The oldest county in the state – Montgomery County – has spent all year celebrating its 200th birthday.
Those celebrations have ranged from very intimate neighborhood gatherings to some extravaganzas. The website states: “From grassroots to grand scale.”
Montgomery County’s Facebook page shows 200 ways to celebrate the 200th birthday.
| There are some key events planned for Dec. 6, which is the day the county was founded in 1816. Festivities include an all-day happy birthday celebration. There will be a Montgomery County Bicentennial Commemoration noon-1 p.m. at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. |
Students from two Montgomery Public Schools – Montgomery Preparatory Academy for Career Technologies and Booker T. Washington Magnet High – will unveil a sculpture by the Annex 1 building, which is across the street from the Montgomery County Commission building.
“When you’re talking about a 200th birthday that’s extraordinary and to be here in Montgomery, Ala., where things have changed so much over those 200 years,” said Montgomery County Commission Chairman Elton N. Dean Sr. “When you’re talking about a county that is older than the state, it is really significant,” Dean said. “We’ve done some really great things in Montgomery, especially in the last 15 to 20 years.”
The county is almost exactly three years older than Alabama, which became a state Dec. 14, 1819.
“We consider ourselves one big family,” Dean said about the county, which he calls the parent and his two sons – the City of Montgomery and Pike Road.He said that Montgomery County has participated “in every revenue-producing event.” The county began dedicating a portion of its sales tax to the Montgomery Public Schools in July 2001 and that amount now totals more than $300 million. That contribution does not include the county helping fund school construction projects along with the city.
A new logo was created to celebrate the county’s bicentennial and even the Alabama National Fair held at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery observed the county’s 200th birthday. There was even a Walk 200, where teams walked 200 miles during a six-week span.
“The way we look at it is this is Montgomery County’s 200th birthday, but it’s everybody’s birthday,” DiDi Henry, director of public affairs for Montgomery County, told the Montgomery Advertiser.
What about the next 50 years or 100 years?
“Montgomery is still on the brink of promise,” Dean said. “The seeds have been planted and a lot of seeds were planted before us, but they have not been harvested. There’s more harvesting coming and harvesting time in Montgomery is not seasonal – it’s all the time.”
