Girl's High School--Swayne College, Colored School--Boy's High School
City Infirmary--Women's Home--Morris Eye Infirmary
FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY.
Industries rated according to the tariff of South Eastern Tariff Association.
STATEMENT SHOWING THE AMOUNT OFCAPITAL INVESTED IN MONTGOMERY,AND AMOUNT OF BUSINESS DONE, TOGETHER WITH THE TOTALOUTBOUND TICKET SALES AND FREIGHT TONNAGE FORWARDED AND RECEIVEDFROM JAN. 1, 1887 TO DEC. 31, 1887.
Capital City Water Works
MONTGOMERY’S TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
Residence of John R. Tyson
A glance at the State map must convince even the most casual observer that Montgomery possesses rail and water transportation facilities, which not only bring her in easy reach of the varied resources of the State, but also connect her with the large commercial cities of this land, and with foreign ports.
The Alabama river, which is navigable from Montgomery the entire year, is her water way to the Gulf, and is an important factor in the question of freights. Connecting her with New York and foreign ports, it is a perpetual check to freight discriminations against her by railroads. When the obstructions to the Coosa river are removed, a matter now engaging the attention of Congress, Montgomery will have water communication as far north as Rome, Ga., which will open up to her a country rich in mineral and agricultural wealth.
The great Louisville and Nashville system, which has contributed so largely to the development of the State, reaches out from Montgomery in two directions. It connects her with the markets of the entire country, north, northeast, northwest and south, and supplies her with coal and other products of the mineral districts of the State, and lumber from the timber belts.
The Western Railroad of Alabama, from Montgomery to Atlanta, connecting with the Kennesaw and Piedmont Air Lines, is a link in the great line from New York to the Gulf. At Atlanta it connects with the Georgia Railroad, giving it a through line to Charleston, and at Opelika with the Central Railroad system, forming a direct route to Savannah, two of the most important ports on the Atlantic.
Opera House--Montgomery Theatre
Views from Highland Park
Club House Montgomery Shooting Club--A glimpse of Jackson's Lake
Exchange Hotel--Windsor Hotel
The Montgomery and Selma division opens up to her the rich agricultural districts of West Alabama and Mississippi, giving her a valuable trade.
The Montgomery and Eufaula Railroad, runs southeast from Montgomery, through rich, black prairie lands to Eufaula, where it connects with steamers on the Chattahoochee river. This road is a part of the Georgia Central system, and forms a direct line from Montgomery to Savannah. It offers unsurpassed facilities to Montgomery shippers, giving through bills of lading over its own rail and steamship lines, to New York and Europe. It is the most popular through route from the West to all Florida resorts.
The Florida and Northwest Railroad is being built south from Montgomery, and is now running fifty miles through a rich agricultural section to Luvern. From Luvern it will pass through the finest timber belt in the country, to some point on the Chattahoochee river. While this road will be a great feeder to Montgomery, it will also form the most direct route to Florida. Its extension from Montgomery, northwest to Maplesville, is generally conceded, where it will connect with the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia system, that great artery of commerce, that stretches its arms of steel from the Atlantic to the lakes, and from the mountains of Virginia to the plains of Texas. This system now enters Montgomery over the track of the Louisville and Nashville road.
Residence of Judge D. Clopton
The above is but a meager statement of Montgomery’s transportation facilities.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Our public schools consist of the Boys’ High School, the Girls’ High School, the Capital Hill Grammar School and the Sayre Street Grammar School for white children, and Swayne College and Cemetery Hill School for colored children.
There are employed in the white schools, twenty-six regular teachers and one supernumerary, and in the colored schools, ten teachers.
Residence of A. A. Wiley
There has been an attendance during this year of about nine hundred and fifty white children, a larger number than ever before, and about four hundred and fifty colored children. The expenditures for the session 1887-8 have been about twenty-three thousand dollars, besides about four thousand dollars for buildings and repairs.
