Recently, I went to Union Springs to visit some waymarks. While taking the photo of one of them, I looked up and noticed the bank name on a plaque in the wall of the city hall. Intrigued, I went inside. A gentleman asked if he could help me, so I told him what I had seen and asked if this had been a bank at one time. He confirmed that it had indeed been a bank building, and that the city had moved there a few years ago. It turned out to be the mayor, much to my surprise.
The building itself is a two-story structure with a white facade with four Ionic columns. The application for the National Register of Historic Places has this description: "two-story brick, the facade has been remodeled in the Neo-Classical Mode. Four Ionic Order columns decorate the facade, with banister design parapet. Originally used the upper floor and a "Opera House"."
The historical marker in front of city hall has a good description of the city and its history.
In the early 1800s, settlers coming from the Carolinas and Georgia received land grants and some purchased land from the Indians. The settled and cleared the forest for new farms and plantations in what would become a newly formed State of Alabama (1819). This same area would become Macon County in 1832. African men, women, and children were brought in as slaves tending fields, doing carpentry work, becoming brick masons, and serving in the homes of their owners in various capacities. Merchants, cabinetmakers, carpenters, tavern operators, livery stable operators, physicians, lawyers, teachers, and ministers followed to sell their wares and service the needs of the people. On January 13, 1844, Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick signed legislation giving Union Springs, a community in Macon County, a corporate existence. On March 13, 184, William H. Waugh, the first Intendant, and Councilmen James A. Jones, August C. Hawkins, John B. Coleman, J. T. Coxe, Micajah N. Eley, Cicero Broome, and M. D. Farris were sworn into office by H. H. Smith, Justice of the Peace. The War Between the States ended in 1865 and all slaves were freed.
On December 5, 1866, Bullock County was created out of portions of Macon, Barbour, Pike, and Montgomery Counties. Union Springs was selected as its county seat. County officials were elected and a jail and courthouse were constructed. New brick business buildings were built. Railroads were routed through the town, cotton warehouses were built, two cemeteries were designated, two fire departments and schools were established. During the period 1890-1910, an opera house, race track, street railroad, and banks were established. Electrical, water, sewage, and telephone systems improved the quality of life. Large homes of various architectural styles were built which reflected the success of their owners. Men and women of Union Springs have served proudly and with honor in all of the country’s wars and conflicts. Union Springs is the “Bird Dog Field Trial Capitol of the World” and is the only city in the United States that can say “Welcome to USA.”
The Encyclopedia of Alabama provides more information about the field trial connection:
"Beginning in the early twentieth century, land originally used for cotton farming in Bullock County began to give way to other uses, particularly hunting. By the 1920s, game preserves occupied many of the sites of former cotton plantations. During that period, Lewis B. Maytag, an avid hunter and originator of the Maytag line of appliances, created a 14,000-acre hunting preserve known as the Sedgefields Plantation. This preserve and the lands surrounding it became a very popular location for bird dog field trials, which continue today. Field trials judge a bird dog's ability to successfully point out the hiding places of game birds."
"The city of Union Springs, which bills itself as the Field Trial Capitol of the World, welcomes hundreds of tourists every February at the National Amateur Free-for-All Championship of field trials. Since 1921, this annual event has drawn participants from around the world." source: (
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Photos of the Bird Dog Field Trial Monument can be see at the waymark: "The Bird Dog Monument - Union Springs, AL (WMHCVG) "http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMHCVG_The_Bird_Dog_Monument_Union_Springs_AL