Rison School: 

The Mill Village Classroom That Shaped Huntsville

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Rison School was born from the needs of Huntsville’s Dallas Mill Village, a community built around the hum of Alabama’s largest cotton mill. In the early decades of the 20th century, mill families lived in rows of company houses, shopped at the company store, and relied on the mill for nearly every aspect of daily life. Yet one essential need remained unmet: access to education beyond the elementary grades. Children in the mill village could attend only the earliest grades locally. After that, families were required to pay non resident fees to send their children into Huntsville city schools—fees far beyond the reach of mill workers. As a result, many children left school early and went straight into the mill, where long shifts and dangerous conditions were the norm.

Recognizing the importance of education for the community’s future, Dallas Manufacturing Company made a remarkable decision. In 1921, the company built Rison School, named for mill general manager Archie L. Rison. The construction cost—$56,788 for the school and an additional $13,881 for a YMCA wing—was a significant investment for the era and reflected the mill’s commitment to improving the lives of its workers’ families. Rison School quickly became a beacon of opportunity in a neighborhood where opportunities were scarce.

Under the leadership of principal Cecil V. Fain, who served for an extraordinary 32 years, Rison developed a reputation as one of the most progressive public schools in Alabama. Fain believed deeply that mill children deserved the same educational opportunities as any child in the state, and he built programs that reflected that belief. Rison became the first public school in Alabama to establish a Safety Patrol Program, and it was the first to offer Drama and Speech courses. The curriculum expanded to include Bible study, foreign languages, home economics, industrial arts, and physical education. For students who were ill or homebound, teachers provided lessons through telephone calls, home visits, and correspondence. During World War II, Rison even offered correspondence courses for former students serving overseas, ensuring they could continue their education despite the distance.

Rison School was more than an academic institution—it was the social and cultural heart of Dallas Village. Plays, community meetings, youth programs, and holiday events filled its halls. Generations of families passed through its doors, creating a shared identity that extended far beyond the classroom. Students remember the long hallways, the smell of chalk dust, and the sense that Rison was a safe haven in a working class world. Fain’s motto, “Discipline Comes From Within,” shaped the school’s culture and left a lasting impression on the children who learned there.

The school was also part of a broader educational movement among Huntsville’s mill villages. Dallas, Lincoln, Merrimack, and West Huntsville all faced the same challenge: elementary schools with no path forward. Fain and other educators advocated for mill funded junior and senior high schools so children could continue their education without city fees. Rison became the model for this effort. Eventually, Dallas Manufacturing Company sold the school to the Madison County Board of Education—reportedly for a symbolic amount—ensuring its continued operation as a public school.

Rison School served the Dallas Village community until 1964, educating four generations of mill families. But as the Dallas Mill closed in 1949 and the village was annexed into Huntsville in 1955, the school’s role gradually diminished. By the 1970s, the building was used by various organizations. When plans for Interstate 565 took shape in the early 1990s, the aging structure stood in the path of progress. Renovation was deemed too costly, and the building was demolished. Today, a historical marker stands at Oakwood Avenue NE and Lee High Drive NE, marking the spot where Rison once stood.

Rison School’s legacy endures as a symbol of Huntsville’s industrial roots and the resilience of its working families. It represents a fight for accessible education, a community’s determination to give its children a future beyond the mill, and a pioneering spirit that helped shape Huntsville’s broader school system. For many former students and families, Rison is remembered not just as a school, but as the place where hope for a better life began.

LEE LUNCH BUNCH

For Classes of ’64, ’65, ‘66

Thursday, October 22, 2026

11:00 am

Logan’s Roadhouse

Balmoral Dr. Huntsville, AL

Lee High School classmates from ’64, ’65, ’66, please save the date for our fall luncheon. 

Also, please remember to send your RSVP to one of the two cell numbers listed below. 

Limited seating so reservations are a must!

Thanks!

Looking forward to seeing you then.

Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ’65 (256) 431-3396

Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid ’66 (256) 656-3667

Thanks for all the comments made this week.

