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    Riverchase
    Riverchase
    Riverchase
    Ebook145 pages41 minutes

    Riverchase

    By Heather Jones Skaggs

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    About this ebook

    If residents of the original c. 1900s mining town of Acton, Alabama, looked into the future, would they have imagined that the area would develop into the multimillion-dollar planned community it is today? In the late 1960s, John M. Harbert III (1921-1995), founder of Harbert Corporation, saw tremendous potential for land in Acton owned by the Chace brothers. In 1974, the Harbert Corporation partnered with Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States to form Harbert-Equitable Joint Venture, Riverchase. This plan was not a concrete jungle of homes and businesses. The venture called for a careful blending of new development with its surrounding natural landscape. This plan spoke to man's need to be part of nature, albeit in a new and responsible way. Today, Riverchase is a picturesque community steeped in land preservation, business development, and community pride. The story of Riverchase is conveyed through the memories of its residents in Images of Modern America: Riverchase.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 7, 2016
    ISBN9781439658604
    Riverchase
    Author

    Heather Jones Skaggs

    Bluff Park became a �cyber� community in 2006 with the launch of the Bluff Park community website BluffParkAL.org. In Images of America: Bluff Park, former editor for FOX6 News and current BluffParkAL.org volunteer Heather Jones Skaggs presents a collection of photographs and memories from family archives to illustrate the quiet mountain community�s growth into a historical hot spot.

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      Book preview

      Riverchase - Heather Jones Skaggs

      you.

      INTRODUCTION

      Before we can journey through the modern history of Riverchase, we must first turn back the clock to a time before the major development. Before Riverchase was the community it is today, it was called Acton. The mines scattered along the Cahaba River brought the coal industry to Jefferson and Shelby Counties in Alabama. Major players in the business of mining came to the area, including Truman H. Aldrich, Daniel Pratt, and Henry Fairchild DeBardeleben. Hoover, where Riverchase is located, is on top of a large coal bed named the Cahaba coalfield. On page 12 of this book is a map outlining the different coalfields in Alabama. The Acton Basin (the general area where Riverchase is located) is over eight miles long and five miles wide, according to the Hoover Historical Society. The Acton family owned much of the land in the basin and was involved in mining coal near the river. According to the obituary of Zephaniah William Henry Acton (1834–1920), the Actons were the first to mine coal in Jefferson and Shelby Counties. The Acton mines were in the southernmost mining villages within the family’s property, and records show them as operational going back to 1906. Unfortunately, they were also some of the most dangerous mines. There is much to discuss surrounding the Acton mines, but that is another book.

      In 1945, the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, which bought the Acton land from the family, sold the land to three brothers—Bryan August, F. Arthur, and George W. Chace.

      The Chace family was active in Acton for around 18 years. In 1968, they sold their land to Harbert Construction Company, which marked the beginnings of Riverchase, as the Chace land accounts for a large portion of what is now Riverchase. The Chace brothers later sold another part of their land to the Hoover Athletic Association to build a ball park. The property where Chace Lake Country Club once sat was owned by the Chaces until the club’s members bought both the club and the property from them. The property assembled by the Chace family was called Chace Acton Coal Properties. Surviving Chace family members harbor a reasonable belief that there was a strong desire to include Chace in the name of the community, or at least to reference it in homage. One of the meanings of chase (note the different spelling) is an area of unenclosed land used for hunting game. With the Cahaba River being a prominent feature of the property, the name Riverchase came naturally to the founders. All area references to Chace Lake, roads, and Chace Lake Country Club use the family’s spelling.

      John M. Harbert III (1921–1995) founded Harbert Corporation with his brother B.L. Harbert (1923–2010) as well as other corporations bearing his family name. Originally from Mississippi, John M. Harbert enrolled in Auburn University’s School of Civil Engineering, graduating in 1946. Auburn’s John M. Harbert III Engineering Center is named after him. Harbert was a noted philanthropist who donated to many projects in Alabama. Often called a risk-taker and an entrepreneur, he demonstrated those traits in business. Birmingham’s skyline served as a canvas for Harbert’s designs. Two of the tallest buildings in downtown Birmingham—Regions-Harbert Plaza (formerly AmSouth-Harbert Plaza) and the Wells Fargo Tower (formerly SouthTrust Tower)—were constructed by Harbert in partnership with Brice Building Company. Part of Interstate 459 is named for the Riverchase builder. Harbert also saw a need for a meeting place in downtown Birmingham for civic organizations, so he had The Harbert Center built. In the late 1960s, Harbert started to consider an idea for a planned community; he purchased the Chace land in 1968. Still Hunter, who later became the first project manager for the development of Riverchase, was the lead planner and negotiator for Harbert.

      The man with the plan, John Harbert, won many awards throughout his career, including the Marketing Man of the Year in Alabama in 1967 and the Erskine Ramsay Award in 1976. In 1984, Harbert was named Citizen of the Year by the Alabama Broadcasters Association and became the first Alabamian to be ranked in the Forbes 400 listing of the richest Americans, a list he joined again in 1994. Harbert’s obituary

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