The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-30
MILLIONS SPIN I
 IN NE w BUILDINGS
Smaller Rivals Of Birming. ham Grow Population And
 Industries During Year

The year 1923 was a great year of expansion for a majority of the cities and towns of Alabama. While Eff mingham was spending S11,0oo.oos or more in new buildings, her smaller rivals, such as Anniston. Tuscaloosa, Gadsden Selma, Albany Decatur. Jas per. Huntsville and the Muscla Shoals cities were not idle-in fact all the cities mentioned had their biggest year since the war. cold fig ures indicate, and 1924 looks like an- other humdfnger.
 Tuscaloosa, the city of the oaks, and the home of the university, is building that would be 8 credit on one of Birminghams downtown corners. With the extension of her city limits she Is claiming 1s,000 per- sons. In lumber mills and Warrior river business the Druid City is leader.
 Anniston. worlds leading pipe oAn- ter, had wonderful year and an pn- official estimate gives her 25, ,6boo population. While there was much talk of Henry Ford making fertilizer at Muscle Shoals, the Federal Phos- phorous company of that city, has be- gun the manufacture of fertilizer of highly concentrated form.
 It is estimated that the pipe plants increased their outupt by 25 per cent during 1923.
 Gadsden Undnunted.
 Gadsden not daunted by the fact that she lost the Southern railway repair shops after they were de- stroyed by fire, will enter 1924 with renewed energy and hope. She is ex- pected to land a steam fittings plant. a silk mill and a hosiery mill, em- ploying 500 to 600 persons during the year. The building of the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia railroad into the St. Clair county coal field and on to Birmingham, is it believed, is sure to create an industrial rival in Gads- den.
 swarm of industrial plants ara growing up in the twin cities of AL pany and Decatur on the Tennessee river. The Albany knitting mfIla were erected during the year. The SIX mill announced plans to double US plant. The Alabama Water com pany put in new 1,o00-gallon sedi- mentation plant at cost of s50,ooo, The cities have S50,000 street im- provement program under way Ds- catur erected a s15o,00o high school and AlbSny s2o,Ooo high school during 1923.
 roro boom On At Shoals.
 sneffield, Florence and Tuscumbia. wnlle dreaming of boom when Ford gets Muscle Shoals, have not been Idle. Hundreds of new homes have been built. The activity in reaI<es- tate was unprecedented In the his- tory of the towns. Blast furnaces TOT some time inactive were taken over by the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron company and their smokcstacks now denote their activity. Tuscum- bla has plans under way for a new hospital. Florence, during the year. erected new schools and has a beau tiful new hospital.
 Walker county is rivalling Jeffer- son s an industrial county and Jas per- her metropolis, took on renewed vlgor during the year. Long fa- nous for her beautiful buildings Jasper during the year erected 2 new hospital and new churches. The state department of education recently In report put Walker county at the forefront in the number of new and consolidated schools erected. The building of an addition to the Gorgas- steam plant, as announced by the, Alabama Power company, will bene- fit the entire county.
 Huntsville, which boasts 6 cotton mill on every side, had big year in 1923 and Madison county was espe- clally active in road building. Many new homes went up in the city and thousands of dollars were spent in street improvements.
 TalladeEa-Sylacauga Thrive,
 Talladega and Sylacauga, trade centers of Talladega county, enjoyed progress, Each now boasts r,,In Der of industries Alexander City outstripped all municipalities of 1t. size in building activities. A $1oo, ,oo0 addition was started to one of it's cotton mills and work was begun on the erection of new one. It also erected a hospital that ranks as one of the most up-to-date In the state.
 Fort Payne. Sand Mountain me- tropolis, is kicking ahead of some of It's rivals in growth, while other north Alabama towns like Cullman. Athens and Russellville are enjoy- ing Remarkable strides. Printers ink, in narrow columns, will not tell of the progress made by Alabama towns during the past year.
 Central Alabama towns such as Selma, Troy, Uniontown and Demopo- lis, are giving Montgomery some, thing to think of In the way of ex- pansion, while in south Alabama. Dothan and Andalusia almost haysll growing pains. Progress of Mobile, Alabama's only seaport, Is we'll known throughout Alabama. t