Built in 1932, the Rosson Building is located at 123 East Laurel Street. It is a two-story brick building. The ground floor has been altered but is compatible with the structure. There are four windows on the second story. The design of this building is identical to that of the Garland Building. It is currently a law office.
The Rosson Building was built in 1932 by the Rosson sisters, Sally and Dovie. They were the first women in Scottsboro to build a building on the square. When the building was complete, they opened a ladies’ clothing shop and hat shop and were THE place for hats. They also sold Roseville pottery. There was a beauty shop in the back, Cinderella Beauty Shop, operated by Eunice Matthews, as the ad below shows.
Sally and Dovie’s father, Abner Rossen, had served on the side of the South in the 55th Alabama Volunteers during the Civil War. He was elected Mayor of Scottsboro in 1876 and otherwise was a furniture maker. The Alabama Herald noted that on April 20, 1871 that “Abner Rosson has moved his turning machine up into town and occupies the Beeson Store house property (near freight depot). Ab is turning chair posts and bed posts and making chairs and any kind of furniture desired with considerable facility.”
Sallie and Dovie’s only sibling was a brother, Joseph, who in 1902 lived in the Proctor House. The Proctor House had been built by John Brown, who built this house and, at the same time, a grist mill, a flour mill, and a slaughter house. After this rush of development, he found that he had over-invested and had to sell the house. Joseph Rossen, brother to Dovie and Sallie, bought it. He later sold the house to the Proctors.
The Rossen Building was a lady’s dress shop in the 1940s and 1950s. The business was bought from the Rosson heirs by Bill Woodall in 1947 (though they continued to own the building). Bill operated a clothing shop in this location. However, since Sue May Powell had opened a hat business by then, Mr. Woodall did not sell hats. His shop was known as “Woodall’s Ready-to-Wear.”
His daughter, Martha Lou Woodall Wright, remembers, “Woodall's was the only store in Scottsboro where a man could order a custom made suit. Also, I remember when he would have a sale. One could buy a dress for $5 and get one free.” When the Rossens went up on the rent in 1972, Mr. Woodall went to “work with HUD along with Mr. Bob Weavil. Daddy was instrumental in changing the layout of the square. In fact, I have the only architectural rending of what the square was to look like. He also aided people in receiving 3% federal monies to buy buildings on the square. This was in the seventies.”
When Woodall’s Ready-to-Wear closed, Ronnie Drummond and Jack Livingston moved into the Rossen building and renovated it to accommodate their law practice. After Ronnie’s death, Jack moved his practice to the smaller Gay Building, where it remains today.
Current view: Porter Law Group P. C.
Cinderella Beauty Shop
In 1938, the Cinderella Beauty Shop, managed by Eunice Matthews, was in the Rosson Building, as this ad from
Rosson Building in 1975
