Boll Weevil Monument
| Boll Weevil Monument | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
 The Boll Weevil Monument |
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| location | Enterprise , Coffee County , Alabama | ||
| Coordinates | 31 ° 18 '51.9 " N , 85 ° 51' 14" W | ||
| Built | 1919 | ||
| NRHP number | 73000336 | ||
| The NRHP added | April 26, 1973 | ||
The Boll Weevil Monument is a memorial erected by the citizens of Enterprise , Alabama in 1919 in memory of the cotton boll beetle . It is the only monument erected to an agricultural pest. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1973 .
The cotton boll beetle ( Anthonomus grandis , English Boll Weevil ) was originally native to Mexico , but appeared in Alabama in 1915. As early as 1918, some cotton farmers lost their entire cotton harvest to the insect. H. M. Sessions saw this agricultural disaster as an opportunity to convert the area to growing peanuts . In 1916 he convinced the indebted farmer C. W. Baston to implement his proposal. The first harvest brought in enough to pay the debt and other farmers followed the switch. Cotton was later grown again, but farmers learned that diversification was beneficial. This practice brought new capital to Coffee County .
Local businessman Bon Fleming came up with the idea of building the memorial and helped finance it. In honor of the fact that disaster can catalyze change for the better, the memorial was unveiled on December 11, 1919, at the center of College and Main Street, in the heart of the city's commercial hub. The original statue - a woman in a fluttering robe and arms high above her head - was made in Italy for $ 1,800 , along with the fountain. It wasn't until thirty years later that a representation of the boll beetle was added when Luther Baker suggested that a boll beetle memorial should also feature a boll beetle. He made the beetle figure and added it to the memorial. The monument has a total height of more than four meters.
The cotton boll beetle figure and sometimes the entire memorial has been stolen several times over the years, but has been found and repaired each time. On July 11, 1998, however, vandals tore the cotton boll beetle figure from the statue's hands, permanently damaging it. The city council intended to repair the original statue and put it back on its base, but the operation proved too complicated and too costly. Instead, a plastic replica was set up and the original was brought to the museum. A security camera monitors the monument to prevent future vandalism.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed April 20, 2016
- ↑ A fallen monument ( English ) Weevilwonderland. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 14, 2009.
Web links
- The World of the Weevil (English)