The income of the schools is derived from an annual appropriation by the city, an annual appropriation from the State, regulated by the number of school children in this school district, and from the poll tax collected from the citizens in this district.
The schools are in a flourishing condition. The Superintendent is a competent, painstaking gentleman, and his assistants are for the most part well adapted and fitted to be his coadjutors in the good work.
The schools begin on the first Monday in October and end on the last Thursday in May, thus having an eight months’ session. The children within the district who are able to pay it, are required to pay a fee of two dollars per session of eight months; those who are unable to pay this fee are admitted free. The students in the Boys’ High School and in the highest class of the Girls’ High School pay a fee of ten dollars per session of eight months, if able to do so.
We have every prospect of continued prosperity in the schools.
Moses BuildingMOSES BUILDING.
THE ADAMS COTTON MILLOFFICERS ADAMS COTTON MILL: J. R. ADAMS, PRESIDENT; J. B. SHERROD, SECRETARY AND TREASURER;W. L. DOLPHYN, SUPERINTENDENT. CAPACITY 5000 SPINDLES AND 150 LOOMS.
Noble Boykin & Clopton Bldg.--Hobbie Building--Griel Building
INDUSTRIES THAT WILL PAY IN MONTGOMERY.
Cotton Mills,—As shown elsewhere.
Bagging Factory,—From absence of any here, and the immense trade that Montgomery has in bagging for wrapping cotton, amounting to something like $200,000 per annum.
Iron Works of all Kinds,—As a furnace of fifty tons capacity will soon be completed in Montgomery, giving cheap charcoal iron of best grade; and unexcelled transportation facilities to reach the home and foreign markets.
Variety Wood Working,—Owing to cheap lumber of every kind, as shown elsewhere.
Paper Factory,—Owing to the large amount of cotton seed hulls to be secured from our three large oil mills, which hulls will make a most beautiful white paper; and unexcelled facilities for securing cotton stalks and other good paper stock, and inexhaustible water supply.
Tan Yard,—Owing to large number of good hides shipped from this point and towns in easy reach, and ease of securing barks, bitter weed and other material for tanning leather.
Residence of J. C. Hurter
Plows and Agricultural Implements,—Owing to large home demand and cheapness of raw material, with splendid shipping facilities.
Glass Factory,—Owing to large deposit of excellent sand near Montgomery, and the absence of such a factory in this section.
Shoe Factory,—Owing to large trade, amounting to half a million dollars.
Cheap Clothing,—Owing to immense wholesale trade, supplying Middle and South Alabama and part of Florida.
Terra Cotta and Tiles,—Owing to large deposits of fine clays suitable for making such articles.
Flouring Mill,—As this is a large wholesale market for flour, and there is a good opening, with promise of large return, for such an enterprise.
Brewery--The Montgomery Iron Works
Paint Factory,—Owing to the large beds of fine ochre within ten miles of the city, which ochre is now being shipped in the raw state to other points.
Paper Box Factory, Wool Factory, Hat Factory and Knitting Factory.
The above-mentioned enterprises are only named to suggest to the minds of business men a few of the manufacturing establishments that will pay a large profit on capital invested in Montgomery, while the field is open for sundry others that are two numerous to give in detail. Montgomery stands at the head of commercial cities of the South, with almost undisputed control of a large territory occupied by half a million consumers, and unequaled railroad and river transportation facilities for collecting all raw material to this point and delivery of manufactured articles to foreign and domestic markets.
For further information as to facts in detail in regard to the above manufacturing enterprises, write to any member of the Montgomery Real Estate Agents’ Association, who will take pleasure in furnishing information and will secure donation of site for plant.
MONTGOMERY’S AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES.
The City of Montgomery is surrounded by a greater variety of valuable agricultural lands than any city in the South, being situated on the south bank of the Alabama river, just below the confluence of the Coosa and Talapoosa rivers, all of which streams are bordered by very rich farming lands. Some of the alluvial bottoms are subject to occasional overflows, but the second bottoms are above the effects of freshets and form beautiful flats, in some places several miles wide, of sandy loam with clay subsoil, making a most valuable land for general farm purposes, as it is easily tilled and susceptible of great improvement by manuring and a good system of farming.
