POWERGRAMS

3 Chapter 12 By Leah Rawls Atkins Alabama Power Company ended its first century with a grand celebration of its centennial. In 1906, Captain William Patrick Lay incorporated the company in Gadsden, but without funds, he was not able to develop the company or to build a dam at his Lock 12 site on the Coosa River. In May 1912, he sold Alabama Power to James Mitchell, a young man born in Massachusetts, but at this time working from England. In February 2006, the Birmingham Museum of Art began the celebration by featuring an Alabama Power Centennial exhibit developed by Bill Tharpe, Alabama Power archivist, and Betsy Shearron. At a dinner meeting on Nov. 8, 2006, at The Club, CEO and President Charles McCrary delivered a history of the company to the Newcomen Society of Alabama, a group that celebrates the histories of the state's corporations and has historic ties to Alabama Power and Tom Martin. Two grandchildren of Alabama Power founder James Mitchell were in the audience. A few weeks later, the company released a detailed history titled "Developed for the Service of Alabama: The Centennial History of the Alabama Power Company," which had taken four years to research and write. During 2006 and 2007, company leaders gave historical presentations at plants, division headquarters, civic clubs, chambers of commerce, and Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO) events. The celebration of the past was not only a time to study history but also to evaluate the present and plan for the future. In 2006, General Counsel Rod Mundy retired, and Mark Crosswhite came from the law firm of Balch & Bingham to assume the general counsel responsibilities. Crosswhite had been involved with and represented Alabama Power for many years, but this was his first direct employment with the company. His move from the original Martin & Martin law firm to Alabama Power was typical of the leadership paths in Alabama Power's long history. Joe Farley was one of many examples of that move from the law firm to the company. Farley's death on May 24, 2010, after a brief illness, marked the last tie between an Alabama Power president and CEO, who knew and worked with the company's founding leader, Tom Martin. In the next decade — 2006- 2016 — there was a continued expansion of the successful and popular "Renew Our Rivers" water cleanup program. It grew from the action of one Alabama Power employee, Gene Phifer, who became disgusted with the trash along the banks of the Coosa River at Gadsden in 1999, gathered some co- workers and with trash bags in hand, began picking up debris in the river. The next year, the cleanup program expanded to three rivers and more volunteer Corporate centennial history won the Alabama Historical Association Sulzby Book Award.

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