Preserving memories

Museum of Pell City to premier veteran oral history series in November

Since opening in March, Museum of Pell City has hosted over 1,000 visitors from as close as library patrons from downstairs to as far away as Norway and Austria. Now, the museum’s volunteer team is working on its second thousand.

Capturing the essence of life and history in a city that has passed the century mark is not an easy task, but this 4,000 square foot museum suite blends thousands of photographs, artifacts, artwork, narratives and video to tell the story of days long past through present day.

Its next venture, one that had its beginnings right alongside the planning for the museum itself, is the official unveiling of its oral history series, War and Remembrance, just in time for Veterans Day. The museum board is taking it a step further by celebrating veterans all November long with programs and exhibit displays.

The War and Remembrance series is ongoing through a partnership with the Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home with filming and interviewing starting even before the museum opened its doors. Veterans of three wars, representing World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War, are a part of this initial collection to be shown in the museum’s special Living History Studio housed inside the museum.

The studio, equipment and related projects were made possible through a $25,000 grant from the Greater Pell City Rotary Community Foundation and as part of a $45,000 grant from the Alabama Power Foundation. The veteran series is being funded by a nearly $9,000 grant from Alabama Humanities Alliance.

“From the very beginning, we felt like oral history had to be the centerpiece of our efforts to preserve history,” said President Carol Pappas. “What better way to capture those pivotal moments in history or simply the remembrances of everyday life that helped shape the city we know today? We cannot thank our grantors enough for their generosity in providing a foundation we can build on for years to come.”

Deanna Lawley, 1st vice president of the museum and coordinator of the Living History program, stressed the importance of preserving these voices of history. “Pell City clearly has a before and after community feel related to the 60s and the creation of Logan Martin Lake along with the connection to I-20. Residents who were in their teens at this time are now senior citizens. Their stories need to be saved and savored.”

The initial veteran series premiering in November includes interviews from veterans of World War II’s D-Day and Iwo Jima; conflicts of the Korean War; the Bay of Pigs invasion and Vietnam. See and hear accounts of those historic moments in war told by those who were there – “real people, real stories, real history,” Pappas said.

The series soon will be available in various forms on the museum’s You Tube channel website along with complete, word searchable transcripts of full interviews that may be accessed.

Inside the museum’s For Their Service section, see the flag that flew over a Navy ship on its way to Nagasaki and learn about the sailor aboard – a former district attorney in St. Clair County.

Read about Admiral Dennis Brooks, commander of the joint armed forces in the Persian Gulf during the Reagan administration and see his fighter pilot jacket on display.

And peruse the digital exhibit of letters home from a World War II combatant, giving visitors a look inside the lives of two young people from the battlefront to the home front. There will be more as planning continues.

“Our community and our county have a long history of military service, and this is a small tribute to them and all veterans that will be ongoing, added to and expanded as we continue this series,” Pappas said. To demonstrate Pell City’s impact on the military, visitors can learn more about Capt. Gardner Greene and the battalion formed in the city as a forerunner to the famed Rainbow Division.

As a special event on Nov. 2 at noon, the museum and library will partner in bringing Dr. Marty Olliff to the museum for the presentation, The Great War in the Heart of Dixie: Alabama in World War I. Olliff is a Professor of History at Troy University and the director of the Wiregrass Archives at the Dothan Campus.

He has served on the governing boards of: Alabama Historical Commission, Alabama Governor’s Mansion Commission, Alabama Humanities Foundation (now Alliance), Dothan Landmarks Foundation and Wiregrass Museum of Art. He also served as chairman of president of the Alabama Historical Association, Historic Chattahoochee Commission, Alabama Historians and the Society of Alabama Archivists.

He is the published author of two books: The Great War in the Heart of Dixie: Alabama in World War I and Getting Out of the Mud: Alabama’s Good Roads Movement and Highway Administration, 1898-1928.

Olliff’s presentation during a light luncheon will be the first special program the museum will host, and special guests to be honored that day are veterans from the veterans home.

Other programs are being planned on a regular basis on wide-ranging topics as part of the museum’s community outreach.

All museum exhibits, exhibitions and special programming are free to the public.

Run 4 the Parks

5K event highlights good things in Springville

Story by Paul South
Photos by Richard Rybka

No matter its size, a city’s growth is always measured in new jobs, new rooftops, new businesses and new people.

But in Springville – at least for its Parks and Recreation Department – growth is also calculated in miles and smiles.

Consider Springville’s Run 4 the Parks.

