MONROEVILLE — Along the Alabama River lies a history lesson in economics. In the days of the steamboat, towns and communities sprouted along the river, and families settled to make a living wage in the cotton and corn industries.
Today, much has changed due to technology, an ever-evolving transportation system and foreign policies that put hardworking Americans out of work. However, one of the hardest-hit areas is striving for a comeback.
Mike Colquett, the executive director for the Monroeville – Monroe County Economic Development Authority, has lived in Monroe County since he was a child. He has seen the ebbs and flows of development in the Black Belt, and although he would rather spend his retirement years fishing on the lake, he has answered the call to revive a county on life support.
"Monroeville is really going through a boom right now, and it is absolutely wonderful," Colquett said. "We just love it. But this is a job for me, and it's my job to keep people happy and keep bringing in what they need."
While there is good news on the horizon, Monroe County has experienced a steady population decline and now has only 19,500 residents.
The county was established before Alabama became a state due to a large influx of settlers moving to the region in what was known as "Alabama Fever." Plantation-based cotton operations helped fuel the state's economy by growing crops and transporting yields to Mobile via steamboats. A cotton slide at Bell's Landing allowed loads to be quickly transferred to the boats. The slide was also used to pull up goods that came to Monroe County from the Port of Mobile.
Cotton prices were high, and the homegrown product was shipped to large cities across the United States and Europe. However, steamboat transportation was hard work and took time. It wasn't long before the fear of mosquito-borne diseases and the development of a new transportation mode, railways, changed the trade landscape and, subsequently, the future of once-booming towns.
More communities and towns appeared along the railroad tracks, and they became the center of commerce.
While cotton remained a mainstay in Monroe County, corn and timber began to increase.
Fertile lands led to a successful timber industry and the building of a large sawmill. Today, pulp wood trucks continue to bounce along roads in Monroe and Wilcox Counties. Timber is still one of the region's largest industries.
Former United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions grew up in the Hybart community. He said things changed again for the area with the development of interstates and major highways.
"So those cities that had prospered and the towns and communities that may have been larger 60 years ago, most of them have shrunk if they're not on the interstate or on a major highway," Sessions said.
In the 1950s, Hybart had three stores, one of them owned by Sessions' father. There was also a railroad depot. Sessions remembered several families living near the town center. Now, he says only one person is living there.
"It was a good time to grow up, but it was a different time," Sessions said.
Throughout Monroe County, remnants of towns tell the story of how hardworking and determined Americans built Alabama. Lines of empty buildings outline bygone days.
Another major blow to Monroe County came with the closure of Vanity Fair Mills. The lingerie manufacturer and distributor opened in the late 1930s. Operations expanded over the next four decades until foreign competition intensified. Still, the plant adjusted and was successful throughout the 1980s. It wasn't until 1994, with the establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that the plant became one of many that saw dwindling production.
Colquett knows firsthand how NAFTA impacted the mill. Both his parents worked at Vanity Fair. When he was only three, his mother was hired at the mill as a switchboard operator. The family first lived in Frisco City, one of the many Monroe County towns that now houses rows of empty Main Street buildings. But when Colquett was a child, those buildings were thriving. His family moved from Frisco City to Monroeville after his father was hired at the mill. His mother moved up to human resources, and his father was eventually assigned to the lace department.
The textile mill kept food on the family's table.
"Vanity Fair was about the most stable economic environment you could find," Colquett said. "It was really a first opportunity for a double-income family. Prior to that time, you just had basically farmers and merchants, and the women didn't have jobs. So, when Vanity Fair moved here, the dyeing was done basically by men, and all the cutting and sewing was done by women until computers took it over."
The Colquett's were one family of many who relied on Vanity Fair for income. As production began to slow, people were forced to seek employment elsewhere.
"They kept different departments here until they could get those relocated somewhere else," Colquett remembered. "But eventually, it basically was all gone."
The timber industry offered a soft landing for some, but many were forced to move away.
It wasn't until last year, when Bad Boy Mowers, the company best known for the zero-turn lawnmower, announced it would invest $10.5 million in a new tractor assembly plant at the vacant Vanity Fair distribution center.
The company was considering expanding to either Savannah, Ga., or Monroeville, and company leaders chose Monroeville because of the large amount of available space. Colquett also said the town's warmth and friendliness helped.
"Monroeville is full of hospitality, and it makes you understand that in the South, that's still a very important part of your business," Colquett said.
"Bad Boy is thrilled to enter the Monroeville community," said Peter Ballantyne, CEO of Bad Boy. "Our tractor line continues to grow in popularity, so it's the perfect time for us to expand production. We couldn't think of a better place to grow our operation, and we're excited to build our relationship with the city of Monroeville."
Bad Boy Mowers has already rolled its first tractor off the assembly line in Monroeville.
"They moved in here and hired a contractor right off the bat and started taking out the mezzanines and all the things that would be in their way," Colquett explained. "That was like the first of December and here we are in January and they're putting out tractors. So, I'd say they move pretty quick."
This year, the plant expects to produce 7,500 tractors and 9,000 a year starting in 2027. The company has 29 employees in the tractor division, 10 in the cross-dock department, and plans to add many more in the coming months.
"Everybody's very excited," Colquett added. "You know, it's the first time we've had something besides wood that was going to employ a good number of people and produce a product that I think everybody could see and identify with, and so it was really well-received."
A southeastern distribution center will also handle shipping for Bad Boy Mowers, adding even more jobs.
Colquett said with Bad Boy Mowers in town and the timber industry still thriving, he foresees more growth in the near future, including a new type of distribution center, solar panel farms and an expansion of Alabama River Cellulose.
Like the lyrics of the Alabama song, "High Cotton," fertile fields are never far away in Monroe County, and if things go the way Colquett plans, leaving home will never be something the next generation has to do.
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