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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Mount Meigs

Mount Meigs (also Evansville or Mount Pleasant) is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County in the state of Alabama. The Mount Meigs Campus, a juvenile correctional facility and the headquarters of the Alabama Department of Youth Services, is in Mount Meigs. Mount Meigs is located at 32°21′46″N 86°6′7″W / 32.36278°N 86.10194°W / 32.36278; -86.10194.

History

Georgia Washington established what became known as the People’s Village School and later the Georgia Washington School.

The area's major export in the mid-19th century to 1940 was lumber. Cook Station and Mount Meigs Station were two main stations in the region. During World War II they switched to hauling gravel.

Government and infrastructure

Kilby Correctional Facility

The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) operates the Kilby Correctional Facility in Mount Meigs. Kilby serves as receiving and processing center for all male Alabama state inmates. The Montgomery Women's Facility, an ADOC facility for women, is located behind Kilby.

The Mount Meigs Campus, a juvenile correctional facility and the headquarters of the Alabama Department of Youth Services, which operates the campus, is in Mount Meigs. The campus, historically named the Alabama Industrial School, opened in 1911 as the "Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Law-Breakers", was changed to the "Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children" in 1947, and became the Alabama Industrial School in 1970.

The United States Postal Service operates the Mount Meigs Post Office.

Demographics

In July, 2007 the Mount Meigs area population was 5,564.

Education

Georgia Washington Junior High School, now Pike Road High School

The Montgomery Public Schools district formerly operated Georgia Washington Middle School in Mount Meigs. It is now Pike Road High School.

In 1893 a woman named Georgia Washington, a former slave, arrived in Mount Meigs to start a school. By October of that year she opened a public school in her 12-foot (3.7 m) by 13-foot (4.0 m) rented cabin. It later moved to the Antioch Baptist Church. By February 1894 the residents bought a plot of land and built an 18-foot (5.5 m) by 36-foot (11 m) schoolhouse. By 1916 the Peoples Village School occupied a two-story schoolhouse. The current Georgia Washington School opened in 1950. Washington died in 1952, and the school occupying what was the Peoples Village School was renamed after her. In 1974 the school was converted into a middle school. A new wing at Washington Middle opened in 2004.

Notable residents

  • J. Marion Sims, physician. In a letter of 1836, Sims described the town as "nothing bur a pile of gin-houses, stables, blacksmith-shops, grog-shops, taverns and stores, thrown together in one promiscuous huddle".
  • Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights activist; born in Mount Meigs
  • Vernon H. Vaughan, Governor of Utah Territory; born in Mount Meigs

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mount Meigs, Alabama
  2. ^ "Georgia Washington School Historical Marker".
  3. ^ "Kilby Correctional Facility Archived 2009-03-16 at the Wayback Machine." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 5, 2010.
  4. ^ "Montgomery Women's Facility Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
  5. ^ "Mt. Meigs Campus Archived 2014-02-20 at the Wayback Machine." Alabama Department of Youth Services. Retrieved on July 26, 2010.
  6. ^ "School District Contact Information and Addresses Archived 2010-09-02 at the Wayback Machine." Alabama Department of Youth Services. Retrieved on July 26, 2010. "DYS Central Office" "1000 Industrial School Road Mt. Meigs, AL 36057"
  7. ^ "Post Office™ Location - MOUNT MEIGS Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on March 4, 2011. "100 OLD PIKE RD MOUNT MEIGS, AL 36057-2500"
  8. ^ "History of Georgia Washington Junior High School Archived 2012-07-24 at the Wayback Machine." Georgia Washington Junior High School. Retrieved on March 4, 2011.
  9. ^ Sims, J. Marion (1885), The Story of My Life, D. Appleton & Company, retrieved October 20, 2018
  10. ^ Bio data