Opelika, Alabama

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Image:ALMap-doton-Opelika.PNGOpelika is a city located in Lee County in east central Alabama. It is a suburb of Auburn, Alabama and is the county seat of Lee County. As of the 2004, the population of the city is 23,483.

History

The first white settlers in the area now known as Opelika arrived in the late 1830s after the removal of native peoples by force in 1836-37. The name "Opelika" was taken from a Creek village south of the current downtown, and in Muskogee means "large swamp". Settlement was sporadic until the late 1840s, when Opelika quickly became a commercial center with the coming of the railroad.

In 1848, the Montgomery & West Point Railroad Company extended a rail line from Montgomery, Alabama to Opelika, and in 1851 completed a connection to West Point, Georgia, thus connecting Opelika with Atlanta, Georgia. This line was the only direct rail route between New Orleans and the Eastern Seaboard, and rapidly became one of the primary trade lines for shipments of raw cotton from Southern plantations to the North. The Montgomery & West Point was soon joined by a rail connection to Columbus, Georgia in 1855, and a connection to Birmingham, Alabama in 1869. Almost overnight, Opelika became a regional hub for commerce.

Image:Opelika Downtown Railroads.jpgTo manage this rapid growth, Opelika was incorporated as a town on February 9, 1854. As a result of Opelika's transportation infrastructure, many warehouses for storing cotton and other goods were built. With the onset of the Civil War these warehouses were converted to Confederate supply depots. In 1864 and 1865, Union raids commanded by Lovell Rousseau and James H Wilson attacked Opelika, tearing up the railroads and destroying all government property, including Opelika's warehouses.

Soon after the end of the war, the Alabama state legislature created a new county out of parts of Macon, Russell, Chambers, and Tallapoosa counties to be named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee. In 1866, citizens of the new "Lee County" voted Opelika as the county seat, despite the fact that Opelika was technically unincorporated after having its charter revoked for abetting the rebellion against the United States.

After Opelika received a new charter in 1870, rapid growth resumed. The town nearly doubled in size between 1870 and 1900. During this time, Opelika began to gain its reputation as a wild, lawless town. Soon after receiving the new charter, city officials attempted to scam outside investors by issuing fake railroad bonds. For this, the town's charter was revoked again in 1872, and the town was administered as a police district by the state legislature for the following year. Opelika's downtown was packed with saloons, and frequent gunfire in the streets led to railroads ordering passengers passing through Opelika to duck beneath the windows to avoid being shot.

In 1882, voters dismissed the incumbent city government. Unwilling to give up power, the city council nullified the election until the courts ruled against them. When the state yet again revoked Opelika's charter, the city leaders took up arms against those that opposed them, and the governor was forced to send in the militia to restore order. Opelika remained under unelected military rule for the sixteen years until 1899, when Opelika's charter was again restored.

In 1900, local investors founded the Opelika Cotton Mill as the first textile plant in the city, employing 125. Attempts to expand the textile industry in Opelika continued for the next three decades, and in 1925 city officials were able to use a $62,500 bribe to induce the executives of the Pepperell Manufacturing Co. (now WestPoint International) to construct a large mill just outside of the Opelika city limits. The period between 1930 and 1970 would turn out to be Opelika's heyday, as industrial growth turned Opelika into a regional economic powerhouse.

Opelika continued to add factories and other industry throughout the middle years of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, Opelika attracted the nation's first and largest magnetic tape manufacturing plant. In 1963, tire manufacturer Uniroyal constructed a massive plant in Opelika, and around the same time Diversified Products revolutionized the physical fitness equipment industry with products produced their Opelika plant. By the early 1970s, Opelika's industries employed nearly 10,000.

Image:Downtown Opelika Alabama.jpgChanges in the national and local economy in the 1970s, though, led Opelika to start a period of economic decline. Between 1975 and 2005, factory closings and layoffs have cost Opelika nearly 6,000 jobsTemplate:Ref. Opelika's sister city Auburn quickly eclipsed Opelika in size and prestige, and has since replaced Opelika as the regional commercial hubTemplate:RefTemplate:Ref. Opelika acted to counter this decline in the late-1990s by spending over $50 million to purchase and develop the Northeast Opelika Industrial Park, which has been touted by site selection consultants and trade magazines as one of the premier industrial sites in the Southeast. Since 1999, two major distribution centers and three tier 1 automotive suppliers have located within the park. These Companies represent a capital investment of approximately $195 million, over 2 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space and the eventual creation of 1795 jobs. The site attracted serious interest from automakers Audi, Nissan, and Hyundai but was ultimately rejected by all threeTemplate:Ref. Opelika made headway in attracting new jobs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, however, most of the new jobs were with telephone call and commercial distribution centers with lower wages than the jobs previously lostTemplate:Ref.

