Montevallo City Cemetery

Montevallo City Cemetery. Shelby County. , The settlement of Wilson's Hill developed after Jesse Wilson, who was the first settler in the area in 1814, built a log cabin near the present-day site of Montevallo City Cemetery. The town's name changed to Montevallo, Italian for "on a mound in a valley," when it became a candidate for the location of the new University of Alabama in 1826. The property was first used as a graveyard when Wilson buried his daughter, Jane McQuirter, in 1820. Jesse's wife, Elizabeth, passed away ten years later in 1830 and is buried close to Jane. Well-preserved stone markers remain at their graves today. An early history of the town states that Montevallo's first Methodist church. founded in 1818, was located on the hill above the Wilson family graves. Dr. Joshua West, a founder, and his wife, Hannah, are buried nearby. The city's first Masonic Lodge and a school were also located in the middle of the present-day cemetery., (Reverse Side) , By 1853, the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad had constructed 55% miles of track from Selma to Montevallo, which is still in use today, Consequently, the town's core began to drift toward the railroad and the adjacent Shoal Creek. In the intervening years, this land transitioned gradually to the town cemetery. The cemetery accepted burials of black and white citizens, although distinctly segregated sections developed and continue to be discernible. Prominent and civic-minded individuals and families from the area are also buried here. some of whom have streets in the cemetery named for them. Henry Clay Reynolds. the first president of Alabama Girls Industrial School, now known as the University of Montevallo, rests beneath a granite slab and marker near the center of the property. Most of Montevallo's former mayors are buried in the cemetery along with more than 400 military veterans. Listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register on June 27, 2024 .