Story By: Brayden George

COLUMBIANA, Ala. – Housed in the original Shelby County Courthouse, the Shelby County Museum and Archives tells the stories of everyday people whose lives became a part of local history.

Located at the southern end of Main Street in Columbiana, the museum preserves the county’s history through documents, artifacts and an extensive collection of birth, death, and marriage records. Revealing information of residents both past and present.

We want to show that normal history from humble people, from small people. That normal everyday history matters.

Leland Zimmer, Shelby County Historical Society

The Museum is maintained and operated by the Shelby County Historical Society and has been since its opening in the mid 1980s. Leland Zimmer, a research assistant with the historical society, who handles most tours of the museum believes it’s imperative to celebrate the history of everyday people just as we do historical figures.

“Everyone in history, they didn’t realize they were living in history anymore than we do now,” Zimmer says. “They were people just like us, but we want to show that normal history from humble people, from small people. That normal everyday history matters just as much as the momentous events.”

The old Shelby County Courthouse that houses the museum was built in 1854, and has served various roles since the current courthouse opened about two blocks up Main Street in 1906.

It served first as a boarding house and later as the Columbiana City Hall, but by the early 1970s it sat vacant and faced an impending demolition. The demolition never came, however, as the Shelby County Historical Society raised grass-roots support for the preservation of the building. It was saved from demolition by just one vote and would go on to house the museum, just as it does today.

Inside, each room contains exhibits that reflect the history and growth of Shelby County, through mining, farming and Native American historical artifacts. The downstairs vault and filing systems, accessible to employees only, hold an extensive collection of historical records such as marriage records, obituaries, court documents and genealogical reports.

Together the artifacts and records serve to represent the stories and history of every past resident of Shelby County, no matter the age, race or prestige.

“People back then, they didn’t reason that their lives were going to become history either but they did. And they matter for that reason,” says Zimmer. “They were just normal people living their lives, and we want to preserve that because we remember them the way we want to be remembered, 50, 100 years from now.”

The museum remains a lasting part of Shelby County as it nears half a decade of service. It stands to preserve not only the county’s history, but the stories of the people that lived it.

You can visit the museum during its regular business hours:

  • Tuesday through Friday: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.