1964 · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AERIAL
Before the Dairy Freeze
100%
The building in this aerial was Dan’s Hitching Post.
Open the full 1964 aerial image ↗A TOWN OF ITS OWN
Weston, before it became part of Hamilton
Weston was a municipality in its own right. Federal census tables list it as a town in Marion County, with 187 residents in 1970 and 344 in 1980. Hamilton ordinances adopted in 1989 and 1991 describe the city’s willingness to annex Weston if its qualified voters approved. The Census Bureau later recorded Weston as disincorporated into Hamilton effective January 26, 1992.
Weston also had its own police department. Dalton Toy Garner was Weston’s police chief when he died in the line of duty on February 11, 1965. He was returning from an investigation when his patrol car crashed near Detroit, Alabama, during a severe storm. He may have worked for Hamilton at another point, but local firsthand recollection identifies Weston as his department when he died.
WESTON ON THE MAP
A changing townscape, 1967–1982
Two topographic maps label Weston and show roads and individual building footprints. The 1967 map captures the area before the neighborhood in the lower-left corner had been built; by 1982, that neighborhood is visible. Together, the maps provide a record of how the town grew during those fifteen years.
The maps also mark radio towers. Those symbols show communications infrastructure in the area; the maps do not identify the tower operators.
PLACES IN THE ARCHIVE
Weston businesses
RESTAURANT · BEXAR AVENUE WEST
McCracken’s Dairy Freeze
THE RESTAURANT
A familiar stop in Weston
The restaurant was first known as Dan’s Hitching Post; some people also called it Dan and Marie’s. Later, it was McCracken’s Dairy Freeze. The photographs preserve those names across different views of the same local place, which is no longer there.
In the 1980s, Jim Jackson owned the restaurant, according to the person who shared these photographs and remembers him there. The date he bought it is not known. Dan and Marie’s full names have not been confirmed.
FROM THE COMMUNITY ARCHIVE
The place, in different years
1971 · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AERIAL
Weston from above
100%
A wider aerial view of the Weston area, seven years before the 1983 photograph in this archive.
Open the full 1971 aerial image ↗LODGING
Holiday Motel
The postcard identifies the property as the New Holiday Motel in Hamilton, Alabama. The aerial views show a motel sign reading Weston Motel.
RESTAURANT
Kat’s Fine Foods
Also known as Kat’s Cafe.
AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE
Jones Wrecker Service
ROADSIDE SERVICE
The truck stop
Standard Oil station and roadside building at the Weston truck stop.
MARINE SALES AND SERVICE
A&K Marine
A&K Marine sold and serviced boats in Weston.
FORD DEALERSHIP
Brown Fikes Ford
Brown Fikes Ford, Jimmy Brown’s dealership, was in Weston.
Sources and notes. University of Alabama aerial photographs show the Weston area in 1964 and 1971; a 1983 aerial listing identifies McCracken’s Dairy Freeze on Bexar Avenue West. Census records document Weston’s population and municipal status, including its disincorporation into Hamilton in 1992. Dalton Toy Garner was Weston’s police chief when he died in 1965; the Officer Down Memorial Page records the date and crash account. Hamilton ordinances 474 (1989) and 490 (1991) address the city limits and Weston.
USGS Weston historical map collection ↗University of Alabama historical Marion County maps ↗1980 Census: Weston town population ↗2000 Census: Weston incorporated into Hamilton ↗ODMP memorial for Dalton Toy Garner ↗Hamilton Ordinance 474 ↗Hamilton Ordinance 490 ↗Vintage Aerial Marion County archive ↗