Salem is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

east-centrally located in Lee County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States. It lies along U.S. Routes 280 and 431 between

Opelika Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...

and

Phenix City Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 38,817. Phenix City lies immediately west across the Chattahoochee R ...

. It is part of the Auburn Metropolitan Area.

History

Salem was first settled in 1835, and grew rapidly for the next two decades. Salem incorporated in 1846 and quickly became one of the area's largest cities. However, a fire which engulfed the town in 1854 and the subsequent

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

resulted in the collapse of the town's government, and rapid depopulation. Salem lost a bid to be the county seat of the newly formed Lee County in 1865, and then saw its charter become inactive in the following decades. Today, Salem is a small

of a few hundred. By the late 20th century Salem was the location of Lee County's only covered bridge, the Salem-Shotwell Covered Bridge. A symbol of the area, the bridge was destroyed by a fallen tree following a storm in 2005. It was rebuilt in 2007 at Opelika Municipal Park in nearby Opelika. A post office operating under the name Salem was first opened in 1839.

Tornado of 2009

On February 28, 2009, at about 8:30 a.m., an

EF2 Elongation factors are a set of proteins that function at the ribosome, during protein synthesis, to facilitate translational elongation from the formation of the first to the last peptide bond of a growing polypeptide. Most common elongation ...

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

touched down in Salem, destroying Salem Chapel AME church, several homes and part of Wacoochee Junior High School. It also destroyed the Anglican Church of the Resurrection, ACA Mission in the middle of downtown Salem. The church was completed in 2008 in the building that most people knew as the old McLain Museum. This building had been used for several other businesses over many years. The tornado ran east-northeast across part of U.S. Highway 280, which runs through the small community, before lifting up two miles to the east. There were no fatalities and no major injuries reported.

Gallery

File:SalemShotwellBridge2003.jpg, The Salem-Shotwell Covered Bridge in Salem,

as it appeared in 2003 File:2021-03-08_Salem,_AL_-_Moffit's_Mill_on_Uchee_Creek.jpg, The falls at Moffit's Mill on Uchee Creek near Salem File:Dr. Andrew McLain Office & Drug Store Salem Alabama.jpg, Dr. Andrew McLain's Office & Drug Store, destroyed by a tornado in 2009, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Notable People

* Lil Cory, Rapper

Notes

References

*Nunn, Alexander (Ed.) (1983). ''Lee County and Her Forebears''. Montgomery, Ala., Herff Jones. LCCCN 83-081693

External links

Salem-Shotwell Covered Bridge Photos
{{Short description, Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States Unincorporated communities in Alabama Unincorporated communities in Lee County, Alabama Populated places established in 1835 Columbus metropolitan area, Georgia