Pell City, Alabama, United States

🇺🇸 Pell City is a city in St. Clair County, Alabama, United States. The city is the county seat of St. Clair County along with Ashville.

It was home to Avondale Mills and its legacy in the Avondale Mill Historic District.

History Pell City was founded in 1890 by railroad investors and named after George Pell of the Pell City Iron and Land Company, one of its financial backers. The city was incorporated on May 6, 1891, but nearly failed during the Panic of 1893.

Pell City was revived in 1902 when Sumter Cogswell built the Pell City Manufacturing Company, which subsequently became Avondale Mills, a major landmark of the town until Thunder Enterprises, a Tennessee company, bought the building and began dismantling the factory in 2008. On February 14, 2008 a fire started at the mill. The fire was so large it could be seen from the Chula Vista/ Springville exit on Interstate 20 (I20). The water tower remains but the smoke stack was destroyed by workers after cracking in the cement made it a hazard.

The mill was the economic and social centre of the town during its development and early growth. Besides the textile mill, other economic endeavors included agriculture and mercantile establishments. Large cotton, soybean, and cattle farms were located in the area. Pell City increased its size in 1956 when the nearby towns of Eden and Oak Ridge were merged with the city. The first mayor was Green Evans.

The residences of Sumter Cogswell and Green Evans (Pell City's first mayor) are two of the earliest structures, dating from the late nineteenth century. The majority of the historic structures date from 1902 to 1905.

Ashville, Alabama, in the northern part of St. Clair County was the county seat from 1821 to 1907. A constitutional amendment in 1907 established Pell City as the second county seat, and for many years St. Clair County was the only county in the country with two full-service county seats. Both county seats remain operational to this day although Pell City has far surpassed Ashville in growth in large part due to I-20 and Logan Martin Lake. The construction of Logan Martin Dam in 1964 created the lake and a large recreational area, which brought new businesses, temporary summer residents and tourists, and hundreds of new permanent residents building new homes along the new lake.

On April 8, 1998, an F2 tornado struck north of the city limits after the F5 tornado expired in western Jefferson County. This windstorm killed two people in a mobile home. It remained for 14 mi (23 km), partially damaging a church, twenty-six homes and mobile homes, and other buildings in Coal City. Ninety other homes and mobile homes suffered minor to major destruction. An additional twelve people were injured. The twister damaged a funeral home and twenty-five homes. The Bethel Baptist Church in Odenville was destroyed a few minutes after its members left an Easter pageant rehearsal that had been cancelled because of the storm.

In 2006 Avondale Mills ceased operations. Two years later, in February 2008, Avondale Mills burned down in an accidental fire. At the time, Thunder Enterprises, a Tennessee firm, had completed almost half of the work in dismantling the building for materials. No employees were harmed in the fire.

In November 2015, Pell City made global news when a video of the Avondale Mills smokestack went viral on the internet. During a demolition of the smokestack, the 133-year-old structure collapsed on top of construction worker, Tim Philfer. Luckily, Philfer walked away unharmed from this accident.

Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.2 square miles [sq mi] (70 km²), of which 24.6 sq mi (64 km²) is land and 2.6 sq mi (6.7 km²) or 9.57% is water. It is the largest city in St. Clair County. The city is located on the shores of Logan Martin Lake, created by the construction of Logan Martin Dam in 1964 to provide hydro-electric power to the central region of the state. The city is surrounded by the unincorporated communities of Wattsville to the north, Cropwell to the south, Seddon to the east, and Chula Vista to the west.

The city is located along Interstate 20, which runs west to east through the northern part of the city, leading east 114 mi (183 km) to Atlanta and west 35 mi (56 km) to Birmingham. Access to the city can be found from exits 156 and 158. U.S. Route 231 also runs through the city, leading north 19 mi (31 km) to Ashville and south-west 21 mi (34 km) to Harpersville. U.S. Route 78 also runs through the city, paralleling I-20.

Development In 2015, Pell City residents were given the opportunity to vote on the legalization of Sunday alcohol sales. A study commissioned by the City of Pell City projected a $6.8 million economic impact if the referendum passed. On August 11, citizens voted 65% in favor of the referendum. On August 23, businesses were allowed to begin selling alcohol on Sundays for the first time. Likely due to the passage of this referendum, several corporate entities immediately entered into negotiations to open new restaurants and sports bars within the city. Buffalo Wild Wings announced its intention to build a brand new restaurant in late 2015. Construction and training were completed in October 2016, and the restaurant opened on November 7, 2016.

The city announced in June 2016 that it had entered into an agreement with Premiere Cinemas to develop a new 40,000 sq ft entertainment centre which would include seven movie screens, a 10-lane bowling alley, a cafe, arcade and event rooms. The complex opened to the public on January 17, 2019

Healthcare Located in Pell City is the Colonel Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home, a nursing home and long-term care facility serving the entire county. The veterans home is a 280-bed facility built in a neighborhood-style of several small cottage clusters, instead of one large institution. The veterans home is named for Alabama native and Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Robert L. Howard.

The St. Vincent's St. Clair hospital, operated by the St. Vincent's Health System, serves the entire county, but is located solely within the city limits. It replaced an aging facility, formerly known as St. Clair Regional Hospital.

Education After a period of growth in the 1980s, Pell City voted to split its school system off from the county system, becoming independent. The system has over 4500 students spread across Pell City High School, Duran Junior High School , Duran South , Iola Roberts Elementary , Walter M. Kennedy Elementary , Coosa Valley Elementary , Eden Elementary , and Williams Intermediate School . The system also operates a Trade School as an alternative to college prep courses.

The idea of converting Duran South into a dedicated pre-k facility has been a topic of discussion by the school board since a work session in December 2019. That work session looked at consolidating seventh and eighth grade into one school, remodeling Pell City High School and converting Duran South. All three of these proposals have been adopted by the school board, with an addition to Duran North Junior High School currently under construction.

In 2005 Jefferson State Community College opened a new campus location in Pell City offering a wide variety of community college courses. The school announced in 2009 that it will begin offering nursing programs to support the recently confirmed Veterans Nursing Home and St. Vincent's St. Clair Hospital.

In 2011, two of the city's schools, Iola Roberts Elementary and Pell City High School, began the year after undergoing extensive renovations and/or expansions to their campuses.

In November of 2021 the Pell City School System passed its five mill property tax referendum by 21 votes. This plan includes full-time art and music teachers for all the system's elementary schools, storm shelters at Eden Elementary School and Coosa Valley Elementary School, a complete renovation of Pell City High School along with a new cafeteria and band hall, a new multi-purpose building to Duran North Jr High School and various improvements and upgrades to the system’s sports facilities.

As of May of 2023, the additions to Duran Junior High School were finalized and students, teachers, and administrative staff now operate and function duties within the building, now connected to the school. The school now functions as a 7th and 8th grade public school as the first semester has ended for the school (2022-2023, with School System Superintendent Jimmy Martin stating that the building would be in service after the first semester, with Duran Junior High South temporarily closed for remodeling and maintenance of facility(s), as the school will be functioning as a school for pre-k (pre-kindergarten) school that will be named The Legacy Center.

Media Pell City, and all of St. Clair County, is located in Birmingham's designated market area for local news and weather coverage. The city has one dedicated FM radio station, WFHK.

Pell City is served by two daily and two weekly newspapers. The Birmingham News serves the county, and The Daily Home, which also represents Talladega County, maintains an office in the city. The weekly St. Clair News-Aegis and St Clair Times offer more local coverage. The latter is an offshoot of The Daily Home.