Tuscaloosa: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

A. G. S. Station, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Alabama Great Southern Railroad
YESTERDAY Tuscaloosa’s loaders started in 1850 trying to bring in o railroad which they know would be more more direct and more frequent than steamboats for a growing industrial economy. They succeeded in 1872, when the Alabama and Chattanooga line come to town. This line, renamed the Alabama Great Southern in 1878 was the county’s only rail service until 1898, when the Mobile and Ohio (M & C) made Tuscaloosa a stop on its run from Columbus, Mississippi to Montgomery. The A. G. S. had built a large passenger depot of the southern edge of town, on Greensboro Avenue, complete with covered platform, roomy waiting room and water tower. Photos courtesy of W. 3. Hoole Special Collections Library.