Council to consider funding historic Horton home move on Monday

Feb. 19—Advocates of moving to Decatur the home of a Scottsboro Boys judge who took a stand for justice say it could create a northern gateway into Alabama for the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, and they'd like the City Council to approve almost $900,000 to help with the house's relocation.

The home of Judge James Horton has been in Greenbrier in southeast Limestone County since 1940 after being relocated from Athens. Moving the home to Decatur could cost as much as $1.2 million, with the major expense coming from moving utilities along the house's path.

Two of Horton's granddaughters, Susan Faulkner and Jenny Horton, said they are willing to donate the house to the Celebrating Early Old Town with Art organization that is trying to establish a Scottsboro Boys museum in Decatur. According to Faulkner, Greenbrier is becoming industrialized and is no longer a suitable place for the home.

Mayor Tab Bowling called moving the Horton home "a legacy project" for the city.

"This is a real opportunity that will be good for the city of Decatur," the mayor said.

Frances Tate, a local artist and founder of the CEOTA organization, is leading the effort to move the home. She said the group got a $250,000 donation from the Decatur-Morgan Hospitality Association and $61,226 in other donations to offset some of the move's costs.

The Decatur council will consider at Monday's 10 a.m. meeting paying up to $888,774 on the remaining cost to move the Horton home. Tate said the group may have additional donations that could lower the city's cost even more but she can't talk about them until after Monday's vote. She has said the home would be relocated to the Old Town section of Northwest Decatur and said she'd provide more details on the location Monday.

Tate said she's hoping preparations for moving the house will start in March.

Council President Jacob Ladner said almost half of the cost for the move is in Limestone County so the city is talking with Athens Utilities about possibly reducing the expense.

"Once they turn on Wilson Street, there aren't as many power lines to move," Ladner said. "And then it's only one turn before the house arrives at its destination."

Ladner said he talked to the Horton granddaughters after a recent council meeting. He said he asked them for more time to see if the city could find a way to reduce costs.

"They were very nice but they've been dealing with this for two years and they're ready to move on," Ladner said. "They said the deadline for them is Feb. 20. They want to give the home, but, if we're not ready, they have other options."

CEOTA member Gerald Ginwright said the urgency to move the Horton home to Decatur is because "we're not the only one in line for this. If we miss this, we should be ashamed of ourselves."

Decatur Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester said the city's portion of the move will come out of the unassigned funds reserves, dropping this account to $19 million.

Bowling and Ladner said the city can afford the project, and Ladner said the city's financial position is strong enough that it can handle the expense without eliminating another planned project or purchase.

Councilman Billy Jackson said a civil rights museum could create a major revenue source for the city, and the city has to take advantage of the opportunity now.

"Being in the car business, people always say you make money by selling cars when you actually make money by buying. What is the cost if we don't buy (the Horton house)?" Jackson said.

Jackson said it's important the City Council find a way to fund the Horton house move because of the Scottsboro Boys case's lasting influence on the judicial system. Because of the case, prosecutors are barred from selecting jurors based on race, and the legal system is required to ensure defendants have adequate legal representation.

"This is Decatur's legacy," Jackson said.

Museum plans

CEOTA bought the home at 818 Sycamore St. N.W. where Victoria Price, one of two witnesses in the Scottsboro Boys case, stayed for two weeks during the retrial in Decatur of Haywood Patterson in the case. Tate said a civil rights museum would be built on land CEOTA owns next to the Price home.

The organization plans for the museum to feature Decatur's role in the civil rights movement and events like the Scottsboro Boys and the Tommy Lee Hines trials. It would also feature Old Town, the city's oldest neighborhood, and Tate's art.

She said CEOTA's goal is to raise $15 million to build the museum.

"That's a small number compared to other museums," Tate said. "But we really have a lot of community support."

Ginwright said Decatur would become the northern entrance to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail that already features popular museums in Birmingham and Montgomery. He projected a Decatur museum could attract 120,000 visitors in the first year and grow to 250,000 in the fifth year.

"We feel that's very, very conservative, but we would rather be conservative and do more than we project," Ginwright said.

The organization would like the museum to be added to the national Civil Rights Trail. The museum could be a bridge of civil rights era recognition between Nashville, Memphis and Birmingham to show north Alabama's part in the movement.

Tate has said the relocated Horton house would become a legal learning center for pre-law students, criminal justice students, history students and religion students.

Ladner said he supports the project but his concern is how CEOTA accomplishes its goals after the Horton home move is complete.

"How do they get it from this point to where it's open?" Ladner said. "Now the CEOTA board has to execute it from here."

Ginwright said they "have their radar on" a possible executive director to hire who has museum experience.

Ladner said he hopes the new administrator has experience in fundraising and starting and running a museum.

"The fundraising never ends," Ladner said.

History of house, case

The house's move to Greenbrier was the result of fallout from Horton's role in the Scottsboro Boys case.

The case began in 1931 when nine Black youths were arrested in Jackson County and falsely accused of raping two white women. They were indicted less than a week after their arrests and convicted less than a month after they were charged. All but the youngest defendant were sentenced to die in the electric chair.

After the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the convictions because the defendants weren't given adequate counsel, the second trial of Patterson was held in Decatur with Horton, who lived in Athens, presiding.

Despite one of the alleged victims testifying that their original allegations against the Scottsboro Boys were false and several witnesses providing conflicting testimony, the all-white jury convicted Patterson of rape and again sentenced him to death in Alabama's electric chair.

Believing the defendants were indeed innocent and the alleged victims had lied, Horton set aside the verdict on June 22, 1933, in a decision he read at the Limestone County Courthouse, ordering a new trial for Patterson and indefinitely postponing trials for the rest, ruling they could not get a fair trial.

After Horton set aside the verdict, he was removed from the case and lost his reelection bid a year later, never to serve on the bench again. So he decided to move his house from Athens. It had been completed in 1849 on what is now the corner of Hobbs Street and Marion Street, where Athens City Hall currently stands.

Horton lived in the house at the Greenbrier location from 1940 until he died in 1973.

The Scottsboro Boys case continued, and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court ruled jury selection in the case had unfairly excluded people because of their race. Charges were later dropped against four defendants and reduced against the five others. In 2013, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed legislation that exonerated the Scottsboro Boys.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.