John Henry

The Leeds Historical Society maintains a permanent exhibit dedicated to the legend of John Henry located in the main lobby of the Historic Leeds Railway Depot at 3535 Thornton Avenue, Leeds, Alabama 35094. Built circa 1884 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Depot is itself an important part of Leeds’ railroad history.

The Depot is open to the public Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and by appointment at other times. Visitors are encouraged to stop by to learn more about this enduring legend and its place in Leeds history.

For more than a century, the legend of John Henry, the steel-driving man, has been closely associated with the mountains and rail lines near Leeds, Alabama. Local tradition holds that John Henry worked on the construction of the railroad tunnels through Oak Mountain and Coosa Mountain in the late 1880s and that it was here he famously raced—and defeated—a steam drill, only to die from the effort.

This tradition is supported by the research of historian John Garst, whose 2002 study, “Chasing John Henry in Alabama and Mississippi,” re-examined early folklore accounts and historical records. Garst concluded that the long-accepted location at Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia is unlikely, and that evidence instead points to central Alabama, near present-day Leeds, around 1887.

During that period, the Columbus & Western Railroad was constructing tunnels through Oak and Coosa Mountains just east of Birmingham. The project was overseen by Captain Frederick Yeamans Dabney, a Mississippi-born civil engineer whose family owned enslaved people prior to the Civil War. Newly identified records show that one enslaved man named Henry, born in 1844, lived in the Dabney household—an age consistent with the legendary steel driver at the time of tunnel construction.

Multiple early accounts place John Henry’s race and death near Oak Mountain, and versions of the famous ballad reference the Central of Georgia Railroad, which later operated this line. In addition, a strong oral tradition among railroad workers and local families in Leeds has long identified the area between the Oak and Coosa Mountain tunnels as the site of the event.

While the full story of John Henry blends folklore and history, the Leeds area remains one of the strongest documented locations connected to the legend. Today, the Leeds Historical Society preserves and shares this story as part of the broader history of railroads, labor, and community in central Alabama.

~ Randy Ray

To read John Garst research that connects the John Henry legend to Alabama, click here.

More resources regarding the Legend of John Henry

can be found on our Resources Page.