Boll Weevil Monument in Enterprise

Boll Weevil Monument, Enterprise, Alabama

The Boll Weevil Monument (intersection of College St. and Main St. right downtown) in Enterprise

The boll weevil monument (erected in 1919) is something almost everyone in Alabama has heard of. The boll weevil destroyed the cotton crop in and around the Wiregrass around the 1910-1915 period and made people realize there was more that they could farm than just cotton……so some of them decided to plant other crops (peanut farming is huge down here) and some others just left farming for good. To thank the boll weevil for making people realize there was more out there than just cotton, the people there erected this monument. At the bottom is a plaque that reads: “In profound appreciation to the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity.”

Even though this is the only monument of its kind (to a pest), the work of Dr. George Washington Carver was very important as he had done all sorts of research on other plants – namely the peanut – which was what so many of the farmers switched over to.

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