The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-08
DOTHAN, PRIDE OF THE
 WIREGRASS SECTION
It Has NO Rival There and Its Supremacy is Un- challenged As to Size, Strength and Pro-
 greSSiVeneSS.
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

| Dothan, Feb. 7.-(Special Correspond ence. )--Dothan Is the Pride of the Wiregrass. If this was an attempt at oratory, or a speech from a member of
 the Alabama Legislature, Dothan would
 be called the Queen of the Wiregrass. One meets this manifest pride in Do- | than wherever he travels through this section. Your true wiregrass men ap- preciates the wonderful development of, his favored section. In whatever walk of life, in whatever occupation
 or business you find him. he praises his section, and he cites figures and inci- dents to show how the Wiregrass has come forward to demand and obtain the respect of Alabama.
 His pride in Dothan is unconcealed.
 His own town probably has a rival, with its attendant jealousy, but for Dothan he has only praise and respect. "Dothan," he says, when the name Is mentioned to him, ''why Dothan is a city" And in the lower portion of the | wiregrass. the patriotic farmer, the pa- 1 triotic villager turns his eyes to Do- l than, even as the faithful Mohammedan faces Mecca daily at the hour for pray | CT.
 For Dothan has no rival Its su- premacy is unchallenged. It is the largest, the strongest, the most com- manding of the Wiregl ass towns. I've have passed out of the class of
 the 5000 inhabitant cities" they tell you, and have moved forward into the class of Selma and Huntsville. If you are interested in those cities you
 might tell them to look out for Dothan | is going to overtake them.
 This confidence is in part based upon the towns claim to over 5000 popula- tion. They took the census of Dothan | two years ago under the auspices of the City Council. The census takers to-
 tailed up some 5.300 people. Now talk ing these figures the Dothan man will argue that the town is well above the 5000 mark in the beginning of 1905,
 and some of them claim upwards of | 1000 people in the towns limits. With in the past two years Dothan, they say, has had it's fastest growth. They as- sert the town has jumped forward in leaps and bounds Wherefore, of ne-
 ccssity, having had 6.2oO population two years ago, it must now easily have be- tween 6,00O and 1000 people. Impressions of DOthan. It is in fact a wide spread, pros+ porous and impressive place. This inn pression does not necessarily come from the business district, as lively as 1t is with cotton at 2 cents q pound.
 For its business section, except for the past two or three years has not been so imposing as 1t might have been, for the circumstance that the town grew so rapidly that when the Dothanites went to building brick stores they put them up quickly, even as their press ing needs demanded. The town quick ly grew out of harmony with the one hstory brick store and as a usual thing the merchant and the owner of the store was doing so well that they did not have time to put up larger structures. But everything comes in time to the progressive.
 When building is done now in Do- than's business section two and three story structures go up. They are typi- cal oity buildings, too, these recent structures, built according to modern plans and with handsome white stone fronts.
 It is Dothan's far flung residence district that conveys most of the Idea of the towns permanent strength, that and the schools. particularly the schools For they have here one of the finest, If not the finest public school building in Alabama. It is larger than any school building In the city of Montgomery. They tell you that was built and furnished at cost of over $33, 900, and in considering its immense proportions one can easily believe that 1t required so much money to build so fine a structure. Still, it by no means represents all of Dothan's investments in school houses. previous building erected at great cost was destroyed by fire, and the town recently found that even the big and costly structure was inadequate for its schools. For which reason a new school building has been put up on the south side of town in inh 1tf fU inVn9tad
 what the Schools Show.
 When these figures are considered 1t is, considered that over 700 pupils are in attendance daily upon the city's schools, 1t gives one having ones aspect of the city of Dothan an idea, if vague one of the degree of importance the town has assumed.
 Its other aspect, the distinctly com mercial aspect. wherein. one sees street after street of business houses. side walks. filled with country and city shop pers. immense wagon yards, cumbered with vehicles of every description. again drives home in the mind of the visitor the degree of growth that the city has assumed.
 third aspect Is to be seen and in- vestigated, the government, which pro-
 tects and cares for this property and which looks forward to larger things III lNG IuluIG TUT OOlIdH HS ESSppu- abilities are met intelligently and the
 duties are discharged satisfactorily. For
 the city owns it's own water works, op- crates it's own electric light plant and
 maintains an efficient paid fire depart ment.
 Such is Dothan in 1905. so made quately described. The year 1889 found quite different conditions in
 what Is now the Pride of the Wire grass.
 There was no Dothan then. There
 were no hopes and prospects of Dothan.
 On the big road there was a little postoffice called Poplar Head. Even
 Poplar Head had come into existence
 at the town site of Dothan within
 the three past years. The early farm