These old buildings do not belong to us only, they belong to our forefathers and they will belong to our descendants unless we play them false. They are not in any sense our own property to do as we like with them. We are only trustees for those that come after us."
William Morris, Oxford, England 1876

Crowan Cottage remains as the last vestige of the residential compound built for the Noble family along Christine Circle east of Woodstock Avenue. As it originally developed in the 1880s, the compound (which was referred to as Noble Park) included the estates of Samuel and William Noble along with Crowan Cottage. All of the houses were sited on a hillside overlooking the city the family was so instrumental in building and promoting,

In the city's next era of prosperity, other prominent families would take up residence nearby including Sen. Fred Blackmon, Judge J.J. Willett, Governor Thomas E. Kilby. W.F. Johnston, and Charles A. Hamilton among others. Of these houses, only four survive: the Governor Thomas E. Kilby House, the Hamilton House, the Johnston House and the Noble/Acker House.

The Anniston school board began acquiring property in Noble Park in 1957 when they purchased the Willet House for $42,000. Shortly thereafter, they bought Crowan Cottage from the Alabama Polyclinic Institute (later Auburn University) for $27,500. The Acker estate sold their property to the board in 1963 for $60,000. The Hamilton family donated the Hamilton House property to the board in 1961 and the former Johnston house in 1966.

With the former Johnston House property, the board controlled the entire site between East Eleventh and East Fifteenth Streets. By 1971, a new high school had been built on the sites of the former Samuel Noble, Blackmon and Willet houses with the Kilby House incorporated within its complex. Since that time, the school board has had plans to expand its "Educational Park" northward to the sites of the remaining houses. Quoting Charles Hamilton's daughter-in-law, a 1972 Anniston Star article noted: "It seemed a bit sad, Mrs. Hamilton recalled, that in 1966 they gave up their lovely home and three acres on Woodstock, thus allowing the education park to become a reality."



The Noble Family Compound Along Christine Circle, 1888
Crowan Cottage is at center-left and is flanked to the south (left) by the home of Samuel Noble and to the north by the home of William Noble. Note that the Christine Avenue shown is the present Woodstock Avenue.


Community interest in preserving Crowan Cottage as a historic landmark began to surface as early as 1962. By the mid-1970s, the Society for the Preservation and Restoration of Crowan Cottage, Inc. was formed and began an unsuccessful campaign to convince the school board of the merits of preserving the house. That effort was revived in 1982 and resulted in a meticulous restoration of the exterior of Crowan Cottage in 1984. Unfortunately, there were no firm plans for reusing the house and it has sat vacant ever since. Less organized individual efforts to purchase the Hamilton House have also come and gone over the past decades, with a considerable flurry of such activity occurring in 2004.
"Text © 2006 Schneider Historic Preservation, LLC"