Magnolia Springs, Alabama
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Magnolia Springs is a town in south
Baldwin County, Alabama Baldwin County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama, on the Gulf coast. It is one of only two counties in Alabama that border the Gulf of Mexico, along with Mobile County. As of the 2020 census, the pop ...
, United States, in the
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area Baldwin County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama, on the Gulf coast. It is one of only two counties in Alabama that border the Gulf of Mexico, along with Mobile County. As of the 2020 census, the pop ...
. The town voted to incorporate in 2006.Magnolia Springs approves first salaries- al.com
/ref> As of the 2010 census it had a population of 723.


History

Magnolia Springs is located at the headwaters of the Magnolia River, which was originally called River de Lin, or River del Salto by local residents. Various boats and steamships brought travelers into the area.Welcome to the Magnolia Springs Bed & Breakfast located in Magnolia Springs Alabama
The largest enterprise in the area was
turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a special ...
distillation. These stills were burned by their owners in 1865 to prevent them from being captured when Union soldiers began amassing in the area.
One leaves "the Old Spanish Trail at the eastern head of the Cochrane Bridge, and drives south through
Fairhope Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The 2020 Census lists the population of the city as 22,477. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolita ...
along
Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The ...
. Ten or fifteen miles beyond is the pleasant little village of Magnolia Springs, and one is in the sandy Gulf Coast soil where these people have their farms and community life. They call themselves 'Creoles', and their white neighbors qualify the term by calling them ' xpletive deletedCreoles.' The question of Negro blood has long been a sensitive spot with the Creole population of Louisiana and other southern states, but in Baldwin County it means only one thing to the dominant white class: some degree of Negro extraction."Bond, Horace Mann. "Two Racial Islands in Alabama", ''The American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 36, No. 4., January 1931, pp. 552-567.
"A stop at a little crossroads store where the young Creole clerk volunteered more information led us still farther into the intricacies of life among the Magnolia Springs Creoles. The clerk was a small man whose complexion had a hint of reddish brown, and he was one of the few men in the community who bore a French family name. He claimed to be the great-grandson of an officer in
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
's Grande Armée. He had come to the Baldwin County community from across the bay. He gave as his reason the decay of the Creole community in Mobile County, and stated that this disintegration was almost complete."
Several structures in the town are on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
, including Moore's Grocery and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. In May 2006 residents voted 224–96 to approve incorporation. The election results were certified by Baldwin County Probate Judge Adrian Johns on June 29, 2006. Magnolia Springs recognizes this date as the town's anniversary.


Demographics


Post-incorporation

The town council initially served without salary, but voted in February 2008 to grant the incoming council members salaries of $100 per month. Initially, the ordinance would have provided salaries of $200 a month for the mayor and $100 for council members, but this was altered to comply with tax reporting laws. A previous measure to pay the mayor and council salaries of $50 a month failed to pass on a 3–3 vote. The council moved into new quarters in November 2007. The town contracts with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department for its law enforcement services. The town is considering annexing parcels within a three-mile radius that would eventually increase the population by 11,000 residents. Magnolia Springs is the only town in the United States to have a U.S. Postal Service water delivery route.


Natural resources

The Magnolia River is an important resource for the area's residents. As of 2007, activists were seeking to have it named as an Outstanding Alabama Water, which is the state's highest environmental protection status. "The river is, if you would, the lifeblood of the whole community," Mayor Charles Houser told the ''Press-Register'' in 2008. "Whether you're using it for recreation or for whatever else, the river and its health has an impact on the whole community." If it were approved, it would be the third river in the county to enjoy such protection. The town has declared itself a bird sanctuary. It is working toward renovating the park from which the town derived its name.Work to start at Springs'- al.com
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References


External links


Town of Magnolia Springs official website
{{authority control Towns in Alabama Towns in Baldwin County, Alabama French-American culture in Alabama