The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-06

in the office of the Dwight Mills. He l IS wearing the cap and gown of Har- yard and has in his hand his doctor $ degree.
 The town is itself a monument to | the young man who died at the early age of 27. He was the son of J. How ard Nichols. the Treasurer of the | Dwight Mnfg. Company. It was the young mans dream to make Alabama City his life work
 He was favored by fate in working to the fulfllment of his dream. His natural gifts were varied and strong and he was splendidly equipped by en- vironment. heredity and education for | the work he had mapped out for his life.
 The Dwight Mnfg. Company, one of the largest manufacturers of cotton goods in the United States, had deter mined to extend It's operations to the South. The home mills of the big com pany are at Chicopee. Mass. The wis dom of putting the cotton mills along side the cotton fields of the South had commended itself to the thoughtful and conservative men who direct the oper- ations of the big corporation. The President of this company Is T. Jef- ferson Coolidge of Boston. grandson of Thomas Jefferson, ex-Minister to France and 1t is said Is President of mere looms and spindles than any other man in the United States. J. Howard Nichols Is Treasurer of tho company. As a son of the Treasurer of the company and as the Alabama agent of the Company. Howard Gard ner Nichols took an active part in form ing the plans for a Southern mill and for locating the mill in the best possi- ble place.
 The whole South was gone over. For various reasons 1t was determined to build the mill in Alabama. Gadsden put forth its claims persistently and insistently. Enterprises like this are not secured accidentally or in a hap hazard way.
 It takes labor. industry and money to secure such enterprises. Gadsden put up full measure of each to se- cure the big mill.
 At that time K. A. Mitchell was president of the Queen City Bank and Mayor of Gadsden. He was naturally in the head and in the front of the movement to get the Dwight mill. Well, Gadsden got it. Gadsden. it might be said incidentally, has gotten all the big things that 1t has gone af- tes
 Alabama City was laid out with the big mill near It's center. Young Nich- ols drew the plan and superintended the laying out of the new town. Work on the mill began under his plans and under his supervision. A town is not built in a day Alabama City and the big mill were three years In the building.
 Just three years was allowed How ard Gardner Nichols for his life work. It is such a narrow space of time for a man to do his work. Yet Nichols did 1t in such a way that it is his monu- ment and in the language of the tab let His memory still lives" While directing the installation of the machinery in May, 1896, a heavy piece fell upon him and he sustained injuries from which he died thirty days later.
 R. A. Mitchell had been the ad- wiser and the confidant of the mill company in their Alabama work. He was rendered the important place of Alabama agent upon the death of young Nichols. He accepted the place and since that time has devoted him self to the work and the responsibil- tiles of the position.
 The thing that most impresses the visitor with Alabama City passed over the broad square and beyond the huge four storied mill, studded with count less windows, is the diversity of archi- lecture in the houses of the employees. The statement that no two houses in the town is alike conveys some idea of this diversity but even that is not adequate The building of each house called for separate plans and the draw ing of separate blue prints. The com many secured a Scotch architect and sent him to Alabama. He was paid regular monthly salary and for eigh- teen months he old nothing but draw plans for and supervise the building of the houses for the employees of the mill
 There are about 400 of the houses They are all attractive. Some of the larger cottages, the six room house. in which the room bosses nVe are nothing shovt of beautiful witn thelr