Editing Enterprise, Alabama (section)

==History==
===Founding and the Boll Weevil Monument===
{{Main|Boll Weevil Monument}}
The founder of Enterprise, John Henry Carmichael, first settled there in 1881. Carmichael opened a store, which attracted more settlers to the area, and by the next year, a post office was relocated from the settlement of Drake Eye to the north to Enterprise. In 1896, with 250 people having settled there, the city of Enterprise incorporated. Soon afterward, the [[Alabama Midland Railway]] came to Enterprise, bringing with it opportunities for commerce and growth. By 1906, its population had grown to 3,750.<ref name=history>[http://www.cityofenterprise.net/Default.asp?ID=91&pg=History+of+Enterprise "History of Enterprise".]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703132905/http://www.cityofenterprise.net/Default.asp?ID=91&pg=History+of+Enterprise |date=July 3, 2013 }} [http://www.cityofenterprise.net City of Enterprise] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070306031542/http://www.cityofenterprise.net/ |date=March 6, 2007 }} Retrieved February 6, 2010.</ref>

[[File:Boll Weevil Monument Alabama Historical Marker.JPG|thumb|left|Historical marker and [[Boll Weevil Monument]] in Downtown Enterprise]]
Enterprise's way of life came under threat in 1915. An infestation of [[boll weevil]]s found its way into the region's cotton crops, resulting in the destruction of most of the cotton in Coffee County. Facing economic ruin, the nearly bankrupt area farmers were forced to diversify, planting peanuts and other crops in an effort to lessen the damage and recoup some of their losses.<ref name=history/>

[[File:EnterpriseDepot with AlabamaHistoricaMarker.jpg|thumb|left|Downtown Enterprise's former [[Alabama Midland Railway]] depot, now the Depot Museum]]
Two years later, Coffee County was the United States' leading producer of peanuts. Not only did Enterprise stave off disaster, but its economy was renewed by the thriving new crop base. In appreciation, the people of Enterprise erected a monument in the city center to what the monument calls their "herald of prosperity", the boll weevil.<ref>{{cite book |title=Thinking Places: Where Great Ideas Were Born |last=Fleming |first=Jack |author2=Fleming, Carolyn |year=2007 |publisher=Trafford Publishing |isbn= 978-1-4251-2585-1|pages=275–276 }}</ref> The [[Boll Weevil Monument]] was dedicated on December 11, 1919, as a reminder of how the city adjusted in the face of adversity. It is the only monument to an agricultural pest in the world.<ref name=history/>

===March 2007 tornado===
{{See also|Tornado outbreak of February 28 – March 2, 2007}}
[[File:Enterprise-high-school.jpg|thumb|left|Newly constructed [[Enterprise High School (Alabama)|Enterprise High School]] after the tornado]]
In the early afternoon of March 1, 2007, Enterprise was struck by a violent [[Enhanced Fujita Scale|EF4]] tornado.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tae/?n=event-20070301|title=Tornado Outbreak of March 1–2, 2007|publisher=National Weather Service|access-date=December 7, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201071158/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tae/?n=event-20070301|archive-date=December 1, 2011}}</ref> The tornado caused nine deaths and injured over 121 others. Damage in Enterprise was estimated at nearly $307 million, the worst disaster in the city's history.

The most severe damage occurred at [[Enterprise High School (Alabama)|Enterprise High School]], where eight students died after a hallway was destroyed and the wall collapsed on them. The students were Michael Bowen (16), Andrew (AJ) Jackson (16), Ryan Mohler (16), Peter Dunn lll (16), Michael (Mikey) Tompkins (17), Jamie Vidensek (17), Michelle Wilson (16) and Kathryn Strunk (16). Enterprise resident Edna Strickland was killed in her home near the high school, the ninth fatality from the tornado. A quarter mile-wide swath through the downtown area was devastated, with at least 370 houses damaged or destroyed. The [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] was called into the city; a dusk-to-dawn curfew was implemented immediately after the disaster. [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] arrived the morning of March 3 and immediately declared Coffee County a disaster area. An [[AmeriCorps]] team was sent to the city to help organize and participate in disaster relief.

After the tornado, Enterprise High School students attended classes at the local community college, where trailers were used as temporary additional classrooms. The high school was rebuilt on a new site on the west end of Boll Weevil Circle and opened on August 23, 2010, at a cost of over $80 million. The new high school has structurally reinforced safe rooms and areas to shelter during severe weather and is rated to withstand winds from an EF5 tornado.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.eprisenow.com/news/2010/aug/22/we-are-enterprise-ar-730114/|title=Enterprise Ledger|first=Dothan|last=Eagle|website=Dothan Eagle|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831080508/http://www2.eprisenow.com/news/2010/aug/22/we-are-enterprise-ar-730114/|archive-date=August 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.eprisenow.com/news/2010/aug/22/new-ehs-streets-named-ar-730111/|title=Enterprise Ledger|first=Dothan|last=Eagle|website=Dothan Eagle|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825141704/http://www2.eprisenow.com/news/2010/aug/22/new-ehs-streets-named-ar-730111/|archive-date=August 25, 2010}}</ref>