As  I have said in the past, I started the first grade at Farley Elementary School, where I got out two weeks in the fall for cotton picking. Sometime in the new year of 1952 my family moved to a house on Halsey and I transferred to Rison. It was then when I shared the first grade with many of the Lee Class of 1964, but I don't remember any of them.

Then, before the end of the school year, my family moved again, that time to West Huntsville. Rather than changing schools again, I would get on the bus in front of the West Huntsville Cafe and ride it to Rison each morning. After school, as a six year old, I would get on the bus again and ride it back to the West Hunsville Cafe and walk home from there. Many times I fell asleep and the bus drive would have to wake me up and make me get off at my stop. I don't remember a lot about Rison, but I do remember they had a little shop in a small room where they sold school supplies, like pencils, erasers, and paper. By the time second grade started, my family had moved again, this time to East Clinton Street and I did the second through sixth grade at East Clinton Elementary School, seventh and eighth at Huntsville Junior High, then we move to MuCullough and I finished my schooling at Lee Junior and Lee High School. 

Ironically, my parents were divorced and I was living with my mother and she remarried and moved to Memphis just before my senior year at Lee, so I stayed with my grandmother to finish out my high schooling at Lee, rather than moving to Memphis with her and being the new kid in school in my senior year.

The Link Between Rison and Lee

Willard Finkbinder

Rison School and Lee High School were directly linked during the 1960s because Lee Jr. High/High School was deliberately created to replace Rison as Huntsville expanded and the Dallas Mill Village era came to an end. The relationship was transitional, geographic, and administrative — one school winding down while the other rose to take its place.

Core Relationship in One Sentence

Lee Jr. High was built in 1957–58 specifically to absorb the students and functions of Rison School as Rison approached closure in 1964. 

How the Transition Worked (1960s)

• 1. Rison was winding down. Rison School — long the educational hub of Dallas Mill Village — closed in 1964.  By the early 1960s, Huntsville’s mill villages had been annexed into the city, and the old mill-funded high schools were no longer sustainable.

• 2. Lee Jr. High was built to take its place. Lee Jr. High opened in February 1958 in the newly annexed northeast Huntsville area. It was intentionally positioned near Rison (Oakwood Ave. & Andrew Jackson Way) to serve the same neighborhoods. 

• 3. Lee absorbed Rison’s upper grades. According to the Lee High School history, the junior high operated “to allow for the eventual closure of nearby Rison High School.”   This means Rison students were gradually shifted to Lee as lower grades were discontinued at Rison.

• 4. 1963–64: Lee becomes a full high school. During the 1963–64 school year, Lee transitioned from a junior high to a full high school. Its first graduating class was 1964 — the same year Rison closed.   This is the clearest indicator of the planned handoff.

• 5. Neighborhood identity shifted from “Rison” to “Lee”. The area around Rison was already being referred to as the “Lee High neighborhood” by the early 1960s because US‑72/Lee Highway ran through it.  As Rison faded, Lee became the new anchor school for the community.

The Wayback Machine

"School Days"

Chuck Berry

1957

"School Days" (also known as "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)") is a rock-and-roll song written and recorded by Chuck Berry and released by Chess Records as a single in March 1957 and on the LP After School Session two months later (see 1957 in music). It is one of his best-known songs and is often considered a rock-and-roll anthem. Berry recorded the song on January 21, 1957, at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago, Illinois.

The last verse of the song contains the lyrics "Hail, hail rock and roll / Deliver me from the days of old." Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll became the title of a 1987 concert film and documentary about Berry; the song itself is also commonly mistitled as Hail Hail Rock and Roll.

Berry's record peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (his third highest-ranked pop hit) and hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart.

Pinhook Creek Question

Craig Bannecke, LHS '65, "Tommy, I always read and enjoy the Lee Traveler and appreciate your dedicated hard work.  The non-Lee-specific articles are fine with me as they still pertain to the Huntsville we all knew and grew up in.

