The Dailey-McCollister-Roberts Home

The Dailey-McCollister-Roberts Home. Calhoun County. Major Jacob Forney Dailey was an early pioneer settler and the first mayor of Cross Plains (1871-1874). He built this home around 1880 as a wedding gift for his daughter Mary Catherine, who married Alexander McCollister, mayor of Piedmont (1890-1891). This beautiful home, the first constructed on West Ladiga Street, featured the finest woodwork of the period with white, elaborately carved banisters and columns on gray walls. It is one of Piedmont's oldest and best-preserved homes. After several owners, the home was sold in 1905 to James Edmond Roberts, faithful deacon, clerk, and Sunday School superintendent at First Baptist Church of Piedmont. Daughters Miss Leola Roberts and Miss Ruby Roberts lived at 222 West Ladiga Street until their death. Both ladies graduated from and were educators for forty years each in the Piedmont City School System. , (Continued on other side) , On August 4, 1999, Miss Ruby bequeathed her home to the First Baptist Church of Piedmont, her beloved church of 75 years. Miss Ruby requested her home "to be used for the kingdom of God" and "not be torn down until 25 years after her death." In need of a parking lot, the church voted in 2015 to tear down the Roberts Home. The Piedmont Historical Society received ownership and worked with grant foundation partners, county government, and private donors to purchase land and move the home to 75 Southern Boulevard (former site of Southern Railroad track) and restore it to its original beauty. The Roberts Home Museum and "Night in the Museum" Hotel was established in 2018 to preserve Piedmont's history and sustain this historic home, thus promoting the historical society's motto of "Preserving Piedmont's history for our future." Listed in the Alabama Register of Historic Landmarks and Heritage, June 14, 2019 .