Historic move of Judge Horton house to continue Saturday

Oct. 7—In a move of historic proportions, the transport of Judge James Horton's home began Thursday and will continue into Decatur on Saturday night, where it is slated to become part of a civil rights museum.

Hollis Kennedy House Movers split the 3,960-square-foot, eight-bedroom Horton home into two pieces. The Athens company then moved the home from its longtime location in Greenbrier starting Thursday morning.

Judge James Horton was the judge in the second trial of the Scottsboro Boys case in 1933. The trial was in Decatur.

The move is expected to cost $1.44 million with Decatur paying $888,774 of the expense. State Rep. Parker Moore, R-Hartselle, obtained $200,000 in state funding for the move and the Limestone County Commission allocated $56,000 for clearing the rights of way along Garrett Road, part of the route the house took.

The Morgan County Hospitality Association pledged $250,000 and Decatur-Morgan Tourism is adding $50,000.

On Thursday, the two pieces of the home went down Old Highway 20, to Mooresville Road. They now sit at Garrett Road and U.S. 31 awaiting the final leg of the journey.

The start of the move on Thursday was a day that Frances Tate and the Celebrating Early Old Town with Art (CEOTA) group has been working toward for more than two years.

"Yesterday, it was so exciting to see the homes moving off the property and getting on the highway," Tate said Friday. "I'm super excited."

The rest of the move, meant to avoid traffic while working with Athens and Decatur utilities to adjust the power utilities along the route, will be Saturday night.

The Decatur Police Department announced it will close Alabama 20, U.S. 31 and Wilson Street Northeast on Saturday night at 7, after which the move will continue.

Once the two sections of the home cross Hudson Memorial Bridge, they will turn west and stay in the left lanes until they reach Grove Street Northwest. Their final resting location will at 212 Church St. N.W.

The company then will re-attach the two pieces of the home, which Tate said is in "perfect shape. The floors are in wonderful condition. We just have to get it back together."

Tate estimated it will probably take Kennedy 45 to 60 "days to get (the house) back together — the chimney, the porch and all of the steps and everything back together. We then will proceed to do whatever we need to do (to repair the home)."

Tate said the nonprofit will then establish the Horton home "as a legal learning center."

The house will be a location where pre-law, criminal justice, history and religion students can learn legal ethics and history, she said. They will also discuss the Scottsboro Boys cases and trials, and other cases that took place in Decatur, the state and nation.

Tate and retired Judge David Breland, who works for the city running the Old State Bank and the L&N Depot Museum, said obtaining the Horton home is important for the city because of its connection with the Scottsboro Boys case.

Breland said the significance is that Horton was the judge "in the most famous civil rights case all of time."

Tate said she believes that moving the Horton home to Decatur will open up the city and north Alabama to the world because it has a worldwide impact.

"This was an internationally known trial, not just United States or locally," Tate said.

The case began in 1931 when nine Black youths were arrested in Jackson County and 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.

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 Haywood Patterson of rape and sentenced him to death in Alabama's electric chair.

The Alabama Supreme Court set aside those rulings and ordered a new trial in Decatur. When Horton's case was completed and the defendant was found guilty, the judge set aside the verdict on June 22, 1933.

Horton read the decision at the Limestone County Courthouse, ordering a new trial for the defendant and indefinitely postponing trials for the rest, ruling they could not get a fair trial.

"That was a very courageous thing to do in that time," Breland said. "The early 1930s was a very different time in America. Judge Horton, knowing full well what this was going to mean to him and his family — loss of a career, loss of a reputation, physical threats to himself and his family — even understanding all of that, the man had great courage."

The Horton home was originally completed in Athens in 1849 on what is now the corner of Hobbs and Marion streets, where Athens City Hall currently stands. Horton had the home moved from Athens to Greenbrier in 1939.

He lived in the house at the Greenbrier location from 1940 until he died in 1973. His granddaughters, Susan Faulkner and Jenny Horton, donated the house to the city, which then gave it to CEOTA.

Breland said Horton's widespread recognition as a fair and courageous judge came well after his death.

"To celebrate that man's courage, his conviction in the truth and in justice, is a great thing for any community to do," Breland said.

CEOTA is already renovating a house at 818 Sycamore St. N.W. in Decatur where one of the Scottsboro Boys accusers is believed to have stayed during the Decatur trial.

Tate said the Horton home and the planned civil rights museum will connect Decatur to the Civil Rights Trail.

"This will help the city historically and economically," Tate said. "We are preserving this history. We are creating a legacy."

Breland said civil rights museums, particularly in Birmingham and Montgomery, "are extremely well-visited and popular. I don't think there's any question the city of Decatur will benefit from this complex."

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