I am a little puzzled by your recent article on Pinhook Creek in that you said it starts at Five Points and flows through Huntsville.  Growing up out in Lakewood on North Memorial Parkway we had a creek that flowed through the farm land that use to border Lakewood. It was always known to me and those of us who grew up in Lakewood as Pinhook Creek.  Skip Cook, Jim Harris and a number of Lee Alumni that grew up in Lakewood played, fished and swam in Pinhook Creek. It flowed under Mastin Lake Road South toward the Parkway and crossed under the Parkway where the VFW was located. Then flowed on down toward Lincoln Village and the outskirts of downtown Huntsville area.  Probably swinging over toward Trailer Island. 

If that wasn't Pinhook Creek what creek was it ? I have no clue ?  

(Editor's Note: Craig, I believe your creek was actually shown on the map as Normal Branch. It flowed into Pinhook Creek a little farther south, near Traylor Island."

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Cecilia Levan Watsom, LHS ‘68, "I grew up on Mckinley Avenue and Russell Street. We had what we called the big ditch that flowed into the creek.  Some brave kids swung over the ditch on a rope; others wadded in its dirty water. I would walk down and catch a few tadpoles in a jar. We sure had fun!  That was our time and our Huntsville. Huntsville has grown and the ditch paved over but oh what sweet memories."

(Editor's Note: I think the place you are talking about was called Dallas Branch."

Sherman Banks, LHS ‘65, "You are doing a great job. I appreciate all your hard work. Thank You."

Martha Maddox, "I always heard that Pinhook creek got its name because kids wanted to go fishing there but had no hooks. They made a hook from a safety pin and thus the name Pinhook Creek."

Jimmy Bannister, LHS ‘66, "In my note last week, I entered Randy Johnson instead of Danny Johnson. The sad part is that I proofread it three times before I submitted it. My lack of memory is only surpassed by my lack of typing skills."

Buddy Miller, "Good morning, Tommy, I enjoyed reading your article on riding a bus. Mentioning your experience of trips on Diamond Bus tours prompted me to check them out. My wife and I just enjoyed a seven-day Diamond Tour to Mackinac Island.  Plans are presently being made to tour Maine in October on another Diamond trip. Your recommendation and our experience so far will add pleasure to our "older" age. Thank you for all the work you do to keep us Lee High Fami-Lee informed. Regards from Huntsville."

Skip Cook, LHS ‘64, "I read the article on Pinhook Creek with great interest since it flowed on the west side of Lakewood Subdivision.  After an early summer morning hunt for grasshoppers and crickets. a short bike ride down Barrywood would take one to "the creek".  If no bugs were found for bait a couple of slices of "white bread", or some pieces of bacon, or the primo bait "hot dogs" would be carried along.  Craig Bannecke, Terry Lee, or Jim Love were always in the fishing crew.  There was a fallen log across "the creek" that allowed access to "the pond" on the west side of "the creek".  Skinning dipping in the pond was observed. The pond was fed by a spring coming out of the hill side and it was cold water. I don't recall ever catching anything that was worthy of showing off to others. I did hook a big snapping turtle while fishing from "the log" one day,  but my Zebco 33 couldn't handle it.  

There was an extreme drought in the area and the creek went dry in 1961 or 1962.  The fish and snakes accumulated in the deeper pockets of the creek.  Great fun with a BB gun.  Craig had better eyes back then and was a much better shot than I was.

At the top of the hillside was an old cemetery.  A little research yielded that it was the Harris Cemetery named after Richard Harris (born 11-20-1758, died 1-23-1853).   He moved to Madison County in 1809 from Powahtan County, Va.  It was noted that he witnessed the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va.

His epitaph was printed in the 2/9/1853 edition of the Southern Advocate and read:  "We do not say that he was without fault but we do say that few men have lived as long as he did with as few censurers and with as few enemies".

I wonder if Mr. Richard Harris ever went fishing in Pinhook Creek?"

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66,  "Thank you, Tommy for keeping this TRAVELLER going! You are so appreciated!"