POWERGRAMS

37 HYDRO Twenty people who grew up in the Lay Dam village between the 1930s and the early 1970s returned to the plant site on the Coosa River near Clanton recently for the second reunion of villagers. Thanks to the hard work of former residents Jim Murphy, Jack Avant, Barbara Petty and others, quite a few villagers came to a centennial celebration in 2014. Villagers from as far away as Washington state, Texas, North Carolina and Florida attended. Every villager had one thing in common: They loved growing up at Lay Dam. They enjoyed themselves so much that at the centennial they made plans to meet again in 2017. " You don't know how much this place means to all of us," Murphy said in May. "We were so lucky to grow up here. It played such an important part of our lives. It made us who we are today. All of these people here today, some of whom we haven't seen in over 50 years, all still feel like family to us." Looking out from the porch of the restored superintendent's house, Petty said, "Besides seeing this place as it is today, we also see it as it was when we were kids. We see the houses, the school, the community center, the swimming pool. Back then we just took all of it for granted. We didn't realize it at the time, but we were really blessed to grow up in a place like this." Avant was so inspired by the reunion that he constructed a 3-D model of the village that is now on display in the conference room at Lay Dam. One of the enduring aspects of Alabama Power is the family atmosphere that permeates company culture. From its earliest beginnings, the feeling of belonging has been a noticeable and important part of being an employee. This feeling traces its roots all the way back to the workers' village at Lay Dam – Alabama Power's first construction project. Lay village was built in 1912 because the dam site was about 13 miles from the nearest town. Before construction could begin on the dam, a village to house the workers had to be built. Workers and their families needed houses, an infirmary, schools, churches, and dining and recreational facilities. Land had to be cleared and surveyed, roads and rail lines built, storage facilities constructed, quarries blasted, rock crushed, sand and gravel found. At the height of construction, Lay village was the largest town between Birmingham and Montgomery. Reunion brings villagers back to Lay Dam homesites Mary Lou Green Easterling and Jim Greene point to themselves in old school pictures. Karen and Jim Greene look at 3-D model of village.

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