In its brief existence – the inaugural event took place last year – the city has raised some $23,000. According to the parks and rec website, proceeds from the 5k race and other run-related events will offset the cost of improvements at the Springville Sports Complex, specifically a stone entrance gate, new signage and lighting.

Rick Hopkins, the city’s director of Parks and Recreation, says the idea for the run sprouted from an effort to bring more events into the community.

Riley Robertson and passenger

Years ago, the city hosted a successful 5k run. But Springville’s park board envisioned something bigger and better.

“We talked about how we wanted it to be something more than a 5K so that it would be something for the entire family, not just for people who specialized in long distance running. That was the real genesis of it.” SpringFest and a previous 5K run – which helped fund Big Springs Park and the city’s popular Splash Pad – provided a template for the Run 4 The Parks.

“We just built off SpringFest,” Hopkins says. “But we wanted something that was focused on the entire family. We tried to bring back something similar to SpringFest. That was really our goal.”

In the 5K, 108 runners competed this year. Some 100 runners participated in the other classifications last year, which included runners across the spectrum in terms of age. The event also attracted a large number of spectators.

The sports complex improvements are aimed at raising the facility’s public profile.

“One of the big issues we have at the sports complex is a lot of the people don’t know we’re here, because we don’t have signage; we don’t have an entrance,” Hopkins says.

Run 4 the Parks is just a slice of what Springville Parks and Recreation offers. “We like to have something for everyone,” Hopkins says.

And it seems the city does – youth baseball, flag football, tackle football, cheerleading, basketball, soccer and softball, as well as adult co-ed softball. Disc golf and pickleball are also on the horizon.

The city has four parks – the youth baseball and sports complexes, Big Springs Park and Woody Park – six tennis courts, the Big Springs Splash Pad and Big Springs Dog Park.

The department also manages the Springville Senior Center, which according to Mayor Dave Thomas, is “bursting at the seams” and the Farmer’s Market site downtown. The city hopes to reopen the market by June 2024 as a state-certified Farmers Market, joining markets in Moody and Pell City as state-certified.

By the end of September, the city was expecting a $50,000 grant from T-Mobile to help fund improvements at the facility, and the city plans to match the grant.

A  major municipal undertaking is underway, construction of the Big Canoe Creek Preserve. Paving work is moving ahead. And Schoel Engineering is providing a master plan for the project at no cost to the city. Some trails, including horseback, are expected to open in October.

Rubber Ducky Launch

 Looking to future progress, at press time, Springville was awaiting the green light from the Forever Wild Land Trust to begin construction on a four-mile biking and hiking trail. Since 1992, Forever Wild has secured more than 284,000 acres of Alabama land for public use, and Big Canoe is part of that trust.

Big Canoe Creek Preserve will also be home to environmental education, celebrating the land’s broad biodiversity. “I think the future is so bright for outdoor education for the nature preserve,” Hopkins predicts.

“The nature preserve is going to be a feature for the entire county,” he adds. “It’s really a feather in the cap for this community because it’s going to draw people to St. Clair County from all over the state and outside the state.”

The preserve continues to be a community effort with in-kind contributions spurring the progress. It’s important to note the city has received some $30,000 in free excavation work from a local firm, Norris Paving.

Parks and Rec Administrative Clerk Lucy Cleaver, along with preserve manager Doug Morrison, is developing the environmental education program at the preserve to serve students and adults. She earned two degrees in outdoor education from Auburn University.

“We want to use (the preserve) to the best of our ability to truly be a spot where people can come and be inspired by nature, to learn about the history of St. Clair County … and all the immense biodiversity that we have out there. It’s a very special place.”

 Cleaver also oversees the Farmer’s Market and assists Hopkins in managing Parks and Recreation events.

It’s estimated that some 90 percent of Springville’s nearly 5,000 residents utilize the city’s parks and recreation facilities and programs. Some 2,000 from the city and neighboring communities take part in team sports.

All of this is part of an ongoing effort by the city to “raise the bar” when it comes to quality of life in Springville, Mayor Thomas says. He praises Hopkins and his staff as they juggle the myriad activities and events under the department’s umbrella.

“Hat’s off to them,” he says. “I don’t know how they do it.”

The goal for parks and rec? Maintaining and expanding high quality opportunities for Springville citizens. Think possibilities like Art in the Park or Strings in the Park. But it takes time.

“Everybody’s struggling with finite resources,” Thomas says. “We can’t do everything we want to all at once. But as long as we maintain the vision and keep our eye on the ball, we will get there.”

