Evergreen, Alabama - History

History

now the thriftiest village, perhaps, in South Alabama, received its first installment of emigrants in 1819 and 1820, though the village itself did not find a name until years afterward. When James Cosey, George Andrews and the Messrs. Gluff, first reached this section, the present site of Evergreen was a tangled wild- wood, revelling in dense thickets of briar and cane, with the jungles infested by the native deer, wolf, bear and wildcat. The tiny streams, that still wind their way through different portions of the village, were then strongly barricaded on either side, with impenetrable brakes of cane. And such was the nature of the soil, which skirted the streams, that it was peril to man or beast to tread upon it. Upon the arrival of the emigrants already mentioned, Mr. Cosey and the Messrs. Cluff located within the limits of the present village, while Mr. Andrews pitched his tent upon the hill beyond the small branch, west of Evergreen. Mr. Cosey was an old Revolutionary soldier, and bore themark of a severe wound in his bosom. Additions were soon made to this diminutive population, for during the years already named there came several other families, among which were those of William Jones, Sr., and George Foote. Of the entire population, Messrs. Andrews and Foote had removed from South Carolina, the others from Georgia. Living contiguous to the vast swamps which border Murder creek, this settlement was peculiarly exposed to the inroads of the bear, the wildcat, the deer, and turkey. The bear and wildcat preying upon the pigs, and the less offensive deer and turkey riotously assailing the ripening grain of autumn. Benjamin Hart erected, at an early day, a good mill, which is now known as the E. C. Smith mill. While subjecting the natural barriers, and wrestling with the grave disadvantages, whose name was legion, these early fathers were not forgetful of the intellectual improvement of their children. About 1820 or 1821, George Andrews opened a small school, about threequarters of a mile east of the present location of the court house. This gentleman was the father of H. M. Andrews, of Bellville, James W. Andrews, of Allenton, Wilcox county, and of the late George R. Andrews, of Monroeville. In its early history. Evergreen gave but little promise of becoming the important point which it is to-day. Located considerably in the interior, it was regarded as being remote from most of the points first settled. For more than an entire decade it was the most insignificant of all the centres of population in the county. But the gradual settlement of the adjoining regions, the rapid improvement of the fertile lands, in the midst of which it is fortunately located, the early educational advantages which it afforded, the importance given it by the Mobile & Montgomery Railway, and the location of the court house at this point, have helped to render Evergreen conspicuous alike as a mart of trade, an educational centre, and a village unequalled in the State for the moral tone of its population.