SassyPatty: A brief History lesson of The Valley from Encyclopedia of Alabama

A brief history lesson from the Encyclopedia of Alabama

The Valley, as everyone called it, is in the east central part of the state that bordered Georgia in Chambers County which was a former Creek Indian territory that ceded to the United States during the 1832 Treaty of Cusseta. With the arrival of the Montgomery and WestPoint Railroad near the town of Cusseta the area received a boost in the economy with the sale of cotton goods. Before the Civil War the area was a leading grower of cotton and later became a hub for textile mills. The towns of Langdale, Fairfax, Lanett, Riverview and Shawmut, Alabama and WestPoint, Ga became the home of WestPoint Manufacturing in the Chattahoochee Valley on the west side of the Chattahoochee River. It lies between Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta, Ga.

After the Civil War the region suffered economic recession but was revitalized when local businessmen and planters established two textile mills known as The Chattahoochee Manufacturing Company and the Alabama and Georgia Manufacturing Company. In 1866 Langdale Mills named after its founder Thomas Lang laid its first cornerstone.

West Point Manufacturing acquired the Alabama and Georgia Manufacturing Company in 1921. As West Point prospered, three other mills were added at Fairfax, Riverdale, and Lanett.

All four mills were set in company-owned towns that provided workers and their families with schools, housing, recreational facilities, and other amenities. Eventually the four mills became known as "the Valley" and in 1980, citizens from three of the four towns (Lanett became an incorporated town in 1895) came together to build a new town named Valley, which is currently the largest population center in the county.

The prosperous mills produced towels and cotton duck, a heavy material used to make canvas. In 1965 stock in West Point manufacturing became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. That same year the company merged with Pepperell Manufacturing of Maine and in 1988 acquired J.P. Stevens Inc. From 1880 to 1990 the company operated under one family, the Lanier’s. In 1993 the company changed its name to WestPoint Stevens. The company was a leading manufacturer of bed and bath linens however, today most of the mills have now been shut down and demolished. Morton, Patricia Hoskins. Chambers County. Auburn University, 27 Aug. 2007, www.enclclopedia+of+Alabama/+Chambers+County.