While the success of Springville’s Parks and Recreation efforts can be measured in numbers like participation, a more compelling narrative comes from anecdotes. It’s impossible to please everyone. But Hopkins says positive feedback far outdistances complaints.

Thomas uses another metric. Smiles. “By and large, the support is overwhelming. They like what we’re doing.”

For Hopkins and his department, serving the community is the focus. “We are here to serve (the people), and we want to serve them in the best way that we can every single day.”

Pell City Square

New retail ventures taking region to next economic level

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Graham Hadley

It was kind of like dominos falling – only in a good way. One by one, ribbons were cut, doors opened, and shoppers rushed in. Pell City Square – 147,900 square feet of retail stores – had finally arrived.

Actually, it’s still arriving. The final openings – Hobby Lobby, Ulta and Pet Smart – were all expected to open by Oct. 9. The early birds signaling a new era for retail development for Pell City and St. Clair County were Ross Dress For Less, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, America’s Best Eye Care and Five Below, which opened in August and September.

Those brand-name retailers are expected to provide more than just a bonanza for shoppers here at home. The dollars they generate are expected to pump more than $25 million in gross taxable sales into the local economy in the first year. When the outparcels are developed, that $25 million is expected to turn into $30 million. And that’s “conservative,” said Pell City Manager Brian Muenger.

“It will have a very material impact,” Muenger said. “It takes our tax base to another level.” The city had been growing incrementally within its retail footprint in recent years, but Pell City Square enables the city to “capture dollars leaving as opposed to moving dollars around.”

OLD NAVY is stocked with merchandise and open for business

The property fronting Interstate 20 has four outparcels in addition to the outdoor mall. On the west side of the property are parcels controlled by the developer, Noon, and City of Pell City. The city-controlled parcel was “earmarked” for a national sit-down restaurant and the other for a fast casual restaurant. Both have tenants committed with announcements coming soon, and construction and completion are expected in 2024.

The parcels on the east side are controlled by the original developer, Bill Ellison, president of I-20 Development. “I’m really excited about the future development potential of the property,” he said in September. “I am waiting to market it until all the stores in the center are open.”

The Pell City Square represents the completion of a 10-year effort to redevelop the old county hospital site. “A large retail center with major brands missing from our community was always the vision for that site,” said St. Clair Economic Development Executive Director Don Smith. “But removing the old hospital, obtaining a purchase option on surrounding property, and finding a development team with the experience and resources to build it took time and patience.” 

Because of Pell City’s size compared to other markets where these retailers locate, Smith described the years long efforts as a “bit of a challenge.  Bill Ellison and Noon Development did a great job in showing that Pell City is much larger than just its population with the visitors to the lake and others living in the surrounding area.” 

Officials say the project was one of the most complicated in the county’s history and required all involved to work in the same direction. But the dividends of teamwork are evident. “It has already started to attract the attention of other major retail brands that had turned down the market in the past,” Smith said.

Making progress on Hobby Lobby construction

Muenger agreed, saying, businesses recruited in 2015-2017 that declined to approve Pell City as a location are now approving sites quickly. “It demonstrates the growth in our market. People are seeing that we’re a natural hub of commerce between Anniston and Birmingham.”

“One of the things that set the leaders in St. Clair County above others is our ability to work together strategically on economic development projects,” Smith added.  “The new retail center at Pell City Square and the QT travel center at the Eden exit are just another example.”  The City of Pell City worked closely with the St. Clair County Commission and the developer from beginning to the end of the project to overcome infrastructure upgrades and other challenges. “It was a collaborative effort the entire time.”

Despite the challenges, Muenger noted, “It has been enjoyable to watch this project progress. It’s fun to see the reception the center is getting and bringing that space to life.”

QT: QuickTrip opens

Eden project signals new era of development

Story and photos by Carol Pappas

For years, even decades, the Eden interchange of Interstate 20 has been like a blank canvas – a perfect place for commercial development but lacking in the infrastructure to make the picture complete.

There were many suitors over the years, but without sewer service, they turned away. But three years ago, Quik Trip, a Georgia-based travel center, eyed the property and secured an option.

There was still the hurdle of sewer service, but eventually a partnership among QT, City of Pell City and St. Clair County swung a deal that not only paved the way for the travel center but future development in that entire area.

The city joined with the county to leverage the investment by QT that would be scalable to other properties near the interchange – close to 200 acres. They built a lift station and made infrastructure improvements worth $1 million.

