The Gainesville Historic District is a a historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 that encompasses the historic residential section of Gainesville

Gainesville, Alabama

Gainesville is a town in Sumter County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 220.-Geography:Gainesville is located at .According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, United States. The district was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage

Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage

The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties, which may be of national, state, and local...

 on March 25, 1976 and the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on October 3, 1985. The district covered 76 acres (30.8 ha) and contained 24 historically significant contributing properties

Contributing property

In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...

 when first listed.

Description

Gainesville lies on the south bank of the Tombigbee River

Tombigbee River

The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. It is one of two major rivers, along with the Alabama River, that unite to form the short Mobile River before it empties into Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico...

 in southwestern Alabama. It reached its zenith prior to the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

; when it was an important inland port

Inland port

The term inland port is used in two different but related ways to mean either a port on an inland waterway or an inland site carrying out some functions of a seaport.- As a port on an inland waterway :...

, before the wide-scale introduction of railroads.

The Gainesville Historic District is one of two historic districts in the town, the other being the Main–Yankee Street Historic District. The district is bounded by North Carolina, Church, School, Lafayette, and Webster streets. It is bisected down the center north to south by McKee Street, now overlain by Alabama Highway 39

Alabama State Route 39

State Route 39 is a route in the western part of the state. The southern terminus of the route is at its junction with U.S. Highway 11 near Livingston...

. Architectural styles present include Federal

Federal architecture

Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...

, Greek Revival

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

, Queen Anne, and other Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 types. The Sumter County Historical Society owns and utilizes one historic contributing property

Contributing property

In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...

, Aduston Hall

Aduston Hall

Aduston Hall is a historic antebellum plantation house in the riverside town of Gainesville, Alabama, United States. Although the raised cottage displays the strict symmetry and precise detailing of the Greek Revival style, it is very unusual in its massing...

, as a welcome and visitor center for the district.