Peggy Easterling Rozelle

Sylacauga Peggy Easterling Rozelle

The Shawnee Indians would be surprised to find the name that they gave the area in 1748--Chalakagay--remains much the same; however, the area has changed quite a bit. New ideas surfaced with the building of the plank road that supported rumbling horse-drawn stage coaches through the "old town" and again in recent times when a piece of marble became the Falling Star sculpture, a memorial to the local 1954 meteorite. Around 1820, Dr. Edward Gantt discovered marble in what would become Gantts Quarry while on military duty with Gen. Andrew Jackson. The pioneering spirit of early settlers continued with the planting of cotton and the development of small businesses. The arrival in 1886 and 1887 of two intersecting railroads ushered in a period of rapid expansion. A "new town" business section grew up along north Broadway where the rails crossed. Old town businesses, along the Main Avenue Plank Road and Fort Williams Street, soon relocated to the new business area. During World War II, a movie was filmed in Sylacauga by the US War Office in response to the development of recreational opportunities for the influx of people coming to work at the nearby defense plant. Today, Sylacauga is nationally recognized for its marble quarries, business acuity, and educational and cultural resources.