The only surviving remains of Pepperell Mill on what is now an overgrown lot. (Photo credit: Eli Baggett) It was the year 1924 and the somewhat-sleepy town of Opelika, Alabama, was looking for a way to boom. Many neighboring towns had already established successful cotton mills. Opelika had been attempting, unsuccessfully, since the 1880s to attract an economic boost in the form of a mill. This all changed when the Maine-based “Pepperell Manufacturing Company'' came to Opelika in search of a location for their first-ever Southern cotton mill. Opelika attained this honorable distinction by the slimmest of margins.
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