HISTORY OF DOLOMITE (Part I) Dolomite was first settled by William Brown around 1815.
Brown called the area "O'Possum" or "Possum Valley".
William Brown applied for land in 1819. Possum Valley can be seen on
some of the old maps. At the time of settlement, Possum Valley took
in more area than the present Dolomite as we know it today. Around 1915, there was a drug store located by the Woodward Railroad on the east of the track. A. W. Mock's Livery Stable was located on Pleasant Grove Road about where the old Dolomite Elementary School now stands. Along there also stood two stores, one store operated by Mr. R. W. Vowell, the other by "Jimmy the Greek" (Jimmie Carroll). Jesse Huey had a barber shop located next to the Brown Mercantile on Edwards Street. At a later date Dr. Thomas Olin Rush had a dentist office in the building. Then a black man had a dry cleaning shop. Later the building was made into a dwelling and the house torn down sometime after 1922. Two pool rooms were built around 1917 or 1918. One for the white
and one for the black. The white pool room was located in the area
of A. W. Mock's Livery Stable. The black pool room was located
not too far and close to the railroad tracks. Some of the settlers from early dates and into the 1900's were: George Cunningham, Reed, J. R. Wilson, Ben Purser, Thomas, Evans, Johnson, Dixon, Harrison, Burroughs, Joe Knight, Crawfords, J. R. Owen, D. M, Knight, Papa Lewis, Mims, Wolf, Deer, Mocks, Vowell, Brown, Whatley, Gray, Alley, Robertson, Gene Robertson, Reaves, Totherow, South, Sawyers, Hood, Fleming, Jack Smith, Boyd Lewis, Cowden, Reynolds, Ed Cunningham, Milstead, Gulledge, Wood, Hughes, Hodges, Jim Black, Bid Trew, Suit, Eastis, Horton, Kellum, McDonald, Meigs, Rush, Jimmy Carroll, Jim Scott, Huguley, Reed, Ray, and others not recalled. The Dolomite Masonic Lodge was formed in Dolomite on August 7, 1886. (Information from Leon W. Mock who was given the dates by Mr. Clyde Crane from the Lodge.) The first lodge was located in the area called "Sweet Gum Flat". It was a two story building and was also the Dolomite School building. The building was later used for a black boarding house. The lodge later moved to Edwards Street where it is located today. David Wilson Brown gave the land for this Hall. As stated before, The Bethelem Methodist Church was formed in 1818. Rev. Ebenezer Hearn from the Tennessee Conference helped organize the Church. Rev. James Tarrant was the first preacher. The Dolomite Baptist Church was founded on October 11, 1885. Later the Garywood Baptist Church was built, and also the Assembly of God was built later. Woodward Iron Company had a doctors office located in Dolomite. Some of the doctors were a Dr. Lacey, Dr. Bonds, and one we all remember today, Dr. E. P. McEniry. The old doctors office building burned down last year (1980). According to records in Washington, in the General Services
Administration, National Archives and Records Service, the Post Office was
formed here on April 22, 1878 as Earle, name changed to Dolomite on August
31, 1885. The list of post masters are as follows: Today Dolomite is a prosperous community of miners, steel workers, and various occupations. Around 1925, the Brown family sold 96 acres of their land to Breen.
This area ws developed and is known as "Garywood" today.
Hueytown just recently took in Garywood. |