The investment should be well worth it, according to Pell City Manager Brian Muenger and St. Clair Economic Development Council Executive Director Don Smith.

“The Eden exit has always been an area of potential, but it lacked sewer service at that interstate interchange,” Smith said. “The executives at QT understood this and were willing to partner with the city and county to extend a sewer line over 1,000 feet and large enough to handle fully developing the interchange for the future.” 

St. Clair EDC Executive Director Don Smith addresses the positive impact the development will have on future

So, what does that investment and partnership mean? “This opens up hundreds of acres for development in the future. QT’s motto, ‘More than a gas station,’ is exactly what this project means to that interchange.”

Muenger agreed. The entire area around it – 200 acres – is now ripe for development in both commercial and residential. As an example, Muenger called nearby Roberts Mill Pond Road area “ideal for higher density residential subdivision. It’s commutable. You can get to any company headquarters in Birmingham in 30 minutes. We continue to get looks as an exurb,” an area beyond suburbs where people can live and work.

“When you plant the seeds of future growth in infrastructure investments,” Muenger continued, short and long term goals of the city are all within reach. With the $10 million total investment already made, which includes QT, Eden is quickly moving up on the priority list for future development projects. Case in point: This is only the third or fourth QT venture into Alabama for this national brand travel center. And business tends to breed business.

While the U.S. 231 interchange is a major thoroughfare with massive development, having an appropriate travel stop at the Eden exit is “value added” for Pell city, Muenger said. “It’s consistent, it’s immaculate. They have great food and great coffee.” In addition to the hefty return from gasoline tax for a center that size that caters to trucks and passenger vehicles, “we’ll be capturing our share of that revenue.”

While it has been a few years in the making, Muenger said, “we are proud to have QT in Pell City. We knew it was a great fit for us.”

Mariott hotel headed to Pell City

While much of the attention of late has centered on Pell City Square, the 100,000+ square foot retail center, officials see it not as an end to the story, but a new beginning.

It seems there is more good economic news on the horizon already. Mariott has broken ground on a $14 million hotel project just across I-20 next to Home Depot on Vaughan Lane. The 89-room venture is a higher end, medium stay hotel that can cater to business travelers.

It is a high-quality hotel with pool and other amenities, giving the city more capacity to market accommodations for events all around the region, not just in Pell City. Event venues like Talladega SuperSpeedway, Barber Motorsports, Lincoln’s Landing, Civilian Marksmanship Park and Top Trails will benefit from the increased capacity the hotel provides for travelers. And the lodging tax it generates only serves to strengthen Pell City coffers, enabling the city to reinvest in infrastructure, services and quality of life, according to Pell City Manager Brian Muenger.

None of the current economic shots in the arm happened overnight, officials are quick to say. Plenty of needs identification, planning and goal setting preceded the series of announcements made in recent months.

The city identified the “biggest gaps” in its retail and restaurant landscape and set out to fill them, Muenger said. Because of the comprehensive planning effort, “All the things we said we wanted, we’re on track to do.”

Crawford Skinner Agency a ‘Top Performer’

Crawford-Skinner Agency retains its Best Practices status, once again becoming a part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States. This status comes by participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) Best Practices Study group. The annual survey and Study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.

 “Crawford-Skinner Agency is proud to be recognized again as one of the best agencies in the business,” says Brian Skinner, Crawford-Skinner Agency president. “Since my grandfather founded the agency in 1944, we have consistently provided the best possible service to our clients. We look forward to continuing our legacy of service for years to come.”

The Crawford-Skinner Agency was founded in 1944 and can offer insurance products from a number of different companies including Auto Owners, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, and many more. 

Since 1993, the Big “I” and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, have joined forces to study the country’s leading agencies in six revenue categories. The agencies comprising the study groups are selected every third year through a comprehensive nomination and qualifying process and awarded a “Best Practices Agency” designation.

The agency was nominated by either an IIABA affiliated state association or an insurance company and qualified based on its operational excellence.

The selected Best Practices agencies retain their status during the three-year cycle by submitting extensive financial and operational data for review each year. This is the second year of the current three-year study cycle, where over 2,600 independent agencies throughout the U.S. were nominated to take part in the annual study in 2022, but only 287 agencies qualified for the honor. 

To be chosen, the agency had to be among the 35-45 top-performing agencies in one of six revenue categories. 

Editor’s Note: Founded in 1896, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing more than 25,000 agency locations united under the Trusted Choice brand. Trusted Choice independent agents offer consumers all types of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products—from a variety of insurance companies.