Evergreen

Known as the "Emerald City," Evergreen is located in southwestern Alabama and is the county seat of Conecuh County. Evergreen is governed by a mayor and five-person city council. The town suffered damage from a tornado and several fires in its early years but managed to recover and thrive each time. The town became nationally known in 1885 when greenery from the area surrounding the town was used to decorate the inauguration festivities of Pres. Grover Cleveland.

Richard Shipp was one of the first settlers to arrive from Georgia in 1818 and at one time owned most of the land on which Evergreen is located today. Other early settlers also came from Georgia and South Carolina. Also in 1818, Malachi Warren established the first general store in the area. Evergreen was founded officially in 1819 when Revolutionary War veteran James Cosey and several other men settled within the present limits of the city on what today is known as South Main Street. The area was referred to as "Cosey's Old Field"; clergyman Alexander Travis first called the town by its present name for the abundance of surrounding green foliage, plants, and ferns. The first newspaper in the county was published in Sparta beginning in 1856. Decorative greenery became a unique industry during the late nineteenth century. English immigrant George Caldwell recognized a market in northern states for greenery and established his own business in Evergreen. Caldwell earned the nickname "The Woodsman" and shipped smilax vine and other local greenery to the White House for the inauguration of Grover Cleveland.

Evergreen became the county seat in 1866 after the previous seat, Sparta, was burned in a federal raid during the Civil War and because Evergreen was more centrally located in the county. Isaac Griffith and his wife, Julia Ann Hammond, donated the land for the new county courthouse on June 20, 1866, and the legislature authorized the construction of the courthouse. Evergreen was incorporated as a city on March 28, 1873. The town at one time was home to a Baptist orphanage and a 500-seat opera house.

In 1882, a tornado hit the city, destroying every building except for the Episcopal Church. On November 7, 1895, fire destroyed every business and house located on the east side of the railroad. Five days later, fire destroyed every business and house on the west side. The Conecuh County Courthouse itself burned in 1868, 1875, 1885, and 1895. In 1947, the Conecuh Sausage Company opened in Evergreen and remains a leading employer.

According to 2016 Census estimates, Evergreen recorded a population of 3,783. Of that number, 65.7 percent identified themselves as African American, 29.7 percent as white, 4.6 percent as two or more races, and 2.6 percent as Hispanic. The city's median household income was $17,700, and per capita income was $11,910.

According to 2016 Census estimates, the workforce in present-day Evergreen was divided among the following industrial categories:

Records indicate that the earliest school in Evergreen was established around 1821 by George Andrews. Today, the Evergreen Public School System includes an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. Evergreen also has one K-12 private school. Reid State Technical College is also located in Evergreen.

Evergreen remained relatively small until the Mobile and Montgomery Railway (now the L&N Railroad) was built through the town in 1861, making Evergreen accessible to rapid transportation. Evergreen today is served by Interstate 65 and U.S. Highways 31 and 84.

Evergreen hosts an annual Fall Festival, Christmas Parade, and Sausage Day Festival. A historic tower and marker beacon for the Atlanta to New Orleans Contract Air Mail route are located about five miles west of Evergreen on Highway 84. In February 2017, the Conecuh city council named Evergreen the "Official Bigfoot Capital of Alabama" and initiated an annual Collard Greens Festival in January.

Additional Resources

The Heritage of Conecuh County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2002.

Riley, B. F. History of Conecuh County, Alabama. 1881. Reprint, Blue Hill, Maine: The Weekly Packet, 1964.