As Opelika's economic base went into decline, the city's population growth stagnated in the latter part of the 20th century, and began a steady decline in the 2000s. Opelika's population peaked in 2000 at 23,638, and as of 2004 stands at 23,483Template:Ref. Some of this loss was attributed to flight from Opelika due to crime; gang activity is prevalent in the city and between 2000 and 2004 the violent crime rate was the second highest in the state, and was higher than that of all large American cities except for Detroit, Michigan and Camden, New JerseyTemplate:Ref. Others left for better schools, as the Opelika school system--traditionally viewed as among the area's top systems--declined to a position well below the national, state, and county averages Template:Ref.

Law and Government

Opelika is governed by a mayor-council government, with a mayor and a five-member city council.

The chief executive official of the city of Opelika is the mayor. The mayor is elected at-large for a four-year term. The mayor has complete executive power in the city, and can appoint and dismiss department heads at will. The current mayor of Opelika is Gary Fuller.

The Opelika city council is the legislative body of the city. It passes laws and ordinances, and creates city-wide policy. The city council is made up of five members, chosen for four year terms each from one of five districts. Districts 1 and 2 are arranged to ensure African-American representation on the council, and Districts 3, 4, and 5 are drawn to preserve a white majority. As current demographic trends point to an African-American majority in Opelika within the next decade, it is anticipated that district lines will then be redrawn to ensure a black majorityTemplate:Ref. Current council members through 2008 are:

• District 1 - Patricia Jones
• District 2 - Clarence Harris, Jr.
• District 3 - J. Jerry Teel
• District 4 - Eddie Smith
• District 5 - Bill Lazenby

Geography

Opelika is located in north-central Lee County, Alabama, and is bordered by Auburn, Alabama to the northwest, southwest, and west. Opelika lies in the southern reaches of the Piedmont Plateau, and straddles the divide between the Tallapoosa and the Chattahoochee river watersheds. Opelika has an elevation of 812 feet.

Opelika is located at 32°38'50" North, 85°23'22" West (32.647183, -85.389404)Template:GR.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 138.4 km² (53.4 mi²). 136.7 km² (52.8 mi²) of it is land and 1.7 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.24% water.

Economy

Image:Opelika Textile Mill.jpgOpelika's economy is currently in transition. It is moving away from being a traditional manufacturing town and toward being a blue-collar suburb of regional center AuburnTemplate:Ref.

Opelika's hard industrial past is still evident in the continued existence of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company, which employs 1,400, and textile maker WestPoint, which employs 750. Since 1994, Opelika has seen layoffs and plant closings eliminate over 3,500 manufacturing jobs. By 2010, Opelika will have managed to replace approximately 700 of these jobs with similar positions with automotive parts suppliers, but signs of trouble in Opelika's existing industry--WestPoint remains mired in bankruptcy proceedings and an eleventh-hour labor agreement that saved Uniroyal from shuttering in 1994 expires in 2006--could signal the imminent end of Opelika's industrial heritage Template:Ref.

Since 1990, Opelika has attracted nearly 2000 jobs through the location of call centers and retail distribution centers to the city. The bulk of jobs created in these facilities tend to pay considerably below the median for the region, but have kept unemployment in Opelika in check.

Opelika has seen far more success in recent years providing services for rapidly-growing nearby Auburn. As Auburn has traditionally been a white-collar city, it has tended to lack the commercial infrastructure needed to support its surging technology, research, and manufacturing base. Opelika businesses have stepped up to fill the gap, and have been highly successful at providing the blue-collar services the larger city needs Template:Ref.

The past few years have also seen a successful trend of opening big-box retail businesses in far western Opelika along the Auburn city limits that largely serve Auburn's surging population. In this way Opelika has started to fill the more classic role of suburb to Auburn, a role that looks to be Opelika's economic destiny. Also fulfilling this role is Opelika's largest employer, East Alabama Medical Center, which not only provides health care services to the Auburn area, but to the east Alabama region as a whole.

