McClung House

The story

Behind the sketch.

The house was built around 1838 for Colonel James White McClung, an attorney and Alabama political leader, who served as a state legislator, Speaker of the House, president of the State Senate, and unsuccessful candidate for governor. After James Watkins acquired the property in 1851, the house gained its most recognizable feature: a two-story Italianate verandah wrapping around the newer front and sides. Decades later, the house became associated with women's suffrage. Alberta Chapman Taylor, daughter of former Alabama governor Reuben Chapman, became involved in the movement while living in Colorado, where she knew national leaders Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt. After returning to Huntsville in 1894, Taylor helped organize one of Alabama's earliest suffrage associations and welcomed members into her home. In January 1895, Taylor and her sister, Ellelee Chapman Humes, persuaded Anthony and Catt to include Huntsville on their Southern lecture tour. Their appearance before an overflow crowd at City Hall helped establish an organized local suffrage movement, despite strong opposition. Taylor, Humes, Virginia Clay-Clopton, and other local suffragists continued campaigning. In 1901, several joined more than two dozen Madison County women in petitioning Alabama's constitutional convention to grant voting rights to women property owners. Most did not live to see the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920.

Neighborhood

Twickenham

Book location

Page 50