Editing Dothan, Alabama (section)

==History==
===Earliest years===
Between 1763 and 1783, the region that is now Dothan was part of the colony of [[British West Florida]].<ref>''The Economy of British West Florida, 1763–1783'', by Robin F. A. Fabel ([[University of Alabama Press]], 2002)</ref> European-American settlers moving through the area during the late 18th and early 19th centuries discovered the Indian spring, naming it "Poplar Head". Most felt that the sandy soil common to this region would be unsuitable for farming, so they moved on.

A crude [[stockade]] was constructed on the Barber Plantation, where settlers could take refuge whenever they felt threatened. Gradually the area received more white settlers. This fort disappeared by the 1840s, after the end of the [[Indian Wars]] in Alabama and [[Indian Removal]] in the 1830s, when most members of the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] were forcibly taken to [[Indian Territory]] west of the [[Mississippi River]]. Those members of the tribe who stayed in the southeast were considered to have given up their tribal memberships and became state and U.S. citizens.

The first permanent white settlers consisted of nine families who moved into the area during the early 1830s to harvest the abundant timber. Their settlement, named Poplar Head after the spring, failed to thrive. It was all but abandoned by the time of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. After the war, a local [[Pony Express]] route was founded; together with other developments during the [[Reconstruction Era]], the town began to grow. On November 11, 1885, the citizens voted to [[municipal corporation|incorporate]], naming their new city Dothan at the suggestion of a local clergyman after discovering that "Poplar Head" was already registered with the U.S. post office for a town in northern Alabama.<ref name="EA-Dothan"/>

===Civil unrest===
On October 12, 1889,<ref>{{Cite book
  | last = Alabama State Bar
  | title = The Alabama lawyer: official organ State Bar of Alabama
  | publisher = The Bar
  | year = 1942
  | page = 261
  }}</ref> Dothan was the scene of a deadly altercation resulting from a dispute over a tax levied on wagons operating within city limits. Local farmers opposed the levy and united in a body called the "Farmers Alliance". The arrest of some of the alliance's men led to a riot that left two men dead and others seriously wounded.<ref>{{Cite news
 |last         = Cook
 |first        = Jim
 |title        = Landmark Park hosts Johnny Mack Brown Festival
 |work         = [[Dothan Eagle]]
 |date         = May 9, 2009
|url          = http://www2.dothaneagle.com/dea/news/local/article/landmark_park_hosts_johnny_mack_brown_festival/71837/
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090519233725/http://www.dothaneagle.com/dea/news/local/article/landmark_park_hosts_johnny_mack_brown_festival/71837
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-date = May 19, 2009
|access-date  = August 9, 2009
}}</ref> Chief of Police Tobe Domingus was found guilty of murder and sentenced to ten years in prison. Appeals to the [[Alabama Supreme Court]] resulted in a new trial,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Alabama Supreme Court |title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Alabama |pages=9–14 |year=1893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZqsKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA9 |access-date=December 13, 2013}}</ref> and Domingus was acquitted.<ref>{{cite conference
  | first = Tompkins
  | last = Oscar L.
  | author-link = Oscar Tompkins
  | title = Wiregrass Saga
  | date = July 1942
  | url = http://www.southern-style.com/Southeast%20Alabama%20Heritage%20Association/Oscar%20Tompkins%20Wire%20Grass%20Sagas.htm
  | access-date=August 9, 2009}}</ref>

===Expansion and growth===
{{anchor|National Peanut Festival}}
In 1893, Dothan secured a stop on the first railroad to be built in the region. This development brought new prosperity and growth, as local farmers had a means to market and transport their produce. The pine forests were harvested for [[turpentine]] and wood, which was transformed into ship masts, [[lumber]] and other wood products. As the pines were cut and land subsequently cleared, [[cotton]] was cultivated as a staple of the local economy. The crops were devastated by the [[boll weevil]] in the early 1900s.

Farmers turned to [[peanut]] production, which was successful and brought financial gain to the city. It became a hub for the production and transport of peanuts and peanut-related products.<ref name="central"/> Today, one-quarter of the U.S. peanut crop is harvested within {{convert|75|mi|km}} of Dothan.<ref name="central">{{cite web |url=http://gardencentral.org/alabama/nss-folder/namethisfolder/History_of_Dothan.pdf |title=Dothan History |publisher=gardencentral.org |access-date=April 26, 2009 }}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Dothan also became a hub for industrial development in the 20th century, with textile and agricultural concerns being joined by manufacturing plants for the [[Sony]], [[Michelin]], and [[General Electric]] corporations which began operating facilities in the city.

[[File:Dothan Alabama Downtown 01.jpg|thumb|Looking up Foster St. toward downtown Dothan]]

Dothan also sought out industrial development, with textile and agricultural concerns being joined by manufacturing plants for the Sony, Michelin, and General Electric corporations in the 20th century. The [[Southern Company]] constructed the [[Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station]] near the city between 1970 and 1981; this 1,776-megawatt facility currently generates approximately 13,000 GW-h per year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.world-nuclear.org/reactor/default.aspx/FARLEY-1 | title=FARLEY-1 - World Nuclear Association }}</ref> In 2010, Sony announced its closure of its Dothan plant. Pemco Aviation declared bankruptcy in March 2012 and in May that year announced the closing of its Dothan facility.

Originally part of [[Henry County, Alabama]], Dothan became the county seat of the newly formed Houston County on May 9, 1903. The city continued to flourish and grow throughout the twentieth century, with the [[Dothan Regional Airport]] being constructed in 1965 and [[Wallace Community College]] in 1969. [[Troy University]] established a Dothan campus in 1961 in the northwestern part of the city.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://dothan.troy.edu/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030021513/http://dothan.troy.edu/ | archive-date=October 30, 2011 | title=Troy University Dothan Campus }}</ref>

[[Porter Hardware]], the oldest hardware store in the state of Alabama, was located in Dothan from 1889 to 2014. In 2018 it reopened as a museum.<ref>{{cite news|title=Porter Hardware opens in Downtown Dothan as a museum |publisher=[[WTVY (TV)|WTVY]]|url=https://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Porter-Hardware-opens-in-Downtown-Dothan-as-a-museum--482407901.html|date=2018-05-11|author=Huffman, Dillon}}</ref>