A city with ties to Alabama Power’s founder has been added to the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.

Attalla’s downtown historic district was added to the National Register in December. Founded in 1870, the city has 43 structures in the downtown district built between 1885 and 1963. It also claims to be the site of the first electric streetlight powered from a hydroelectric dam. The modest dam, built on Big Will’s Creek, was the brainchild of William Patrick Lay, who later founded Alabama Power.

Capt. William Patrick Lay

A former riverboat captain from Cedar Bluff, Lay sought to prove that water could be practically harnessed to produce electricity. In the fall of 1902, after purchasing the necessary land, Lay began construction of a small, 75-horsepower plant at Big Will’s Creek, near Attalla. The fast-approaching winter months, however, brought construction to a halt. The following spring, construction continued at the old Wesson Mill site.

With the majority of the work complete, including the dam and transmission line into Attalla, Lay found himself lacking the funds to finish the plant. He faced the difficult decision of continuing fundraising efforts for the small plant or refocusing on his larger goal of developing the Coosa River for “navigation, power, and amelioration of floods.”

In November 1904, Lay sold the Wesson Mill property to a group of Attalla investors. They included A.L. DuPre, Jim Brown and Adolphus Brown, who, in turn, founded the Etowah Light and Power Company.
Lay went on to found Alabama Power in Gadsden in 1906. He moved forward with development of the Coosa River at a site north of Clanton known as Lock 12. Once up and running, Alabama Power began to assume smaller plants, including the Wesson Mills site.

In July 1912, the company acquired Alabama Power Development Company, owner of Etowah Light and Power. The Lock 12 dam, the first on the Coosa, began operating in 1914 and was named for Lay in 1929. Later this year, Alabama Power will celebrate a century of successful operations at Lay Dam.

Click here to learn more about downtown Attalla’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places.