For former students, Dothan’s old Howell School evokes sentimental memories of childhood and days gone by. But it is also an architectural landmark—an eclectic mixture of arched windows and ornate classical cornices dating from 1902. The city’s main grammar school until 1942, the building later reopened as a pajama manufacturing company. Now vacant, it is owned by the Downtown Dothan Redevelopment Authority.

Constructed in 1848, the old Lodge 863 (formally Tuckabatchie Lodge 96) in Crawford is one of only seven pre–Civil War fraternal halls surviving in Alabama. It is also the most notable structure remaining from 1839–1868, when Crawford served as the seat of Russell County. Several years ago, the lodge was almost lost when the Masons decided to replace it with a new building. As the demolition date approached, a local philanthropist intervened and moved the structure a short distance to its current location. It escaped destruction once, but today it again faces an uncertain future.

Shown is the J.B. Hain Co. Cotton gin, Sardis, Dallas County. Cotton was Alabama’s principal economic engine before the Civil War, and it continued to play a major role in the state’s agricultural economy well into the twentieth century. Once ubiquitous across the Alabama landscape, the cotton gin served as the economic—and sometimes the social—hub of countless rural communities. But technological changes and the consolidation of gin facilities in the present cotton industry have made most gins obsolete, and in Alabama, as elsewhere, they are disappearing. Most gin buildings remaining today date from the early twentieth century, with a few rare survivors predating 1900. Those retaining original gin equipment are even harder to find.Cotton was Alabama’s principal economic engine before the Civil War, and it continued to play a major role in the state’s agricultural economy well into the twentieth century. Once ubiquitous across the Alabama landscape, the cotton gin served as the economic—and sometimes the social—hub of countless rural communities. But technological changes and the consolidation of gin facilities in the present cotton industry have made most gins obsolete, and in Alabama, as elsewhere, they are disappearing. Most gin buildings remaining today date from the early twentieth century, with a few rare survivors predating 1900. Those retaining original gin equipment are even harder to find.