I would like to begin by telling a story for you about, in my mind, one of the most accomplished Alabamians.

 

This subject has been featured in several documents of the time, but all information must be hoarded for the future.

 

This individual was born in 1876, on a small family farm in one of the most rural areas of Alabama. His family was apparently of average means.

 

By his death in 1941, however, this man was a legend, having created, founded, initiated or acquired: a church, school, hospital, telephone company, wood working plant, dairy, creamery, soft drink bottling company, a laundry, wholesale grocery company, a hydro generating venture, logging railroad, three hotels, an entire farming community, a pipe and ornamental foundry, First National Bank, a modern water supply system for the town and his Fortune 500 industry (as an aside, he had acquired thousands of acres of timberland forming hundreds of miles of the most prized recreational property in Alabama).

 

His business ventures were obviously accompanied by considerable civic-minded works.

 

In 1937, he personally visited all 67 county Chambers of Commerce prior to his forming the Alabama Chamber of Commerce. He then served faithfully as its first president until the year before his demise in December 1941.

 

Numerous letters reveal that he was a friend and supporter of Dr. George Washington Carver as a board member of Tuskegee Institute.

 

Our subject was also among several industrial leaders, principally his friend Thomas Martin, who in 1940, organized the Southern Research Institute.

 

Here, we must recall that the man was 34 years old when he founded the First National Bank in 1900, the year after graduating from The University of Virginia. He had worked part-time to pay for his education, earning a law degree in 1899.

 

Marrying that year, he hung his shingle out in Birmingham. In a few months, however, he was called home to Alexander City to manage the family business--then half interest in a small mercantile store.

 

At age 26, he bought a few knitting machines from a small wind-damaged knitting mill in Georgia. This venture later became the Fortune 500 company, employing 18,000 people and grossing $1.25 billion per year. Of course, that venture was Russell Corporation.

 

The First National Bank, which has lasted for well over 100 years, is now Valley Bank. Russell Hospital is now Russell Medical Center, and his farming interest is now Russell Lands, Inc.

 

The man was Benjamin Russell.

 

Mr. Ben’s fascination with the land came naturally, but it was apparently centered on farming. Early on, he tried desperately to keep farming alive around his home.

 

In 1926, he formalized his farming efforts with the creation of Dixie Farms by consolidating his small family landholdings with the adjacent 30,000 acres that he accumulated over many years.

 

Approximately 100 families made their livelihood on the Russell farmlands.

 

He produced many support entities, such as sawmills, a brick plant, a cotton gin, dairy, creamery, etc.

 

He called on his bank to cooperate in setting up several innovative financial vehicles to help the cash poor farming families set up their own family farming business.

 

His efforts were quite innovative, yet not even Mr. Russell could hold back the demise of the small farm in the rural south and the inevitable results of erosion, the Depression and the panic of malaria.

 

Good news—Mr. Ben and others introduced soil conservation practices and kudzu eradication.

 

The bad news—The new terrace system of the conservation effort, without constant attention, would ultimately fail and later cause far more destructive erosion patterns.

 

Predictions back then were that in 50 years, the entire lake would fill with the silt from the crude farming techniques of the day.

 

Train load after train load of 300-year-old long leaf pine logs were converted to finished lumber worth millions of dollars (Pine Lumber Company - 1916).

 

Mr. Ben knew the real solution to the death of farming and the inevitable erosion.

 

Plant pine trees….At this time, however, this tree-planting enthusiasm was considered to be somewhat questionable, as the Alabama Power Company had just cleared, sold, burned, tied down or given away timber covering much of the 44,000 acres of land - “why would anyone waste money planting trees?” It was, of course, a most fortunate and farsighted endeavor; not only was erosion finally checked, but a beautiful forest now covers 95% of that land.

 

Sadly, on December 16, 1941, “Mr. Ben” passed away – at 65 years of age, an event that was cause for well-founded concern.

 

Now to his real genius, which lay in his absolute certainty that recreation was the wave of the future and that Lake Martin was the key to this future.

 

As an example, Mr. Ben was building a hydro-generating plant on the Tallapoosa River to supply his growing textile industry when a young attorney, Thomas Martin, dropped by to inform him of an overriding project of the to-be Alabama Power Company. Mr. Martin informed Mr. Ben that his company had acquired the water rights for the entire Tallapoosa Valley. This story has been told many times, and, due to the mutual focus on the inherent value of the huge reservoir, they became friends, Lake Martin was created, and Russell was able to purchase much of the property that the utility did not need.

 

In 1928, he also opened the first recreationally oriented subdivision near Alexander City on Lake Martin. His vision of the future value of recreation also led him to convert Will Benson’s old Dixie Institute, overlooking Lake Martin, into The Dixie Hotel, where many State Chamber meetings were held.

 

He promoted the Florida Short Route across Lake Martin.

 

It is evident from property maps that he was intent on acquiring every inch of shoreline possible. Yes, it was cheap then but not free. It was a serious commitment for the man in his day. Again, recall this was a sideline interest.

 

What kind of person was this Benjamin Russell?

 

We will say oh, he was a visionary etc., but this is a shallow assessment. Again, the Depression, the fear of malaria and in the middle of nowhere? Recreation in Tallapoosa County prior to WWI – 1916? From where would the people come, and how on dirt roads? How did such intensity come to the man?

 

A glimpse at his background brings no great help. The family tree traces back to Westchester County, England, in the 14th century, and on to the Church of England in 1603. In 1705, James Russell crossed the Atlantic to Charleston. Family members slowly gravitated westward. Eventually, Jesse Russell moved to Tallapoosa County, Alabama. His grave can be seen at Liberty Church near Willow Point. In 1865, Jesse’s son, Mr. Ben’s father, Benjamin Francis Commander (B.F.C.) Russell, returned from the Civil War. His two brothers did not, lost in the last year of the war.

 

Benjamin Russell was simply one of a kind; we will never know what makes such great men.

 

We will likely never know, but we can for sure give thanks for the grand inheritance that Mr. Ben has left for us today.