Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
Every brick in Prattville seems to tell a story. Among the relics of yesteryear, the Autauga County Heritage Association, ACHA, is notorious for finding connections that bridge generations. Bringing the stories of the past and the history of Prattville to life every year, is what Founder’s Day represents.
“Prattville is still so connected to its history. I have never seen a place so deeply caring of its past. Founder’s Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate our history on a more elaborate scale that attracts other people to our story. I’m excited for the opportunity to connect with our community through our history. Because, through our preservation, holidays and events, we always strive for connection,” Prattaugan Museum Director Jordan Scott said.
This year, Founder’s Day will be held July 19th starting with a wreath laying ceremony at 9 a.m. at Pratt Cemetery on Gin Shop Hill overlooking downtown. The event will be followed by refreshments at the Prattaugan Museum.
Founder’s Day is a day of recognition and gratitude where a community can come together to acknowledge and celebrate the people that came before us to make this city what it is today. Without their sacrifice and vision for the future, Prattville would not be what it is today.
Daniel Pratt, the man and myth that shaped and paved the way for Prattville to be Prattville will be celebrated on Founder’s Day.
“We feel like he was such a benefactor to this community that it left us such a grand legacy of being the first industrial village and for setting the tone, the hopes that you find in Prattville that we still encourage today. We feel like that’s the least we can do,” historian and board member of Autauga County Heritage Association Ann Boutwell said.
Pratt was one of the first to establish an industrial village in the state of Alabama, Boutwell confirmed. Boutwell stated she had a historian from Washington DC state they consider Pratt as being the one who introduced the industrial revolution to Alabama and the southern U.S.
In addition to everything that Pratt established in Prattville, he also had created the largest cotton gin factory in the world by 1856, putting Prattville even further on the global map.
He and his company would ship across the world from Russia, Great Britain, France, Mexico and all through the Southern U.S.
“Almost every aspect of society, religion, education, economic development, government, Pratt was a part of it. He served in the legislature; he had an interest in architecture and art. He just was involved and impacted everything around him in the early history of Alabama,” Boutwell said.
The public is invited to attend the Founder’s Day celebration. There is no admission fee.
