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Fort Payne Main Street Historic District

Alabama Registered Historic Place stubsHistoric districts in DeKalb County, AlabamaHistoric districts on the National Register of Historic Places in AlabamaNRHP infobox with nocatNational Register of Historic Places in DeKalb County, Alabama
Use mdy dates from August 2023
100 112 1st Street SW Fort Payne Nov 2017
100 112 1st Street SW Fort Payne Nov 2017

The Fort Payne Main Street Historic District is a historic district in Fort Payne, Alabama. Centered on the intersection of Gault Avenue and 1st Street, the district contains commercial and public buildings that date from Fort Payne's second period of growth from the 1920s to World War II. Buildings from the first wave of development in the 1880s and 1890s are centered in the Fort Payne Boom Town Historic District to the northeast. Most of the commercial buildings are in a simple, utilitarian brick style. The later civic buildings exhibit more decorated styles, including the Classical Revival Post Office (built 1936), and the Art Moderne City Hall (1941) and DeKalb County Activities Building (1941). The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fort Payne Main Street Historic District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fort Payne Main Street Historic District
Gault Avenue North,

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Wikipedia: Fort Payne Main Street Historic DistrictContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 34.441111111111 ° E -85.7225 °
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Address

Gault Avenue North 200
35967
Alabama, United States
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100 112 1st Street SW Fort Payne Nov 2017
100 112 1st Street SW Fort Payne Nov 2017
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W. B. Davis Hosiery Mill
W. B. Davis Hosiery Mill

The W. B. Davis Hosiery Mill (also known as the Alabama Builders' Hardware Manufacturing Company Complex) is a historic industrial complex in Fort Payne, Alabama. It opened in 1884 in the midst of Fort Payne's economic boom, manufacturing building hardware and supplies. The main building, which features Colonial Revival details, is three stories tall, with 12-over-12 sash windows on each floor. An 85-foot (26-meter) chimney has a flared top and corbeled brick course, imitating a doric order column. By 1890, hopes that large quantities of iron ore and other minerals would be discovered in the Fort Payne district proved to be ill-founded. The ABHMC and seven of Fort Payne's other large manufacturers merged in an effort to remain in business, but they were unable to avoid bankruptcy.The mill building was purchased in 1909 by hosiery executive W. B. Davis, and converted it into a factory providing ribbing, knitting, and looping. The operation was soon expanded to include dyeing, shaping, and packaging, as it became the largest employer in Fort Payne and gave the town its nickname of the "Sock Capital of the World". The factory underwent a large expansion beginning in 1927, including a large wing off of the main building, a knitting building, an expanded boiler room, other storage buildings, and an annex across the street. In 1948 the company was sold, and in 1974 a new building was constructed adjacent with production moved out of the original building.The complex was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1976 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The Annex was added to the National Register listing in 1992.

Manitou Cave

Manitou Cave is a cave in Alabama, near the town of Fort Payne, in the side of Lookout Mountain. In the early 1800s, the Fort Payne area was a Cherokee settlement named Willstown. This was the home of Sequoyah during his time of creating the Cherokee syllabary. Later, Sequoyah's son wrote on the walls of Manitou Cave using this syllabary, documenting ceremonial events and other culturally significant information and history. In the 1830s, Cherokee people were forcibly relocated from this area along the Trail of Tears, leaving the cave empty for some time. During the Civil War, the cave was a source of saltpeter for the Confederate Army. The mineral was mined by laborers to provide the essential ingredient for black powder. The cave was also designated fallout shelter during the Cold War.In 1888, Manitou Cave was opened by the Fort Payne Coal and Iron Company and became a tourist destination. Management of Manitou Cave later shifted to the Walter B. Raymond Sr. family, who operated it through the mid-1970s. It closed as a tourist attraction in 1979. For many years Manitou Cave was neglected and closed to the public. In 2015, Manitou Cave was purchased and a 501(c)3 non-profit, Manitou Cave of Alabama, was founded by Annette Reynolds to protect and conserve the cave and surrounding property. Repairs, renovations, and conservation efforts followed, including the installation of an eco-friendly cave gate for safety and security. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians helped to secure the gate's purchase. During these conservation and revitalization efforts, the Manitou Cave Snail, called the Antrobis brewerii, was confirmed to still exist in the cave, making Manitou Cave the only place it is known to exist in the world.In 2021, Manitou Cave received certification as a Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Interpretive Center from The National Park Service National Historic Trail Office, Sante Fe, NM.As of 2022, Manitou Cave of AL, Inc. stewards the cave with a mission is "to respect and protect this historic, sacred site through conservation and education so that the cave, land, and water are preserved for visitors and wildlife as a place of peace." To preserve the cave as a living record of history and to protect the fragile ecosystem, public access is limited to annual community tours a couple times a year and educational research.