POWERGRAMS

13 On the 200th anniversary of its founding by French settlers as the Vine & Olive Colony, Demopolis is a progressive city that is successfully merging its colorful past with a promising future. Little more than a log cabin and the famous white bluffs remain from 1817 but the dream of the early European expedition has been exceeded by a combination of industry on the outskirts and history in the heart of town. The WestRock paper plant employs about 500 workers, Foster Farms has some 440 employees and Greene County Steam Plant has been providing good jobs for half a century. Demopolis today has top- flight healthcare, a widely respected education system, and recreation opportunities that attract boaters and hunters from across the nation. While some older buildings have been lost to the march of time, this city of 7,500 residents has a significant collection of homes and businesses more than a century old. The 10-block downtown is a U.S. Historic District where a visitor can dine at a new restaurant like SVH Bistro or a couple of doors down Washington Street at Stacy's Café, in the same building where the Alabama Cattleman's Association was founded 73 years ago. New businesses are opening their doors in long-closed storefronts, just as modern buildings rise along the U.S. Highway 80 corridor toward Mississippi, offering travelers hot barbecue or comfortable DEMOPOLIS PROGRESSES PAST ITS COLONIAL ROOTS WITHOUT ABANDONING HISTORY The French Connection A romanticized 1819 French engraving titled "Construction of Aigleville, Capital of the State of Marengo, on the banks of the Tombechbé, Directed by General Lefebvre- Desnouettes." French colonists, including some of Napoleon's key lieutenants, helped establish the future Demopolis through the Vine & Olive Colony. White bluffs near downtown. The confluence of the Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers is visible in this aerial view. by Chuck Chandler • Photography by Meg McKinney

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