The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-11
INDOMITABLE PLUCK OF
 ENTERPRISE WONDERFUL
Three Times It Has Risen From the
 Ashes and Gone Steadily Forward to Greater Things.

of the transformation of a few acres of pine woods into modern town was presented by Judge J M. Loftin, late the Judge of the County, Court of Coffee County with residence at Elba, but now q practicing attorney in the town of Enterprise. The thought and the explanation of 1t had to do with the lreasons which retarded and restricted the growth of older and more settled towns.
 Enterprise has had a remarkable growth" said Judge Loftin, "because there has been perfect union of spirit Iamong the people of the town. They are all moved by the same spirit to labor and build up the town. They tnot only talk about a united spirit but they have 1t. It is not union merely by word or mouth, but union in reality here,
 The Spirit of Union.
 Tn the older towns the people have their factions. their jealousies and their differences. It may be in the church, in politics, or in business, but the fac- tions are thsre., They pull against each other. One side opposes a new move. a new improvement for no other, for no better reason than that it was pro- posed by the other faction. Such a spirit is happily absent from Enter prise and that has been our good for- tune"
 | A little old log house stands within q few feet of the sidewalk on the Main street of Enterprise, one of these houses built in the old days, of legs split in two, dovetailed one upon the other, with the flat sides turned in. The roof is of big broad clap boards rived out of logs. The whole is dark and dingy now, and to the visitor who hap pens to notice 1t, 1t Is q bit incongru- ous so near the bricks, the electric lights and the sidew alks of Enterprise, And yet 1t has it's own value, for 1t shows how rapid has been the towns growth, and 1t shows from what En. terprise sprung and what Conditions existed when the town had its incep- tion.
 The First Corners.
 The relic was an outhOuse upon the farm of Henry Carmichael. It was one of the old style familiar log houses which stood in the yard of prosperous IfaPmhouses, sometimes used as a smokehouse, or maybe as @ tool house. or as corn crib. But so rapid was the growth of Enterprise that 1t might be said the town was so busy there was no time to clear away the prehistoric relics of the little city.
 Henry Carmichael was one of the founders of the place, and part of 1t was built upon his land. So new, so recent are the histories of the new towns in the Wiregrass that they seem only stories of yesterday, They are so recent, these new towns that ali that concerns them and their coming into existence may be had first hand from men who assisted in the towns births and In their upbringing. When the first house, the first brick store, i when the railroads came in are things of ready knowledge to half a dozen or more men in each of the rapid growth towns of the Wiregrass. l talked with W. s. Edwards, who was a farmer on the site of Enterprise twenty years ago. Ills brother Henry Carmichael had preceded him to Coffee County several years. Carmichael had become enthusastic over the farm ing lands of Coffee County, which for fertility and durability he declared he had never seen eaualled. Writing thus in praise of them to his bFotheF-i in law, w. T. Edwards the latter moved in and went to farming some twenty-ons years ago.
 Land at that time," said Mir. Ed wards twas very cheap about here. Why bought ssO acres for S450. You could hardly buy that land now at any figure. But take lands eight or ten miles from Enterprise. lands which ! I here from 75 cents to 3l.25 an acre. They are bringing now from $2O to S26. l found the land as Henry Carmichael found it, a splendid soil forI farming"
 First Steam NAH.
 Aeouple of years after we moved in we put up a grist mill. Some other farmers had come in and were con- tinuing to come. We decided at length that there would be a town here and | a 1t the name of Enterprise. It has been Enterprise ever since. If the name stood for anything big or important 1t was hardly appropriate when w0 first gave it to the town.
 About fifteen years ago or shortly after this Carmichael put up a store and blacksmith shop on the road which is now Main Street Two or three other little stores were also put up to supply the trade of the farmers who were coming in. We had until then been getting our mail from Clin- tonville. but we succeeded in getting from the Postofice Department, a post ofhce here and having it called Enter prise"
 Eight years ago it became certain that the railroad was coming here Assurance was felt that the old Plant System was going to run its branch line out to Elba through Enternrise
  The certainty of the railroad imme- diately swelled the population of En- terprise. M. F. Whaley W. H. Hollo- way, W. O. Edwards and others who later became prominent merchants in the town moved in and went into the mercantile business"
 The town of Enterprise met the rail- road in a most generous spirit Car michael and other land owners gave the company valuable lots not only for their right of way, but for other buildings and for other uses. To new corners moving into town and hopeful of growing up with the place the same public spirited citizens gave free lots with no other conditions except that the new owners should build houses upon them. Then came the railroad and with the railroad people poured in So that in such short space of time you might say that our town grew from nothing to a small city of SoO0 people.