POWERGRAMS

27 J ust down the street, Chilton County Feed & Seed on one side faces Jones Seed and Feed on the other, the two businesses having served gardeners and farmers going back nine decades. Around the corner is E.L. Klinner Furniture, a family owned business that began here in 1925 and is selling sofas to a fih generation of loyal customers. The Chilton County Courthouse and more than a dozen court, government and sheriff 's offices are spread throughout downtown, surrounded by law offices of local aorneys. First Baptist Church's campus crosses two blocks. Clanton First United Methodist Church still meets in its 1923 sanctuary and has Hispanic and addiction recovery missions nearby. At lunch, a youthful crowd fills the Neighborhood Grill downtown, while older diners are loyal to Clara's Café on Logan Road. On the other side of town at Kountry Kitchen, cars line the far side of the road aer the large parking lot has filled. Customers stream in for the buffet served by waitresses who seem to know everyone by first name. Yet for every old-fashioned aspect of Clanton, there seems to be a new-fangled version. St. Vincent's Chilton opened its 30-bed hospital in 2016, offering 20 specialties from cardiology to general surgery to family medicine. Next door is the Chilton- Clanton Campus of Jefferson State Community College in a 30,000-square-foot building providing nursing courses and core classes, in addition to a Conference & Performing Arts Center that seats 608. On the east side of town is the bunkered State Emergency Operations Center of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, where about 90 employees monitor state- of-the-art equipment to prepare for hazards that threaten life and property across the state. "It's one of our best-kept secrets," says Billy Singleton, who wrote the history book published in conjunction with Chilton County's 150th 2nd Avenue is one of two main routes through downtown. Flowers await customers on sidewalk outside Jones Feed and Seed.

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