BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE./AUTAUGA NEWS
Photos courtesy of City of Prattville and EAN Photographer Bob Ealum
The Autauga County Heritage Association and the City of Prattville sponsor a special event each year to celebrate the city’s founder, Daniel Pratt.
It was a warm morning for the event, which always offers more interesting information about the founder, and how his genius helped to create the city which now exists today.
Daniel Pratt was a godly man, and very supportive of area churches founded in his city.
This event marked the 224th birthday of Daniel Pratt.
A crowd gathered at the cemetery where Pratt and members of his family, as well as close friends, are buried. It sits atop a hill, which overlooks the Cotton Gin Factory, which has now been converted to The Mill apartments in downtown Prattville. Following the event, attendees were invited to the Prattaugan Museum for visiting and refreshments.
Mayor Bill Gillespie said he is very appreciative of the ACHA and the community which supports the culture and heritage of Daniel Pratt’s vision.
“Without all of those dreams, we would not have this view,” Gillespie said. More improvements are coming to the area, which just had a new gate installed at the entrance, and future extended parking is planned.
Tyrone Crowley, who often portrays Daniel Pratt at special events, was invited to speak at the wreath-laying at the cemetery.
“Our purpose on this day is to commemorate and celebrate the memory and works of our founder Daniel Pratt. It is an easy given his accomplishments,” he said.
Crowley read a letter written in 1854 by Pratt to Elijah Chandler in Arkansas. Chandler was an old family friend and a fellow carpenters’ apprentice from Pratt’s teenage days in New Hampshire.
The letter is important and unique in the written record of history, Crowley said. “Because Daniel Pratt is speaking personally to a friend….and in two instances Daniel Pratt actually boasts of what he is doing in Prattville. Very unknown for Daniel Pratt.”
He wrote about the building of the Methodist Church, and he talked about building “the best cotton gin factory in the world.”
Chandler had loaned Pratt money to buy 2000 acres of what is now Prattville.
Pratt wrote of other new buildings, and the construction for the future.
In the letter, he said that he hopes that those who come after him will keep up the properties he has built. While Pratt’s home was demolished man years ago, many of his original structures still stand in his city. The renovations to his factory and the addition of loft apartments, has been remarkable.
He ended the letter, inviting Chandler to come to Prattville and live.
“It is presumable you think as much of yourself as you do anybody else. If so, take care of yourself. Make yourself as comfortable as you can. Live the balance of your days on what you have labored hard for. There are none of us that can be perfectly happy in this life. Let us make ourselves as happy as circumstances will admit, and live in constant preparation for the perfect happiness hereafter.”
He speaks of perhaps meeting his friend Chandler in New Orleans, where Pratt owned a warehouse, with two of the floors dedicated to an art gallery for his good friend and artist George Cooke. Cooke is also buried in the cemetery, and perhaps Pratt’s best friend.
About George Cooke – from Wikipedia – “George Esten Cooke (1793–1849) was an itinerant United States painter who specialized in portrait and landscape paintings and was one of the South‘s best known painters of the mid nineteenth century. His primary patron was the industrialist Daniel Pratt, who built a gallery in Prattville, Alabama solely to house Cooke’s paintings.”
A big moment in Pratt’s life was in 1847 he had gained such fame that the University of Alabama presented him with an honorary Masters degree in Mechanical and Useful Arts. This was the only such degree ever awarded by that institution.
The university president wrote, “Without having devoted your life to literary pursuits you have attained an imminent degree that which is the end of all letters and all studies. The art of making men around you wiser, better and happier. Above all, you have shown that you discern what is the great source of all virtue and happiness, of all knowledge and success by your efficient maintenance of the institution of the religions of our Lord Jesus Christ among your people.”
From Daniel Pratt’s business partner and historian Shadrack Mims, “Daniel Pratt seemed to think that really money had no other value than to subserve a valuable purpose. He regarded himself s as steward of that money.”
The wreath for Daniel Pratt was then placed on his grave.
The inscription on Pratt’s tombstone comes from Revelations. “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, they will rest from their labor for their deeds will follow them.”
Enjoy the gallery below of the morning’s events and gathering at the Prattaugan Museum.
Thanks to Prattville Alive for providing a video of the entire event. It can be seen here at https://www.facebook.com/prattvillealive/videos/805948177795136
