PO Box 98, Alto, TX 75925
200 W San Antonio Street.
(936) 858-4343
Tuesday - 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Wednesday - 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Thursday - 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday - 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Genealogical Materials Available for Research
If you have questions about The Stella Hill Library, contact altolibrary@gmail.com
NEWSPAPERS:
All extant copies of the Alto Herald on
Microfilm. 1908-1917 complete. 1927-1966 -
some copies missing. No microfilm printer
available.
PHOTOGRAPHS:
The Alto Library Flickr Photostream.
We have our 2500 historical photos on Flickr available for anyone with a computer to see.
About 3000 negatives and prints of historic
photographs of the Alto area, including families,
children, school groups, businesses, homes,
buildings, street scenes etc., most before
1940. Indexed by name and by
subject. Most have been released to be copied
for individual use.
FUNERAL HOME RECORDS:
Hogan Funeral Home - 1914-1929.
O. T. Allen Funeral Home - 1929-1951
Stribling Funeral Home - 1929-1933. 1937-1941.
DOCTORS’ LEDGERS:
Ledgers from Doctors McClure and Teague - 1898 - 1926.
LOCAL HISTORY MANUSCRIPTS:
Many original manuscripts from programs presented to
the Thursday Study Club concerning Alto area history.
NEW COMPUTER AND PRINTER for the genealogy department. It is connected to the internet and also had Family Tree Maker installed. In addition there are about 150 or more CDs from the Family Tree Maker collection, most are World Family Tree discs. There are collections of deeds, military records, marriages etc. There is also a CD of Mount Hope Cemetery in Wells with grave locations marked.
Excellent copy machine available for books and/or photographs.
Submitted February 9, 2000 by Virginia Singletary.
The History of the Stella Hill Library
Contributors Dr. James C. Hill and Stella Salmon Hill
The Stella Hill Library was named after the wife of Dr. James Curtis Hill and opened to public in June, 1959. It was begun in a small log cabin donated by the Hill family and became the Stella Hill Memorial Library after her death in 1966.
Mrs. Hill was the only child of Richard Minott Salmon and Sallie Kelley Salmon, who moved to Alto about 1907. Mrs. Hill was born in Bright Star, Miller CO., Arkansas. She passed away on May 27, 1966.
The Library is now located at 200 W. San Antonio St, Alto, TX 75925.
Dr. James Jim C. Hill was born August2, 1893 the oldest child of L. F Frank and Ellen A. Hill. His brother John and sister Ellen Hill attended school at Grange Hall near the Linwood community East of Alto, and Lon Morris in Jacksonville. In 1911 he entered the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, where he graduated in 1914 with his D.D.S. degree. He returned to Alto and began his practice in dentistry with Dr. G.A. Fisher. He joined the military in 1919 and served with the 90th Div., Medical Corps, attached to the 357th Inf. A.E.F. In December of 1919, he married his fiancé of three years Stella Salmon, in her home in Alto, TX.
Jim closed his practice of dentistry after twenty years when his father died in 1933. He took on the responsibility of management of the family farm. He spent the rest of his life on a quest for making the best use of East Texas land. He phased out row-crop farming and began cattle ranching of registered breeding stock. He began new clovers and grasses and brought in modern equipment replacing horse-drawn implements. Forest and land conservation practices were introduced by him and he brought to Alto the ownership of International-Harvester Co., dealership from 1934-1972. As he learned the best ways to utilize the land he shared his knowledge with ranchers and farmers of the area.
Revised June 11, 2024