There was a time, not long ago, when the textile industry was king of the South.And Talladega County and much of St. Clair County were no exception. With companies like Avondale, Russell Mills and Wehadkee yarn mills, these businesses were the lifeblood of our economies and, to a large degree, our communities.
But times change, and those days are gone — probably forever. With cheap labor and little regulation in developing countries south of the border and overseas, and bad foreign trade policies coming out of Washington, D.C., the norm these days, textile-manufacturing operations that want to stay competitive have had to relocate outside the country. Most of those that have not done that have closed their doors.
Most people expected the end of the textile era in the South to be a death sentence for many of our cities and towns — generally, that’s what happened to communities up north when they have lost auto industries or other heavy manufacturing operations.
Instead, though, the opposite is true — places like Sylacauga and Pell City, where Avondale was a centerpiece of their cities, have not only survived, but continued to grow and thrive.
In fact, according to local economic officials, our unemployment rates are actually better today than they were before.
While we are in no way saying that the loss of these long-time businesses is a good thing for our counties, we strongly believe that our communities’ response to the closings has been exactly that.
As the mills ended decades — sometimes more than a century — of business here, our local governments, chambers of commerce, industrial recruiters and individuals banded together in a spirit of cooperation to find solutions.
Those efforts range from working hard to attract new industries like Honda, Nemak, Nippon Oil and others from around the globe to places like Sylacauga, Pell City and Lincoln to holding job fairs and arranging training and financial assistance for displaced workers.
And the work has paid off more than we ever could have hoped.
Most of the workers have found new jobs, and we continue to see healthy, sustainable industrial and business growth across the region. Following on the heels of these new industries and the jobs they have created are a host of retailers, such as Home Depot and other consumer-oriented businesses — which means more services and more jobs.
What could have spelled disaster for our towns, because of the hard work and dedication of so many people here has actually turned into one of the state’s biggest success stories.
We applaud everyone, from the employees whose work ethic has been such a big attraction for new businesses to local government and industrial recruiters who helped bring the new jobs here in the first place.
Thanks to that spirit of cooperation, the future looks bright for Talladega and St. Clair counties.
