Fall www. aualum.org

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1 Fall 2007 www. aualum.org

2 Photography by Jeff Etheridge Auburn Magazine For Alumni & Friends of Auburn University 33

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4 Jean Williams recalls the day she was driving through her Valley neighborhood and looked up to find her former Girl Scout hut had been destroyed. It was such a shock. I remember driving around the corner, and my Girl Scout house was gone. It had been completely demolished, and the lot was cleaned off, says the 81- year-old lifelong Valley resident (pictured left). And I just stopped the car and cried, because I was so heartbroken that it was gone. That hut, along with many of Valley s other buildings, had been built by West Point Manufacturing Co., which brought large textile mills to this small eastern Alabama town following the Civil War. For the next century, life centered around the area s four prominent mill villages Langdale, Riverview, Fairfax and Shawmut each with its own picture show, post office, general store, churches, schools and parks, all built and maintained by the mill. Like spokes on a wheel, bungalow-style homes formed neighborhoods radiating from the factories, and, over time, residents traded their agricultural roots for shift work and spinning machines. Through the years our mother company took good care of us, says Valley city clerk Martha Cato. But the exodus of the textile industry nearly 40 years ago set many of the town s structures on a path to abandonment, disrepair and destruction. The villages commercial businesses dried up faster than a drop of water on a hot August afternoon, and in 1980 the mill towns were incorporated into the city of Valley. The little hamlet fought for economic footing and an opportunity to redefine itself. prompted Williams and other local residents to form a historical commission that would save the rest of the city s old buildings; civic leaders wanted to prevent Valley from becoming a ghost town. They sought the assistance of Auburn University s Urban Studio, an outreach program of AU s College of Architecture, Design and Construction that teams fifth-year students with citizens hoping to reinvent their communities. The Urban Studio has helped more than 40 small towns across Alabama. It is unusual for architectural students to work beyond the scale of a building and think about how their architectural work is part of the larger ensemble of a place, says Urban Studio director Cheryl Morgan 74, an AU architecture professor. One of the things that we think is important is the potential for students to not only understand how to make great buildings, but also how to make great places. A few years ago, Morgan led a team of students, volunteer professionals and Valley residents through a design charrette, an architectural term describing an intense group study of a problem that requires a design solution. Completed in 1999, the charrette has served as a roadmap for Valley s growth, driving such actions as the planting of willow trees to enhance the town s appearance and the purchase of a pair of abandoned textile mills for future commercial and residential development. The charrette process has been important to the lifeblood of our city, says Valley Mayor Arnold Leak 74. The Urban Studio has been extremely helpful to us, because (it) provided us with another point of view that we needed to progress. It s the secret of us being able to see a future, where one time all we saw was a half-empty glass. The team identified Valley s advantages, which included 14 miles of the Chattahoochee River snaking through town as well as the abandoned Langdale and Riverdale textile mills at the river s edge. They didn t think of the river as an asset and an economic tool, and after our visit they began to recognize things that they could build on in their community Auburn Magazine For Alumni & Friends of Auburn University 35

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6 that were inherent, Morgan says. And unlike the textile mills that were part of the economy for years, the river can t be outsourced. Before AU students got involved, Valley officials had viewed the river as little more than a line of demarcation between Alabama and its neighboring state. The river was there, and we always knew it was there, but it took somebody else to tell us how important it was, Leak says. We used to call it the big dirty ditch in the backyard. It s amazing how different something looks when you put on differentcolored glasses, and the design charrette was able to give us a new set of glasses. have rekindled hope and excitement for new things to come. At more than 500,000 square feet, the Langdale mill complex sits on 24 acres at the end of Fob James Boulevard, the gateway to Valley. Its central location makes the mill a prime piece of real estate with endless possibilities. We see the Langdale mill as having the potential to be a very vibrant part of our long-term goals for the city economic development, historical preservation, eco-tourism, says Jim Jones 83, a member of Valley s City Council. With plans to convert the mill into a hotel and conference center with retail stores and other mixed-use development, we feel it has the potential to be a thriving part of our economy. Just like the old Girl Scout hut, the Langdale mill was slated for the demolition ball when, in 2004, it was auctioned to the highest bidder. Investors circled like vultures, hoping to buy the property and sell it piecemeal, aiming to make a fortune off the facility s original heart pine floors and beams alone. But Cato (pictured left) and Leak, buoyed by the Urban Studio s ideas, placed the winning bid and have preserved a vital piece of their town s textile heritage. Two years ago, Morgan helped Valley s citizens and civic leaders complete a second design charrette, this time focusing solely on the Langdale mill. Meanwhile the city has purchased the Riverdale mill and plans to obtain other mills as they become available. The town also intends to promote the Chattahoochee River as a draw for boaters, kayakers and fishermen, says Jones. There are plans to establish a walking trail using an old railroad bed between the two mills along the river bank, a project known as Rails to Trails. Valley s citizens have worked hard to have 1,200 of their community s structures and the four mill villages added to the National Register of Historic Places. A textile museum is another possibility. So, as Kia Motors prepares to build a new plant in nearby West Point, Ga., could Valley became a boom town once again? The town is already preparing for a population increase: There are 1,500 new housing units under construction in a town of 9,200. The charrette outlines standards for new neighborhoods as well as businesses opening in the area. And now, when Leak goes to the grocery store or to a local restaurant, he hears good things from his constituents. They come up and say Hey, we like what you re doing, he says. If your people are behind you, then you re doing the right thing. That is why I think the design charrette was so important. It drew from the people what was important to them, not necessarily what was important to the council. AU s Urban Studio is also helping other citizens who hope to rewrite their towns histories. In many places like Valley, for years they have worked with problems instead of opportunity, says Morgan, and that simple shift in paradigm that new perspective has changed many communities sense of what is possible. That s very exciting to see. Auburn Magazine For Alumni & Friends of Auburn University 37