A Community near Montgomery was Erased in 1931

      It has been almost a century since the town of Douglasville, Alabama ceased to be.

     Details about it were in a story by the Maxwell Air Force media team earlier this year, but I missed it.

"Douglassville was an independent, thriving African-American neighborhood with small farms, restaurants, stores, churches, and many community organizations. It remained a self-sustaining community until 1910, when the Wright brothers traveled to Montgomery looking for an area to set up an aviation school. This attracted aviation to Montgomery and eventually led to the formation of Maxwell."

“Maxwell needed more land to be a full-fledged aviation school, and Douglassville was located right in the middle of the existing Maxwell Field and additional plantation land that the government had purchased,” Ali explained. “In 1931, an eminent domain declaration spelled the end for the Douglassville community.”

1928 Maxwell Field

"This aerial image taken circa 1928 shows Maxwell Field on the left and the African-American community of Douglassville on the right. As Maxwell’s mission continued to grow during the 1920s, which necessitated the need for more land, the government, through the imminent domain process, acquired the town of Douglassville." (U.S. Air Force archival image)