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For those readers who follow this column, I thought it

might be fun if we had a history trivia. If you are so inclined, see how many of these questions you can answer that have to do with the history of Covington County and Andalusia, Alabama.  There may be a “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow for the person who comes up with the most correct answers. Submit your answers, numbers 1. – 25. to suebwilson47@gmail.com or bring them to me in person. Please respond by 5:00 on February 15, 2021. 

 

1. Andalusia’s history began on the banks of what river?
2. The Spanish were among the first explorers to the region in the 1540s; however, there is no evidence to prove that they marched through Covington County. Who was their leader?
3. In 1817, the Alabama territory was formed. The State of Alabama was admitted to the Union in what year? 
4. What year did the Alabama legislature officially make Covington a county?
5.  Legend says that Andrew Jackson and his troops traveled through this area and his men cut a “Three Notch Trail” through the wilderness. What local community did his troops camp in, it is believed? (Some say that the Army blazed the “trail” with notches or gashes from Ft. Mitchell to Pensacola to provide safety for the settlers moving in from Georgia.)
6. The earliest settlement on the Conecuh River below the falls was a trading post community called Covington Courthouse. A few years later the post office and the first county seat in this village was named ______________?
7. An early settler who migrated from Georgia and who became the first postmaster, the first county court judge, and the county’s first state senator is considered by historians to have earned the title of “Father of Covington County.” What was his name? *(Hint – a familiar hill may be named for him!)
8. What forced the little river village settlers to flee to higher ground and relocate at the highest point up the hill between the Conecuh and Yellow Rivers to a New Site? It was later named Andalusia when the post office was established in July 1844?
9.  How many courthouses have been situated in Covington County?  The present courthouse on the Court Square once called the Public Square was built in what year?
10. The first buildings around the square were wooden. Court Square was much like a cowboy town with hitching posts for horses, watering troughs, boardwalks, livery stables, boarding houses, and what kinds of businesses that were often nuisances to many but comfort to others?
11. What year did the “iron horse” arrive that marked a turning point for Andalusia resulting in its growth and progress due to a new mode of transportation?
12. What church used to be located on Church Street?
13. What downtown building was constructed for use of the entertainment of the townspeople? 
14. Who was the pioneer businessman that brought silent movies and later other movie houses to Andalusia?
15. What was the name of the earliest city cemetery sometimes referred to as “Andalusia’s city of the dead?”
16. What year was Andalusia’s six-story skyscraper built?
17. Name one or two of Andalusia’s first bottling companies?
18. When the 1920s roared in, a company partnered by E. L. More and C. A. O’Neal constructed the hydro-electric dams and generating facilities at Point A and Gantt and  brought permanent electrical power to the area. What was the name of this River Falls based company that was later devastated by the Flood of 1929?
19. Around 1920 a young veterinarian fresh out of Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn) became the first football coach at AHS and is thought to have chosen the Bulldog as the school mascot. What was his name?
20. Andalusia boasted a professional baseball team in the late 1930s known as the Andalusia Rams. The Second World War interrupted this organization, but it resumed after the war as a semi-professional team known by what name? The city recreation program got its origin here, and Johnson Park was later established and named after a former city school superintendent. What was his name?
21. What local civic club is credited with establishing the first public library in Andalusia?
22. What is the name of the energetic and industrious German immigrant businessman who arrived in Andalusia and who was a visionary helping to shape Andalusia’s economy in the early 1920s by organizing a textile company that employed thousands for 70 years? He later became a four-term mayor.
23. What year was the Andalusia Municipal Stadium completed? What sports were played there?
24. During the World Wide Flu Epidemic of 1918, the Covington County Hospital was built in a converted Victorian house. Dr. T. Q. Ray was the chief of staff. Where (on what street) was this hospital located?
25. Name at least two of the older newspapers published in Andalusia prior to The Andalusia Star News. 1.____________________2.____________________

 

     As we Remember When, may we look back at our local history and its importance to moving forward to the future.  Do plan to visit and support the Three Notch Museum in 2021, the “Bicentennial Year of Covington County.”

     Sue Bass Wilson, AHS Class of 1965, is a local real estate broker and long-time member of the Covington Historical Society. She can be reached at suebwilson47@gmail.com.