The Auburn Train Depot was built in 1904, based on a Victorian railroad design by Auburn University architecture student Ralph Dudley. Two previous stations serving the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, located on the same site, had been destroyed…
Located at 1323 Auburn Street in Opelika, the home was built in 1906 by the city's first African-American doctor, J.W. Darden. Darden was the only physician for African-Americans within a 30-mile radius of Opelika. Partnering with his pharmacist…
Lucv Pokv Tvise (translation: turtle sitting place) was a settlement of the Sawakee Creeks established in 1796. The residents had been forced out of South Carolina and Georgia by expanding white settlements. The village reached a peak population of…
Judge John Harper and 33 other residents of Harris County, Georgia were the first settlers of Auburn in 1836. One year later they completed construction of a Methodist church, which served as the settlement's first church and school. Church…
Beth Shalom is the only organized Jewish congregation in East Alabama. Formed in 1989, the synagogue was dedicated in 1992. It is located at 134 Cary Drive, Auburn, AL.
The land on which this building is situated was owned by Judge John Harper, the founder of Auburn. In 1846, Harper deeded the land to Auburn Academy agent Simeon Porter for the purpose of building Auburn's first schools. The site served as the home…
Located at 434 East Magnolia Avenue, the Dillard-Lawson House was built in 1896 by Auburn merchant A.L. Dillard. Its exterior is made of grey stone, unique to the local area. Dillard's wife and daughter were the first women registered as voters in…
Ebenezer Baptist Church was the second African-American church in the city of Auburn. The congregation was formed in 1868 and construction completed on the building in 1870. Ebenezer served as the primary member of the Auburn District Association,…
Pinetucket was built by Lewis Allen Foster around 1850 in the Greek Revival style. The owner was one of the leading entrepreneurs in 19th century Auburn. Foster's primary business was tin ware, the art of which he taught to young men that lived in…
The Halliday-Cary-Pick House was built by James Kidd in 1848. The home was owned by three prominent residents of Auburn. Dickinson Halliday was a planter who had moved to the town from Georgia. During the Civil War, the home was used as a hospital…
During the 1930s two Civilian Conservation Corps groups were organized in Lee County. Post Number 4448 was located near Chewacla State Park and Post Number 4447 was located on South College Street in Auburn. Members of the Corps came from states…
Built in the 1840s by Richard Buchanan, this Greek Revival home and property provides a history of agriculture in Lee County. It served as a plantation in the antebellum period and as a tenant farm in the early 20th century. In 1937 J.W. Clegg…
In the early 1830s, William Barnard, a mixed-race Creek Indian, built a log cabin on 640 acres of land in what is now western Lee County. Barnard was an influential leader of the Creeks in western Georgia and served under U.S. militia general John…
The first major industry in Lee County and the first textile mill in Opelika. It opened in 1900. Today, it is most well known as the backdrop for the 1979 film "Norma Rae" about a woman who become involved in the Labor Union Activities at the North…
Constructed in 1925, allegedly after Opelika city officials paid the company a significant sum in bribes, the Pepperell Mill would become one of Opelika's most iconic industrial sites. The mill produced cotton textiles under a number of names until…
After opening in 1963, this plant produced automobile tires for the BF Goodrich company. The business was forced to close in 2009 after shifting workforce to non-unionized labor. It was located at 1800 Crawford Rd., Opelika, AL.
Diversified Products opened in 1963. The company specialized in fitness equipment and is credited with revolutionizing the fitness industry. This business was an important component of America's emerging fitness movement for four decades. Corporate…
Orradio produced magnetic tape. Major John Herbert Orr founded Orradio in 1949 using information given to him by German scientists during World War II. This business became the first producer of commercially available audio, video, and computer tape.…
This grist mill was originally built in 1834 by Sam Carter and Henry Byrd as a sawmill. In 1848 John "Jack" Floyd purchased the property and in 1852 Floyd's Mill Rd (now US 29) was established. During the Civil War, the mill provided supplies to the…
James Mitchell purchased 400 acres along Chewacla Creek and built a dam and sawmill in 1837. Mr. Collins bought the mill in 1880, but it was washed away during a flood in 1889 and would not be rebuilt until 1905. J. Milton Whatley bought the property…