memorial Building (also known as the Girls' Dormitory of the Baptist Collegiate Institute) is a historic building in Newton, Alabama. The Baptist Collegiate Institute was founded in 1898, providing elementary, high school, and early college education. One of the oldest educational institutions in the Wiregrass Region, the school had over 250 students by 1918. The entire campus burned in the early 1920s, and a classroom building and girls' dormitory were built to replace it. The Institute closed in 1929; the classroom building was taken over by the public school system, and the dormitory was rented out.

The dormitory currently serves as the town library and museum.

The building was constructed in Classical Revival style. The structure is built of brick and masonry, and consists of a front portion with gables on three sides and a rear wing which contained the dormitory rooms. The building contains 36 rooms, 18 on each floor, including the first floor lobby and a bath and storage area on the second floor. The front of the building is anchored by four large columns supporting a two-story portico.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.