The rich black prairie belt touches us on the south and certainly contains some of the finest and most productive lands in the Union. It is just undulating enough to afford good drainage. The prairie soil is naturally so rich that fertilizers have been used very little, and the all-cotton system of farming which has been practiced almost to the exclusion of every other crop since 1865, has impoverished the farmers to such an extent that large prairie farms have been turned over entirely to negro tenants. This has resulted in a complete failure as a system, as the negro without a white man for a director, is not capable of making a living for himself or rents for his landlord. These magnificent lands can now be bought for about $10 to $15 per acre, and are certainly better adapted to stock raising than any other section of the continent, being splendid grain lands for such crops as oats and corn, yielding from twenty-five to 100 bushels per acre.
Alabama Oil Mill--Montgomery Oil Mill
Johnson grass flourishes here as a hay grass, yielding from one and a half to two tons per acre, without any trouble of re-seeding, and sells in home market for $15 per ton.
Bermuda grass for pasturage is unsurpassed by any grass in the world, as it affords good grazing for eight months in the year, and will keep fat one horse or cow per acre for that length of time. Another valuable characteristic of the Bermuda grass is that it never runs out as a pasture. Some pastures are now in fine condition that were sodded thirty years ago.
Another important advantage of this section, for stock raising, is that our winters are so mild that stock does not need housing, except that it is better to provide open sheds for protection from rain, and they feed on the cane which grows on all branches and streams, staying green all the year. When a specialty is made of stock raising it is well to provide some ensilage to feed at night through the winter, in connection with the cane pasturage.
While some of our farmers are paying more attention each year to stock raising, as a general thing the prairie farms are rented to negro tenents, and now is a splendid opportunity to buy them cheap and devote to grass and stock.
The Southern Cotton Oil Co.'s Mill at riverside ParkTHE SOUTHERN COTTON OIL CO.’S MILL AT RIVERSIDE PARK.HENRY C. BUTCHER, Pres.; JOHN OLIVER, Sec. and Treas., of Philadelphia;E. W. THOMPSON, Local Manager. Capacity, 150 tons cotton seed daily.
Hurter & Co's New Compress--Old Compress
While 250 pounds of lint cotton, twenty bushels of corn and thirty bushels of oats per acre are considered fair crops for our white farmers, below will be shown what can be done with our lands under the intensive system of farming. The figures show the results on a four mule farm of 320 acres of our good land.
Residence of W. H. Graves
The above estimate shows the possibilities of good farming. It is not overdrawn, as five bales of cotton and one hundred bushels of corn and oats, respectively, have been grown on single acres. These figures show 225 acres under cultivation, leaving ninety-five acres of the farm to be devoted to pasture, orchards, etc.
MARKET GARDENING.
Market gardening, or truck farming, around Montgomery, offers a number of advantages over other sections. As stated elsewhere, we have a great variety of soils that are suited to growing fruits and vegetables, while our climate is all that could be asked, with a mean annual temperature of 64 degrees, the last frost occurring from the 5th to the 25th of April, and earliest killing frost in the fall, in November, with an annual mean precipitation of rain of 55 inches. The conditions are therefore favorable for growing all fruits and vegetables not natives of extreme northern or tropical climates, and we can have some crop growing all the year round for marketing.
Charcoal Furnaces & Chemical Works
Masonic Temple--Liverpool & London & Glob and A. P. Tyson Buildings
Alabama State Fair Grounds
With the good railroad connections that we have with such points as Louisville, Cincinnati and Chicago, and advantage in rates by being two hundred miles nearer to these markets than the Gulf coast, the Montgomery gardener is favorably situated to make his business successful.
LUMBER AND TIMBER TRADE OF MONTGOMERY.
