The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-23
UN|ONTOWN HAS HANDSOME HOMES Work of Improving the Streets
 Under Way FAUNS8ALE IS CLOSE BY Mims Walker Plantation One of the Finest In That Section-LittIe
 Story of a Former
 Slave.
FAUNSBALE IS CLOSE BY
By WALTER HARPER.

Uniontown. November 22.-(special.)- Uniontown in the south end of Perry county is the home of wealthy planters and contented people. It Is one of the most attractive towns in the middle west ern part of Alabama.
 The business section of the town and the main street have been allowed to be- come antiquated and are not we'll kept, but the mayor and the citizens are now planning to beautify and improve these conditions.
 Mayor c. A. Terrell is progressive and with well-developed chronological bump of ideality is pushing every improvement possible for the general betterment of the town. The new water works system is now being perfected and a dilapidated pumphouse that stands in the center of the main street will be torn away. MT. Terrell throws a blanket of excuses around this dilapidated pile of blanks and cheap medicine signs every time strang- CT comes to town and is being shown around
 No town in middle Alabama has more handsome and inviting residence section than Uniontown The homes are modern and palatial, fit residences for the inde- pendent landlords who have wrested wealth and comfort from the fertile farms in the community
 BautifuI Streets.
 The streets are well kept and beautiful sidewalks extend over most of the entire city Uniontown is the center of one of the finest agricultural sections in the state and is an important trading point There are a number of large and pros- porous mercantile establishments
 The town handles about 20.0O0 bales of cotton annually. The Ellawhite Cotton Mill. near the town, with 10000 spindles, handles large part of the local cotton and gives employment to a large force of hands There is a large cotton oil mill and compress
 The town owns its water works and electric light systems and the officials are now figuring on proposition to put in sanitary sewerage system. This work will probably be undertaken early in the coming spring. A handsome new city hall and jail have just been completed.
 
 two newspapers, two hotels and one of the best schools in this section of the state. Prof. A. M Shepard is the prin- cipal. His assistants are Prof. K G. Hoover, Miss Lucy Ware, Miss Emma Glass and Miss Ethel Carr.
 Town of Faunsdale.
 Five miles west of Uniontown and on the Southern railroad in Marengo county is Faunsdale. a growing town of 400 in- habitants. It is also in the midst of the fertile canebrake, limestone country and is surrounded by some of the finest farms in this section.
 The town has just completed water works system with the money left in the town treasury from the dispensary closed about year ago. The town has an oil mill, two warehouses. bank and a very fine school The Watkins Banking com pany is In handsome new brick building s. R. Bethea is president and S. Stalin- werk Is cashier.
 l. P. Pruitt is mayor of the town and is largely instrumental in the general upbuildng of the town and community He Is also head of one of the largest mercantile houses in the place. The town receives about 5000 bales of cotton an- nually.
 Prof. J. L. Aders is principal of the school. Miss Minnie Spinks is assistant
 Walker Plantation.
 About midway between Faunsdale and Uniontown l drove through the plantation of Mims Walker This is one of the old ante- -bellum farms that has remained Intact since the war It is one of the most extensive in this section. The fine old mansion, the scene of great old-t time hospitality. sits back from the road in a beautiful grove The house Is massive and most suggestive of the splendor of other days.
 On the road beyond the house my at tention was called to net, freshly paint cd six-room cottage, standing in the midst of well-kept gardens and stockhouses This is the home of Jim Witherspoon, an ex-slave on the Walker plantation. Jim has never left the old plantation for even one year since the war. He bought four acres from the Walker farm and built his home. He has accumulated his own stock and is comfortably fixed with all the necessarfes of life. He has made a good citizen and has the respect of all who know him. He rents land from the Walker farm and accumulates a sur plus every year.
  of cotton and told to stop. He whipped