The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 59

If (Jbf AttnWxm War Sunday, July 4, 1976 eflin- Eailro ads-made- staFt4o-pow A. J. Haley, 1908; H. A. McMurray, 1909; W.

G. Porter (who was also cashier of the bank), 1910; Clyde H. Vann, 4912t JrArHarpovmayor prcrtem UTI913, elected "19HTJ. A. Harper, 1915; J.

B. Stephens, 1916; J. L. Kitchens, 1918-22; A. J.

Haley, 1923-27; Dr. J. D. Duke, 1928-30. Neal Morgan, who served on the council from 1926 until 1930, was elected mayor in 1930 and served in the office continuously until 1944.

The council throughout his tenure consisted of J. Houston Morris, A. J. Adams, John L. Atkins, Fred McMurray and Frank Owens.

The town waterworks was built during' Morgan's administration and the street paving program was started. W. S. Hincy was elected mayor in 1944. He served until the present mayor, John Gaither, was elected for his first term in 1948.

Prdgress during Gaither's administration has included a widely expanded jjaving programr4ncludingnostnrf the citys streets; extension of the water system; location of several new industries, and the building of a new town hall. Present town councilmen are Alwyn Harper, Roy Cole, Erie Parker, Carl Dryden'and E. B. Wood. Mrs.

Jesse Harlan is the city clerk. Three buildings have been used as town hall. All stood on the same site now occupied by the modern brick town hall. The town of Heflin, county seat of Cleburne County, is one of the important residential and trade centers of the Anniston area. In recent yearsjt has gained in prominence as a manufacturing community.

Heflin had its beginning in the early 1880s and is a young town when compared with Edwardsville, Muscadine and some of the communities that were established while lhat region was still a part of Benton County. Few people lived at the present townsite until about 1883 when the Georgia Pacific Railroad (now the Southern) was built from Alanta to the new city of Birmingham. Heflin then became a railroad village and trading Prior to that time there had been a settlement about two miles south at Sugar Hill, the name by which the community is still known. The community had a school. Early Sugar Hill residents included Judge W.

R. Hunnicutt, father of Misses Ida and Ellen Hunnicutt, who still reside at Heflin; Howard Bell and G.Ar Carruth. Carruth warthe firsfperson to be buried in the Heflin Cemetery. Some of Heflin's early citizens included J. C.

Bean, M. D. Robinson, W. F. Stephenson, J.

F. Morgan, J. C. Osborn, W. J.

Henry, W. A. Porter, Dr. W. A.

Neal, Dr. J. C. McClintock, M. Pinson and Richard Wood.

These were listed in Thomas M. Owens' "History of Alabama." The first municipal building was a small wood structure The town was named for a member of the Heflin famiJyJL which the best known member was the late JjL4ta-TWcnased irom an earlv mayor, W. H. Holliday. It was used Thomas Heflin of LaFayette.

None" of the jived until 1931 when a fire destroyed it. in the town named for them, however. Then, in 1933, an old wooden store building was' purchased According to the Owens history mentioned fearflwjahtrt'lrom F. P. Owens and moved down the main street to the population of Heflin in 1890 was was toWD property.

This building, one of the oldest storehouses population grew consideTabJsJite4irn of the-Century dwn, at one time housed the post office and had Jabe when the courthouse" was moved-there from EdwartovrileJ flams 'grocery on one side. It was located north of Cole 4- 355 ii I il m- SfL-- jr jT i Sm, jr jf -j I jr jr '-if The U.S. Census in 195PJpund the resident to number just a Motof where the Sinclair Service Station now few under 2,000. Town leaders nowesUmate sstarids Ttlifeifon hall MinctruMoH nf heart ninp lumhpr was to be 2,800. ZW The town was inToritffatea tyan tciof yie legislature Dec.

10, 1886. -Z' A great deal of the propfiTty Whi(4 the.wn'oCcupies was destroyed. byf ire in 1952. The present two-story hall was erected in thmonths following and was completed jn 1953. "'Heflin became the county seat in 1906, following a county election to decide the-issue in December," 1905.

