Our Historic Huntsville Museum in Harrison Brothers Hardware is Huntsville-Madison County’s first museum dedicated to sharing Huntsville-Madison County history from the perspectives of both Black and white residents. Here, we share the history of Henderson and Daniel Brandon, a family who made the transition from enslaved to free following the abolition of slavery in 1865. This history is personal for the Foundation, as we learned recently that Daniel Brandon’s masonry firm rebuilt the Harrison Brothers building following a massive fire in 1901. The National Park Service listed the Historic Huntsville Museum to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network for our “Brick by Brick: The Legacy of Henderson and Daniel Brandon,” which traces one Huntsville family’s evolution from enslaved to successful entrepreneurs.
Harrison Brothers was a crossroads of Huntsville-Madison County, and our museum also shares this multi-faceted side of the Huntsville experience. Our “Harrison Brothers: House and Home – Traditional to Modern,” highlights the evolution in interior design styles from 1900-1960 through the furniture and fabric catalogs of furnishings sold by the Harrisons. This exhibition is in partnership with UAH Archives, Special Collections and Digital Initiatives. An upcoming exhibition will focus on artifacts from the Monte Sano Hotel, a 233-room luxury resort that operated on Monte Sano Mountain from 1887-1900.