Education

Opelika is home to a branch of Southern Union Community College. Southern Union is a two-year community and technical college offering academic, industrial, and health sciences training. Southern Union is the only two-year college in Lee County, and is the largest two-year campus in the region.

Opelika's public school system enrolls 4,500 students on nine campuses. Opelika has three primary schools with grades K-2, three intermediate schools with grades 3-5, one middle school with grades 6-8, one high school with grades 9-12, and one "at-risk" school. Opelika's schools have traditionally had strong programs in technology and the arts.

In recent years, Opelika's schools have undergone a steep decline in quality, with average scores on statewide standardized tests falling each and every year since 1995; scores have declined from the 59th percentile in 1997 to the 47th percentile in 2004, a trend contrary to that of most Alabama schools. Much of this decline can be explained by demographic shifts as middle- and upper-class families have moved to Auburn or enrolled their children in home or private schools, resulting in Opelika's percentage of students on free or reduced lunches soaring from 40% in 1995 to 65% in 2004Template:Ref.

Recreation

The Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Statistical Area was recently named by Golf Digest as the #1 area for golf in the United States. One part of the reason this area received this ranking is that Opelika is home to Robert Trent Jones Grand National. The site for the course, which hugs the edge of Lake Saugahatchee in Opelika's northwest, was described by Jones as the "single greatest" site for a golf complex that he had ever seen. The course, which is considered to be the jewel of Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, has hosted a number of national tournaments, including the 1997 Nike Tour championship, the 1998 LPGA Tournament of Champions, and the 2000 NCAA Mens' Division 1 National Championship. The region's moderate climate in the location of several other world-class golf facilites in adjacent Auburn also played a part in this selection.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 23,498 people, 9,200 households, and 6,357 families residing in the city. The population density was 171.9/km² (445.3/mi²). There were 10,281 housing units at an average density of 75.2/km² (194.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 55.03% White, 42.89% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.93% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 0.68% from two or more races. 1.07% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 9,200 households out of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 20.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,397, and the median income for a family was $43,200. Males had a median income of $31,237 versus $21,819 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,023. 17.8% of the population and 14.9% of families were below the poverty line. 26.2% of those under the age of 18 and 14.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Notable People from Opelika

• Joe Beckwith - retired Major League Baseball pitcher and member of the 1985 World Series Champion Kansas City Royals

Opelika in The Movies

Parts of the 1979 movie Norma Rae were filmed in Opelika. Opelika is mentioned in the Academy Award winning film Driving Miss Daisy

Opelika in Fiction

• Caroline Ivey's characters in her novel Family visit Opelika.

