Local builder Peyton D. Wilson completed construction on Hotel Wilson in 1914. In its heyday, the hotel offered travelers a modern and convenient place to stay. The hotel originally featured forty-two rooms, a lobby, a dining room, and a cellar. The construction of Lay Dam on the nearby Coosa River in 1913 resulted in a boom period for Clanton. Lay Dam garnered national recognition as a leading producer of hydroelectric power, and people flocked from other parts of the state and country to relocate near the dam. Many of these people spent their first days, weeks, and even months residing at Hotel Wilson before settling into their homesteads. Like many small-town businesses in Alabama, the hotel began to decline once the railroad phased out passenger lines and closed in the mid-1970s. Located across the now inactive railroad tracks, the hotel building has seen little activity in the past fifty years. Hotel Wilson suffers from deferred maintenance and unrepaired damage from a 2006 fire. However, Homegirl Industry and Youth Towers, two nonprofit organizations, have plans to renovate the building for use as a shelter for girls aging out of foster care. The two upper floors will be used as housing, while the bottom floor will have a cafe and commercial kitchen for residents to learn valuable career skills. The Alabama Historical Commission listed Hotel Wilson in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on May 22, 2008.
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Alabama's Endangered Historic LandmarksEach year since 1994, Alabama Heritage has highlighted threatened historic sites throughout Alabama. The “Places in Peril” list has identified more than 215 imperiled historic resources throughout the state, and is compiled by the Alabama Historical Commission and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation. The locations highlight the results of deferred maintenance, perceived obsolescence, development pressures, and lack of funding—forces that now more than ever threaten our cultural legacy. But awareness is a powerful force, too, and can cultivate a renewed determination to be responsible stewards of our heritage. For more information, visit the AHC or the ATHP websites. Alabama Heritage is proud to bring to you a selection of the places designated as perilous. Please keep your comments to information relevant to the featured place in peril. Alabama Heritage reserves the right to delete any comment that we deem inappropriate. Archives
May 2023
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