by Bill Goss
(side 1)This land belonged to the Creek (Muskogee) Indians, who had lived in the Tallassee area for hundreds of years, until their removal in 1836. Benjamin Hawkins, the Creek Indian Agent for the U.S. government, visited the Creek Indians in 1798 in the Tallassee area. He saw the great falls of the Tallapoosa River. He predicted that because of the river, the falls and an abundance of rock, elements existed for building a large city at the falls. In less than fifty years, his prophecy was fulfilled. No definite date can be given for the founding of Tallassee, but evidence shows that it was certainly in existence in 1835. Prior to 1832, very few families had settled in the Tallassee region. During 1837-1840, groups of settlers came into central Alabama and the Tallassee area from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. During this period, a thriving new town was built of native wood and stone on the west bluff of the lower Tallapoosa River. It was called Tallassee.
(Continued on other side)(side 2)(Continued from other side)In 1841, the Tallassee Falls Manufacturing Company was chartered by the Alabama Assembly, at the great fall, to Barent DuBois, the founder of Tallassee, and on the East side of the Tallapoosa River, to Hickerson Burnham. Then in 1844, Thomas Meriwether Barnett, the father of Tallassee, and William M. Marks built the first cotton mill in Tallassee. They were responsible for the first industrial development of Tallassee.During the Civil War, Tallassee became a supply center for the Confederacy. And, again in World War I and World War II, Tallassee supplied the U.S. government with heavy duck cloth for tents, sails and cots. Until they closed in 2005, the Tallassee Mills were the oldest continuous operating textile mills in the United States, providing 161 years of service. On January 21, 1908, Tallassee was incorporated.
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