Century, Florida / Alger Railroad
Century, Florida
Founded in 1900 to house mill employees of the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company, formed in 1900 by General Russell A. Alger - Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and President McKinley's Secretary of War - and by Martin H. Sullivan of Pensacola. Edward A. Hauss led the company from 1901 to 1957 and pioneered in reforestation to perpetuate timber resources. Century and Alger recall the names Colonel Frank Hecker, Henry Glover, George E. Glover, A.W. Ranney, John Millen, Colonel W.D. Mann, David Miller, Houston Jones, Larry Nelson, and Marion Leach.
Alger Railroad
This site is 300 yards west of former location of tracks of The Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company logging railroad which ran from Century to Alger-owned timber lands in Alabama. Ninety miles in length, the railroad hauled prime virgin longleaf logs for manufacture of lumber and export timbers at the Century mill, the largest in Florida. Logging crews lived in railroad camp cars on sidings. Oxen were used in the woods to skid logs to the railroad for loading.
Railroad discontinued operation in 1942.
Marker is on Century Blvd (U.S. 29) north of Hecker Rd, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
