Point 5: Former Huntsville City Hall Building

116 Clinton Avenue E, corner of Washington Street and Clinton Avenue

This space was once home to Huntsville City Hall, constructed by the Brandons in the early 1890s. The building was demolished c.1914 for the Twickenham Hotel. The Huntsville Board of Aldermen met in this building when Daniel Brandon served as an Alderman from 1897-1905.

This building was the site of an address by Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt in 1895 on the importance of women’s suffrage.

The skill of the Brandons and their brick masons is reflected in the c. 1890s Huntsville City Hall Building.

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Henderson Brandon and Son awarded contract for brick and stonework.

An 1895 address by Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt in the Huntsville City Hall sparked the creation of Huntsville’s suffrage movement.

While Anthony and Catt were organizing white women who wanted voting rights, Huntsville’s Black women also desired voting rights. In 1895, noted author, abolitionist, and voting rights advocate Frances Ellen Watkins Harper visited Huntsville and spoke about women’s suffrage to Lakeside Methodist Church. Her visit had a strong impact on the Lakeside community. In 1920, after the ratification of the 19^thamendment, six Black women stared down Jim Crow and discriminatory voter registration provisions and successfully registered to vote. The Historic Huntsville Foundation dedicated a historic marker recognizing the bravery of Mary Binford, Ellen Brandon (the wife of Daniel Brandon), India Herndon, Lou Bertha Johnson, Celia Love, and Dora Lowery, mother of civil rights leader Dr. Joseph Lowery. This marker is located at William Hooper Councill Memorial Park, 620 St. Clair Avenue.