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The Life of Cullman Alabama's Founder, Col. John Gottfried Cullmann

Cullman, Alabama was founded in 1873 by Colonel John Gottfried Cullmann. Col. Cullmann was a German refugee who immigrated to America in 1866. Because Col. Cullmann was apart of a revolution there, he was force to immigrate penniless and broke.

His imigration came through a freight boat. He settled in Cincinnati, OH where he worked as a clerk in a bookstore. During this time, he came up the idea of forming a special colony in America for working immigrants to thrive. Especially those from Germany.

Around 1869, Col. Cullman found out about the unsettles lands in the South and started making plans to head south. In 1871, he arrived in Florence, AL. Met by Governor Patton, he was furnished with horses to explore available land in North Alabama for founding his colony.

Looking for financiers, he was stiffly opposed due the resistance of the locals to immigrants. But he did not give up. He made a deal for land from L & N Railroad for 390,000 acres. The only requirement laid down was that Col.

Cullmann pay for all advertising of the land and expenses of bringing them to the area. The land was perfectly situated between Decatur and Montgomery, and was fifteen miles on each side of the railroad. To get immigrants into the new colony, he started advertising all over America and even into Europe.

Most people were moving westward at that time, but he was able to catch the fancy of 15 families from Cincinnati and on January 5, 1873, those families relocated by train to modern day Cullman. The first five families came to the spot where the city of Cullman now stands, and they built log homes and prepared for winter. As Col. Cullmann went northward for supplies, he would also bring more and more families into the area.

427 County Road 436 Cullman, AL

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