The courthouse, still in use, was started in 1906 and dedicated Julyf 1907. 'M' An 'addition was constructed on the south wing of the building severat years ago to give better accommodations for the superintendent of education, welfare department and county agent's office. The town has had a number of disastrous fires in the business district through the years. One Of the earliest occurred about 1894, demolishing several buildings in the block occupied by the bank, on the west side of Main Street. In 1904 another blaze leveled a livery stable operated by W.

A. Hubbard and two store buildings (Landers Brothers and Reeves-Landers Co.) in the same block. Another fire in the same space between the post office and the bank building in 1929 destroyed a store run by W. T. Prestridge, the J.

Wager Meat Market, a barber shop, and Pesnell's General Merchandise store, located where Wood Drug Co. now stands. Flames raged again in 1931, wiping out the town's only hostelry, the three-story Central Hotel; a garage across the street owned by J. A. Morgan, the Perryman Brothers Store, the Kitchens Store and the town hall, on Main Street.

The most recent major downtown fire claimed the town hall in 1952. Heflin has for years been known for its strong bank, which has never failed. The Bank of Heflin was locally owned until recent years. Due to the large wooded areas of Cleburne County, Heflin has always been a lumber center, and during the earlier years this was its only industry. Farmers have also made it a marketing and trade hub.

Since 1950 the town has grown industrially. The location of owned by Newton- was settled? Rossan of Fred Ross, owned ffirloeation of the town andsduth, along the Tallapoosa- River The Rosses badjfeme from South Carolina and settled in the 1830s. T-s' Newt Ross, as he was called, gave the town the land for the first public school, for the three original church sites, and for the cemetery. The cemetery has since been expanded. The two-story wood building of the public school was situated oh the knoll just off Main Street now occupied by the Vocational Building of Cleburne County High School.

The building was torn down after the present modern school was erected nearby in 1936. The first county high school was established in 1909 and the brick building for its use was constructed near the city cemetery and the old Northern Methodist Church. The building was abandoned when the new consolidated school was put up, but it was later put into use as classrooms for elementary grades. It is still used for that purpose One of Heflin's first mayors wis W. G.

Milligan, who ran a general store and was one of the early school teachers. The oldest residents cannot be sure whether he was the first, and no records have been found dating to 1886. Town Council minutes and ordinance books go back to 1889 when J. F. Morgan was mayor.

Coke Weir held the office in 1891 and Milligan in 1893. Mr. Morgan served again in 1895. Others in the mayor's office In the early days Include: W. H.

Holliday, 1897; R. Hunnicutt, 1898; W. H. L. Carruth, 1899; E.

W. Landers, 1900; E. Hubbard, 1901; J. L. Kitchens, 1904; L.

E. Adams, 1907. (Carruth was later probate judge, and Adams served as sheriff.) Several of the early mayors serve terms of one year or less, while others held the office several years. Beginning with 1908, here is a complete list of the mayors, with the years they served: persons include Moore Business Forms, Spring Valley Foods, Inc. Western Mica Co.

Pirkle-Groover Lumber Co. Gahama Manufacturing Co. Farmers Supply Co. and Heflin Manufacturing Co. several industrial plants in Heflin and vicinity has enriched and enlivened the town as well as adding hundreds to the population.

Manufacturing plants employing several hundred local Tw Early American -W jr We Have The Largest 'fWsStV Colonial I A iM tefrg Slas I I OA One Of The Largest 4 (f. Wrought Iron A vfi A Stock In The Southeastern 'sSTi Vq United States! Mm hi PMfl t' 1 Largest CUmney W'XiT 1 3 ThePublic yr 1U fit Jl BankAericardWelcomelN KJic Let The Wingard's Help You With Your Electric Supply Needs! I 4AliI ANNIST0N-0XF0RD Highway 21 South Across From Sunny King Ford Phone 831-7680 ii mi- J- i -ii i li -i I- -i l1.