Delmar was incorporated in 1991?

Delmar, Alabama is a small, rural community in west-central Winston County that is located 6 miles north of Natural Bridge, 3 miles south of Haleyville, and 15 miles west of Double Springs, the county seat of Winston County. Delmar has an elevation of 881 feet above sea level.

Delmar wasn’t always called Delmar. It’s previous name was Frog Level. It was called Frog Level presumably because of the swampy area that existed around the community at that time. In the 1880’s the citizens of Frog Level asked the U.S. Post Office Department to open a post office in their community. Back then, there were no rural routes. To receive your mail, you had to go to the post office. The nearest post office at that time was at Ark, where the Needmore Community is located today. However, the request by the people of Frog Level for a post office was denied because there was another Frog Level, Alabama, and it had a post office. So, to get a post office established in their community, the people of the Frog Level in Winston County had to find a new name for their community. About this time the name "Delmar" came into use for the name of the community.

The exact origin of the name "Delmar" is not known. But a popular belief has it that Delmar got its name from a famous racehorse. During the late 1800’s, Delmar was the southern terminal of the North Alabama Railroad, which ran from Sheffield to Delmar. Later, a rail line was run from Parrish in Walker County to Delmar. During the construction of the railroad through Delmar during the 1800’s, there was a construction engineer who owned a retired racehorse by the name of "Del Mar" or "Delmar." The horse was well-known and loved by the community. When the construction work was completed and the engineer and the horse left, the people renamed their community after the horse.

After notifying the U.S. Post Office Department of the name change, the first post office in Delmar opened on September 1, 1887, with Newton L. Powell serving as the first Postmaster. In 1971, when Mrs. Martha Roberts Stewart served as Postmaster, the present post office building was built. Today, Mrs. Sandra Pendley serves as the 18t^h Postmaster of Delmar, Alabama.

Delmar, like many areas in the South, has some points of interest involving the Civil War. When Alabama seceded from the Union in 1861, there were many people in Winston County that didn’t want to fight their Northern or Southern brothers. Using the principle that if a state could secede from the Union then a county could secede from a state; the "Free State of Winston" was born. It was the goal of the people of the "Free State of Winston" to remain neutral in the Civil War. The people of Winston County were called Tories (northern sympathizers) by the people of neighboring counties.

Tom Pink Curtis was the Probate Judge of Winston County during the Civil War. He was one of the main supporters of Winston County’s neutrality. On January 29, 1864, he was robbed and killed by a Confederate raiding party. His body was thrown off a cliff. He is buried in the Union Grove Cemetery in Delmar.

During the closing phases of the Civil War, Union troops made their way through Winston County on parts of what today is Winston County Road 17. The route used by the Union troops is named the "Yankee Trace Road." The Union Troops had their camps set up by the road. Delmar was the home town of Winston County’s hero during World War I. PFC John Hoggle was an engineer in Company D of the 123^rd Infantry. He received the Distinguished Service Cross on April 8, 1919. He was cited for bridging the Meuse River near the France-Belgium border on November 4, 1918, while he was in the Meuse Argonne offensive from October 5 to November 18, 1918. He also took part in the St. Mehlel offensive in September 1918. He was killed in 1947 and is buried in the Hoggle Ridge Cemetery just west of Delmar.

On April 3, 1974, is a date that many Delmarians will never forget. On that night, Delmar was struck by a deadly tornado. Several homes and other structures were destroyed in Delmar. Sadly, there was also one death in Delmar that was caused by the tornado. The same tornado that struck Delmar earlier had destroyed the Marion County Town of Guin killing 24 people. There was widespread damage throughout Delmar as several families lost their homes and all or most of their belongings. Many families in Delmar that did not suffer any damage from the tornado did not have electricity, telephones, or water for several days.

The historic highway known as the Byler Road was completed through Winston County in 1820. This highway, which ran through what is today Delmar, Natural Bridge, and Haleyville, connected the cities and towns of the Tennessee Valley with Tuscaloosa, which at that time was the capitol of Alabama.

According to legend, Delmar wasn’t always the "quiet, little town" it is today. In the 1800s, with the coal mines booming in the Delmar area, Delmar had four saloons and was as lively as a gold rush town out of the Old West, complete with drunken brawls and bar room fights.

Since 1991, Delmar has celebrated a community day called "Delmar Day" once a year. This is the one day a year that the people of Delmar can gather for a day of good fellowship, good food, and good music. Starting in 1994 and to continue every year thereafter, "Delmar Day" is to be celebrated on the last Saturday in April.

Like so many small rural communities in Alabama, the 300 people in Delmar can look back on the past and look forward to the day when prosperity will once again visit Delmar.

From the Advertiser-Journal, July 21, 1938:

Legend has it that this community was named for a famous race horse owned by the then constructing engineer of the N.A. Railroad. Delmar was the southern terminus of the N.A. Railroad many years before Haleyville was born and with its four saloons was as riotous as any gold-dust town in the pioneer days of the Golden West. Delmar was a coal-boom town, and its growth stopped when the black-diamond mines were about exhausted. Many years later it underwent a small revival with the advent of lumber exploitation as thousands of feet were shipped northward. Eventually this industry petered out, and Delmar began to build its community on a more firm and lasting economic foundation – agriculture. Today, this is one of our most progressive and peaceful communities. Two church buildings, a modern school building, and two stores and also a post office are here. Families of Mr. Will Gamble, Mr. Opie Gamble, and Mr. Robert McNutt of our town once lived and operated extensive businesses at Delmar. The Gambles still own much property there and ship great quantities of tile clay from the pits north of Delmar. The fine citizenship of Delmar is composed of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Seay, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Aderholt, local merchants. Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Crane, Mrs. Crane being the local post mistress. Mrs. Alonzo Barnett, Mr. and Mrs. Will Crane, Mr. and Mrs. Floyd and Roy Weaver, sons of the late beloved Uncle Tom Weaver, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hicks, Aunt Sarah Henson, Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Watts, Mr. and Mrs. Austin Crane, Mr. and Mrs. Huey Watts, Mr. and Mrs. Odum Crane, Mr. and Mrs. Marion Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Cummings, Mr. and Mrs. Alec Stephens, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Garrison. Mr. Garrison is a minister and for many years carried the rural mail from the local office, Mr. and Mrs. Mige Hicks, and others. The Benton McNutts and the Aderholts have played an important part in the development of Delmar but will be mentioned in a later review of the Bethel community. There are many legends of the early days of Delmar, but the nature of these reviews forbids mention of them now. The people of Delmar are deeply interested in the welfare of Haleyville for they do all their marketing here and their many fine boys and girls attend our local high school. The highway from Haleyville to Delmar is in a fairly good condition and is to be improved soon. Here’s good luck to Delmar, for any prosperity that comes your way will also benefit Haleyville. [Note: Delmar School was begun before 1906 and consolidated, or closed, July 30, 1968.]