Notes

1. Template:Note Comprehensive Plan for the City of Opelika (OCP), 2004, pp. 33-36. Compare with similar section from 1974 Comprehensive Plan for enumeration of job losses.
2. Template:Note Auburn surpassing Opelika in size can be seen from census bureau figures, 1970-2004 (1970: Opelika-19,027, Auburn-16,261; 2004: Opelika-23,483, Auburn-48,348.) Concerning prestige, note median home value, 2004 (OCP, p.27) Auburn's median home value is 52% higher than Opelika's.
3. Template:NoteCommercial activity can be ascertained from sales tax revenue, as Auburn and Opelika have maintained the same tax levy. Opelika's sales tax revenue in 1990 was $5,340,910 (City of Opelika Annual Budget, Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30 1995, p. 7), while Auburn's was $5,436,731 (The City of Auburn, Alabama Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2000, Table 2) . Opelika's sales tax revenue in 2003 was $10,473,505 (City of Opelika Annual Budget, Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30 2006 p. ), while Auburn's was $14,589,315 (The City of Auburn Proposed Biennial Budget for FY 05 & FY 06 Budget Message, Table 4).
4. Template:Note Expenditures involved in constructing the Northeast Opelika Industrial Park included $4.3 million transferred from the City's general fund to the Opelika Industrial Development Authority (OIDA) between 1997 and 2000, a $1.9 million federal industrial park access road grant, $2.5 million from Opelika Light and Power to sewer and water the park, $6 million from the city's 2003a General Obligation (GO) Warrant to build a wastewater treatment plant to serve the park, $12.1 million from the Alabama Department of Transportation to construct an interchange, $8.6 million from the city's 1998a and 1998b GO Warrants, and a $10.3 million special bond approved by Amendment 642 to the Alabama Constitution (see Opelika city budgets, 1996-2004, ALDOT bid results for projects IM-85-1 (2000) and STPAA-4100(18)(2003), City of Opelika General Obligation Warrants, Series 2003-A underwritten by Merchant Capital, LLC, Montgomery, Ala.). Additional expenditures were made by Opelika Light and Power for an electrical substation, and by the OIDA for building constuction for park tenants, which push the cost over $50 million. Information on the park's rejection by the three automakers can be found in "Automotive Industry in the Driver's Seat", Global Corporate Xpansion, July 1, 2003.
5. Template:Note Opelika population figures as recorded by the US Census Bureau (July 1 estimates base): 2000-23,638, 2001-23,636, 2002-23,579, 2003-23,597, 2004-23,483.
6. Template:Note Comparison figures are taken from FBI Uniform Crime reports over the period of 2000-2004. See also "Crime Task Force "Long Overdue"", Opelika-Auburn News, February 14, 2006.
7. Template:Note Measurement in school quality in Alabama is determined by a battery of standardized assessments. From 1996-2004, the state's primary assessment was the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), followed by the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test (ARMT) and the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE) from 2004 to present. In 2004, all three assessments were given. Opelika's average scores, normed to the national percentile for the first year the test was administered, on the SAT were as follows: 1997-58.67, 1998-58.50, 1999-58.33, 2000-55.67, 2001-53.17, 2002-50.43, 2003-47.83, 2004-47.75. National, state, and county averages for 2004 were 52.1, 53.6, and 49.3, respectively. Average scores on the ARMT and the AHSGE, measured in percent meeting basic competency, were: 2004-73.92, 2005-72.96. All test score data are taken from Alabama State Department of Education figures as released in the annual "System Report Cards" and in the "Accountability Reporting" section at www.alsde.edu for more recent years. Figures on the percentage of students on free and reduced lunches are also taken from Alabama State Department of Education figures published both online and in the annual system reports.
8. Template:Note See Lee County Branch of the NAACP v. Opelika (1984). Opelika currently operates under court order to maintain racial balance on the council, which did not receive its first black member until the late 1980s. Under that order, when Opelika becomes majority black--as is projected by US census figures to occur in the next ten years--Opelika will be required to redistrict to create a majority-black council.
9. Template:Note See Comprehensive Plan for the City of Opelika, 2004, pp. 33-36 and Strategic Plan for the City of Opelika, p. 5.

References

• Alabama State Department of Education. Accountability Reporting. Retrieved June 13, 2004.
• Auburn, Alabama, City of. (2000) The City of Auburn, Alabama Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2000. Finance Department.
• Auburn, Alabama, City of. (2000) The City of Auburn Proposed Biennial Budget for FY 05 & FY 06 Budget Message. Office of the City Manager.
• Duran, Rachel (2003). "Automotive Industry in the Driver's Seat", Global Corporate Xpansion, July 1, 2003. Birmingham Ala., Latitude 3 Media Group.
• Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2004). Federal Bureau of Investigation - Uniform Crime Reports. Retrieved August 9, 2005.
• Golf Digest, August 2005 Vol.56, No. 8
• Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, Inc. (1999). Strategic Plan for the City of Opelika.
• Lowery, Tomiko (2006). "Crime Task Force "Long Overdue"", Opelika-Auburn News, February 14, 2006. Opelika, Ala., Media General.
• Nunn, Alexander (Ed.) (1983). Lee County and Her Forebears. Montgomery, Ala., Herff Jones. LCCCN 83-081693
• Opelika, Alabama, City of. (1994) City of Opelika Annual Budget, Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30 1995. Opelika, Alabama.
• Opelika, Alabama, City of. (2005) City of Opelika Annual Budget, Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30 2006. Opelika, Alabama.
• Opelika, Alabama, City of. (1974) City of Opelika Comprehensive Plan. Opelika, Alabama.
• Opelika, Alabama, City of. (2005). Comprehensive Plan for the City of Opelika. Opelika, Alabama. Opelika Planning Department.
• Opelika, Alabama, City of. (2005). Our City Council Members. Retrieved August 9, 2005.

External links

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