MONTGOMERY, Ala., State capital and third city of the State in population, ani. seat of Montgomery County, 52 miles southeast of the centre; on the left bank of the Alabama, 410 miles above the Gulf by water and 180 by rail. It is the greatest railroad centre in the State, seven lines converging there, the Louis ville and Nashville, Mobile and Ohio, Atlantic Coast Line, Central of Georgia, Seaboard Air Line, Union Springs and Northern and Western of Alabama; 62 passenger trains a day arrive and depart from its union station. The city is a leading Southern trade and social centre.
Commerce and Montgomery lies in the heart of the famous Black Belt, the band of rich dark soil which stretches across and beyond Alabama. 120 miles wide, and one of the chief cotton districts in the country, as well as a great producer of grain, fruit and vegetables. It is the great central market of all this territory, and one of the foremost trucking centres for the supply of vegetables to the northern markets; its wholesale grocery business amounts to some $14,000,000 a year, out of a total of over $50,000,000. It is one of the chief cotton marts and distributing points of the South, handling 150,000 to 175,000 bales a year in its extensive warehouses. The export of this is, to some extent, sent in barges down the river to Mobile, and there reloaded for foreign shipment. The Alabama is one of the best rivers in the United States for steamer navigation, having a deep, broad channel open as high as Montgomery for eleven months in the year. Lying between the coal and iron fields on the north and the vast forests of yellow pine on the south, as well as in the midst of the cotton belt, the city has great natural advantages for manufacturing; and a dam across the Tallapoosa at Tallahassee, 30 miles away, fur nishes 25,000 horse power applied to its manu factories, and used for trolley and lighting. An English syndicate, the Alabama Power Com pany, has developed other water power in this section with a potentiality of 500,000 horse power. Already electricity is sold in Mont gomery as low as one cent per kilowatt hour. The city's interests are considerable and varied. There are 181 manufacturing enterprises, em ploying $12,000,000 capital and 6,000 employees. Carshops and foundry work for the numerous railroads, with boilers, and other iron goods, are the largest items; but there are two cotton factories and a cordage factory; four ginning and compress plants, five cotton-seed oil and cake works and 11 great fertilizer plants; 13 woodworking and lumber concerns, besides cooperage works (mainly for the oil and allied products), carriages, cabinets, show cases, furniture, confectionery, crackers and brushes and paper boxes, saddlery and harness, brick and tile, paving and roofing materials, etc.
The aviation depot, or aeroplane construction plant, of the United States government is located at Montgomery. It employs 600 civilian mechanics and is the only plant of its kind in America.
Finance and city's bank: ing facilities have kept pace with its commercial increase. In 1919 Montgomery had four national banks, and three State banks, having a combined capital of $2,500,000; surplus, $635, 000; individual deposits, $13,000,000. The post office receipts had increased 35 per cent within five years. There are trolley systems covering city and suburbs, and electric light, good sewer age and artesian water almost chemically pure; the streets are well paved and the country roads of remarkable excellence. Assessed valuation about $35,000,000. Of about $150,000 yearly expenditure, aside from interest on debt, $90,000 is spent for schools. Montgomery has commission government.
Public Buildings, Institutions, The city is handsomely built on a high red clay bluff bordering the river, and stretching back to undulating hills; it has many fine old gardens, and 50 acres of public parks. The centre is Court Square, and the foundation streets are Court, Commerce, toward the river, and Dexter avenue to the capitol. The Union Station, costing $250,000, the govern ment building, the city hall, the courthouse, the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association build ings, the Masonic temple and the Carnegie library are the chief structures in the centre. The capitol dates from 1846; in its grounds is a handsome Confederate monument. There are 86 church societies of all denominations; several of them with handsome, modern edifices. There is a State Normal School for the colored here with 1,500 students, the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls and charitable institutions. Montgomery is the home of the Women's Col lege of Alabama. There are three daily news papers and several institutional libraries. There are 19 public school buildings, the same pro vision being made for colored as for white students.