Editing Alapaha, Georgia (section)

===20th century to present===
[[File:Alapaha, Georgia (circa 1910).jpg|thumb|right|Street scene in Alapaha, circa 1910]]
The 1907 roster of the Georgia Medical Association lists two physicians from Alapaha, W.A. Moore and G.A. Paulk.<ref>Georgia Medical Association, ''Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Medical Association'', p. 479.</ref>

Alapaha was the site of a famous [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]] train wreck on March 26, 1911, when the [[Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad|Dixie Flyer]] derailed on a high trestle across the Alapaha River, killing ten and injuring many, including wealthy Northern socialites who were traveling to the coast.<ref>"10 Dead in Dixie Flyer Wreck," ''New York Times'', March 27, 1911</ref>

On December 30, 1914, a patent application for a "portable shower-bath" with a detailed diagram was submitted by inventor Robert Alex Rutland of Alapaha, and witnessed by E.F. Tiller and W.M. Gaskins, local entrepreneurs. The patent was granted by the [[U.S. Patent Office]] on July 20, 1915.<ref>"Portable Shower-Bath," U.S. Patent Office, #1,147,648, July 20, 1915.</ref>

On July 4, 1918,  the ''Alapaha'', a wooden paddle-wheeler Ferris-type cargo ship whose dead-weight tonnage was 3,500, registered in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania, was christened and launched.<ref>"List of 94 Steel and Wooden Ships That Will Be Launched in America Today," ''New York Times'', July 4, 1918, p. 11</ref> The ship routinely transported cargo such as coal between Philadelphia and the French cities of Rouen and Le Havre.<ref>New York Tribune, August 7, 1918, p. 5; Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, June 24, 1918.</ref> The vessel was featured in a ''New York Tribune'' headline "Freighter in Distress," reported to be off the Atlantic Coast, "heavy seas breaking over her deck, her steam pipes were broken; her seams had opened up and several feet of water were in her hold."<ref>"Freighter in Distress," ''New York Tribune'', April 1, 1919, p. 9</ref> The freighter survived, only to meet with delays during the marine workers' union strikes of 1919.<ref>''Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger'', July 10, 1919.</ref>

Alapaha lost four men (of 25 total from [[Berrien County, Georgia|Berrien County]]) in the infamous ''Otranto'' troopship disaster off the coast of Scotland, eight weeks before the Armistice ended World War I.  Their names and hometowns were published among 200 dead in the ''New York Times'' coverage. They were James Malcolm McMillan, Arthur Harper, William Hayes, and B.F. McCranie.<ref>"Identifies 200 Men Lost on the Otranto,"  ''New York Times'', October 28, 1918.</ref>

[[File:Alapaha Colored School, Alapaha, GA, US.jpg|thumb|The Alapaha Colored School, on the National Register of Historic Places]]
The [[Alapaha Colored School]], one of the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Berrien County, Georgia|historic place listings in Berrien County]], was the only school for African American children in the northern part of the county for three decades, starting in 1924.<ref name="nge">{{cite encyclopedia| title= Berrien County | url= http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2295 | encyclopedia= [[New Georgia Encyclopedia]] | publisher= Georgia Humanities Council | accessdate=November 24, 2011}}</ref>  Atypical for rural Georgia, it had four classrooms and two stories, accommodating boys and girls in eleven grades; it closed in 1954 when Berrien County's African American schools were consolidated in [[Nashville, Georgia|Nashville]].<ref name="nge"/>

A tornado on May 11, 1952, led to national headlines. The business area of the town was decimated and the water tower was smashed. The Red Cross set up field operations, bringing in a director from [[Moody Air Force Base]] and a mobile kitchen from [[Fort Benning]].<ref>"Twisters Return, Killing 4 in South," ''New York Times'', May 12, 1952, p. 14.</ref>

In 1963, the [[U.S. Department of Labor]] won a lawsuit, ''Wirtz v. Alapaha Yellow Pine Products'', Inc., against a locally owned sawmill. At issue were [[Fair Labor Standards Act]] violations concerning overtime pay. The case became a minor landmark in labor litigation history; the case is frequently cited as a precedent for denying defendants in similar suits to have their cases heard by a jury.<ref>Wirtz v. Alapaha Yellow Pine Products, Inc.  217 F.Supp. 465 (1963).</ref>

On October 3, 1966, Army Master Sgt. James Emory Jones of Alapaha, one of the first members of the elite [[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group]] (MAC-SOG), a black-operations unit of the [[Vietnam War]], was killed in a secret attempt to wire-tap North Vietnamese communications lines in [[Laos]].  The existence of this secret unit was concealed for many years, as well as its operations outside borders of Vietnam. Jones's entire three-man commando unit was lost; evidence suggests that the unit requested U.S. bombers fire upon its coordinates when they knew they could not escape ambush.<ref>John L. Plaster, ''The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam''.  New York:  Simon & Schuster, 1997, p.56-57.</ref> Jones's fate and place of death were kept secret for many years, and he was listed as "missing in action" for over two decades.

The 1996 novel ''The Wonder Book of the Air'' ({{ISBN|067943982X}}) by [[Cynthia Shearer]] is set in Alapaha and includes much of the town's history.<ref>''New York Times Book Review'', March 12, 1996</ref>

Just outside the town is the site where the famous "[[Hogzilla]]," a "wild" hog weighing in at about {{convert|800|lb}}, was shot on June 17, 2004, on a commercial hunting farm. The carcass of the hog was exhumed for a [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] special.<ref>''New York Times'', May 8, 2005.</ref>