Sand Town

Sand Town. . , Sand Town, the oldest African American neighborhood in the area of Spring Hill, in Mobile, Alabama, was established before 1845 by former enslaved and free, indigenous people of color. Sand Town residents built their own homes, school and places of worship and founded the Rising Sons Cemetery. It is a thriving community populated by multigenerational descendants of the original, proud and hard working property owners., The Spring Hill School for Colored applied to open in 1873 and remained open through the 1948-1949 school year. The Mt. Hebron Methodist Church was formed in 1874. After a fire in 1884, a new church was constructed at the corner of Spring Hill Avenue and Knowles Street. Sand Town ancestors, former residents and veterans are buried in the Rising Sons Cemetery, located at the end of Knowles Street., In 1937, under the guidance of Spring Hill College, St. Augustine Catholic Church, a log cabin, was built for Colored Catholics in the area. It existed until 1963, when many African American Catholics in Spring Hill began attending St Ignatius Catholic Church. Windows and doors for St. Augustine Church are installed in the Mt. Hebron A.M.E. Zion Church. , The community and descendants of Sand Town grew from the original founding families and residents listed below, who resided on Knowles Street: , . Christopher Knowles . Lewis Morgan , . Elizabeth Johnson . Theodore Johnson , . Manuel Milligan , , Originally, Sand Town was comprised of land in and around Spring Hill Avenue and Knowles Street, and eventually grew to include Mordecai and Sheips Lanes and land to the Three Mile Creek.