Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Edmonton Heights Historic District
Established June 6, 2021
Photographed by Deborah Spencer, June 29, 2025
1. Edmonton Heights Historic District Marker
Inscription.
Edmonton Heights Historic District. Established June 6, 2021. Platted in 1958, Edmonton Heights is among Huntsville's earliest planned suburbs designed for African Americans. Its development illustrates the combined effects of post-war growth and racial discrimination in federal and local housing policy upon the African American community. Edmonton Heights provided housing for some residents displaced by the city's Urban Renewal program, known as the Heart of Huntsville. The architecture is predominantly intact post-World War II era housing stock. It is thought to be the most well-preserved of the African American neighborhoods established by Folmar and Flinn, one of the twentieth-century South's largest speculative building companies. Teachers at Councill High School and Alabama A&M University, nurses at Huntsville Hospital, workers at Redstone Arsenal, brick masons, cab drivers, preachers, cooks, and janitors were among its early residents. In March 1962, Edmonton Heights hosted civil rights leaders Dr. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Denied accommodations in the city's hotels because of segregation, the two men spent the night at the home of Fellowship Presbyterian Church's founding pastor Rev. Ezekiel Bell, formerly located at 101 Whitney Avenue NE. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Platted in 1958, Edmonton Heights is among Huntsville's earliest planned suburbs designed for African Americans. Its development illustrates the combined effects of post-war growth and racial discrimination in federal and local housing policy upon the African American community. Edmonton Heights provided housing for some residents displaced by the city's Urban Renewal program, known as the Heart of Huntsville. The architecture is predominantly intact post-World War II era housing stock. It is thought to be the most well-preserved of the African American neighborhoods established by Folmar and Flinn, one of the twentieth-century South's largest speculative building companies. Teachers at Councill High School and Alabama A&M University, nurses at Huntsville Hospital, workers at Redstone Arsenal, brick masons, cab drivers, preachers, cooks, and janitors were among its early residents. In March 1962, Edmonton Heights hosted civil rights leaders Dr. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Denied accommodations in the city's hotels because of segregation, the two men spent the night at the home of Fellowship Presbyterian Church's founding pastor Rev. Ezekiel Bell, formerly located at 101 Whitney Avenue NE. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Erected
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2023 by The City of Huntsville and Alabama Historical Assocaition.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights. A significant historical month for this entry is March 1962.
Location. 34° 46.527′ N, 86° 34.333′ W. Marker is in Huntsville, Alabama, in Madison County. It is at the intersection of Meridian Street and Wilkenson Drive, on the right when traveling north on Meridian Street. Located on the SE Corner of Meridian Street and Wilkenson Drive. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Huntsville AL 35811, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Alabama. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 8, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 6, 2025, by Deborah Spencer of Huntsville, Alabama. This page has been viewed 231 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on July 6, 2025, by Deborah Spencer of Huntsville, Alabama. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.