Montgomery is favorably located for being one of the largest lumber marts in the South, owing to her close proximity to the immense body of long leaf pine in South Alabama, which, with good rail connections in operation and in course of construction, will enable her to control any amount of splendid yellow pine lumber for manufacturing into sash, doors, blinds, etc. On all the rivers and streams in this section abound hard woods of every kind, suitable for manufacture into furniture, wagons, tool handles and for every variety of wood working. These can be laid down in Montgomery at such a low cost that she is destined to become a great center for wood working establishments.
COTTON FACTORIES.
Residence of H. C. Moses
As a financial investment, cotton mills in the South, under proper management, offer as good promise of dividends on capital invested as any industry or branch of business. The average profits from cotton mills South, for years have been fully equal to those of other business, and in many instances, far greater. In selecting a site for a mill, there are localities that offer greater inducements for such an enterprise than others, and among those cities that offer the greatest attractions is Montgomery. We believe a careful review of her facilities will convince capitalists that she is the most available city in the South foroperating a cotton mill, and that she must become sooner or later the center for cotton manufacture. In counting the cost of a plant, the question of a site would not have to be considered, as a good railroad site will be donated by either the Riverside or the Highland Park Company. Building material, and skilled and unskilled labor required to convert it into mill buildings, can be secured at a very reasonable rate. The proximity of the city to the Alabama coal fields settles all questions as to the cost of fuel for power. Coal at a little over $2 per ton affords power to propel a cotton mill, which under the ordinary natural conditions attached to water power, makes it impossible to compete with steam. The city is a trade center for the distribution of large quantities of staple goods of every kind over a large territory, which in turn supplies her with the raw material, and in such quantities that she enjoys great prominence as a cotton market. The supply of cotton for the mills could be readily obtained, and many of the goods produced would find a ready home market, while the competing lines of railway and the Alabama river insure low freight rates for the products and for all material and supplies used in building and running a mill.
Fully 80 per cent. of the operatives of a cotton mill are females and minors, and Montgomery has a large class of this population who are now practically without employment, the majority of the industries now in operation here being unsuitable for such labor. In many families the adult males are compelled to support by their labors the remaining members of their households, owing to the difficulty of the class mentioned above finding suitable and profitable employment. For this, at present, surplus labor, there is no fixed value. It seeks employment wherever there is an opportunity, and is satisfied with very moderate pay. Should a cotton mill be built in Montgomery, an ample supply of this labor would be certain to volunteer before the completion of the building.
Carr's Cracker Factory--Standard Club Building
The South is the field for the manufacture of coarse cotton goods, and no other section of the country can compete with it on these products. This has been fully determined, and is no longer an open question. These goods are standard and the demand for them world wide. Thousands of bales of domestic goods have been shipped during the year from Southern mills to China and Japan. As stated above, the South is the field for cotton mills, and Montgomery is the most available point in the South for the establishment of such industries.
TALLASSEE FALLS MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
The Tallassee Falls Manufacturing Co’s Cotton Mills are situated at Tallassee, a small town contiguous to and contributory to Montgomery. The main building, of stone, is 220 feet long by 50 feet wide, five stories, with an L 60 feet, six stories, and a wing 116 feet by 60 feet, four stories high, containing about 20,000 spindles and 330 looms.
These mills manufacture cotton brown goods, consuming 7,500 to 8,000 bales cotton annually.
The officers of the company are, John W. Durr, President; James A. Farley, Treasurer, and Wm. H. Micou, Jr., Secretary. Their residences are at Montgomery, where the principal office of the company is located. The officers at the mills are, A. J. Milstead, Superintendent; A. J. Noble, Assistant Treasurer, Tallassee, Ala.
The mills are run by water-power, are equipped with the latest improved machinery, and lighted by an 800 light Edison electric light plant.
Cotton Mills of the Tallassee Falls Manufacturing Co.
Montgomery Ala. and Its Surroundings