02/28/2026
Well, the lower end of Shoal Creek Valley, in St Clair County, lost another piece of history last night. The O'Donnell house, as we always referred to it, burned down last night. It was a victim of arson like the Looney house in Beaver Valley a couple of years ago. Unlike the Looney house it was not well known except to those of us who grew up in Shoal Creek.
It was the last house built in the late nineteen century that still stood in Shoal Creek Valley. There are only three other farmhouses still standing in the Valley that and they were built between 1900 and 1910. I believe the O'Donnell house was built in the late 1880's to early 1890's. It originally consisted of two main rooms, separated by a open hall, commonly referred to as a "dog trot", and a porch that stretched across the front of the house. On the back, there were two smaller rooms of the house called lean twos with an inset porch. The house had two rock chimneys to provide heat for the main rooms and flue for the wood stove for the kitchen.
Many families called it home over its long life, the Sprayberry's the Jones, and Earnest and Easter Sanders lived there before moving next to his parents, James and Julie Sanders. In the early 1920's Hamilton and Pearl O'Donnell purchased the farm. Their direct descendants still own the property that the house stood for over 100 years.
In the early to mid 1950's the O'Donnell's sons bought the place up the hill from their original house so their parents Hamiton and Pearl would be more comfortable. The new house was built by the Machen's in 1941 in the Craftsman style and had all the modern 20th century amenities their old farmhouse lacked.
So, the old house sat empty for about 25 years before one of the O'Donnell's daughters in law fixed the house up and lived there for many years. She later moved to Shelby County, so the house has sat vacant and forgotten until last night.
This house was the first house I became fascinated when I was child. When I was five years old he and my grandfather and dad took me over there to explore the old place. It was grown up and you couldn't see it from the road. It was magical to this five-year-old. It had a charm to it like all old houses do. My grandfather said at one time it operated as the post office for the Shoal Creek Valley.
To think it survived for almost 140 years, including an F4 tornado in 2011 to succumb to someone who either intentionally or unintentionally set in on fire. It was already fully engulfed by the time my wife got home to witness the embers of history float up to the sky as the fire fighters struggled to get to the house through the woods to contain it from spreading.
IF it couldn't have be restored, I would have rather let it continue it slow decline than to have seen it go the way it did. Like so many others another small part of or history is gone forever. I have attached some photos of the house I took about 20 years ago right after it snowed. Then the aftermath of the fire from last night and an early picture of Hamilton O'Donnell and his family which lived in the house,
