Opelika is a city located in Lee County in east central Alabama. It is the county seat of Lee County. As of the 2005, the estimated population of the city is 24,671.
Opelika is located in north-central Lee County, Alabama, and is bordered by Auburn, Alabama to the northwest, southwest, and west. Opelika lies in the southern reaches of the Piedmont Plateau, and straddles the divide between the Tallapoosa and the Chattahoochee river watersheds. Opelika has an elevation of 812 feet.
Opelika is located at 32°38'50" North, 85°23'22" West (32.647183, -85.389404).
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 138.4 km2 (53.4 mi2). 136.7 km2 (52.8 mi2) of it is land and 1.7 km2 (0.7 mi2) of it is water. The total area is 1.24% water.
As of the census of 2000, there are 23,498 people, 9,200 households, and 6,357 families residing in the city. The population density is 171.9/km2 (445.3/mi2). There are 10,281 housing units at an average density of 75.2/km2 (194.8/mi2). The racial makeup of the city is 55.03% White, 42.89% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.93% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 0.68% from two or more races. 1.07% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 9,200 households out of which 34.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% are married couples living together, 20.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% are non-families. 26.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.3% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.49 and the average family size is 3.02.
In the city the population is spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 81.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $33,397, and the median income for a family is $43,200. Males have a median income of $31,237 versus $21,819 for females. The per capita income for the city is $18,023. 17.8% of the population and 14.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 26.2% of those under the age of 18 and 14.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Opelika's hard industrial past is still evident in the continued existance of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company, which employs 1,400, and textile maker WestPoint International, which employs 750. The Wal-Mart Distribution Center is undergoing additional growth to over 900 employees. The expansion of additional industries as well as the employment opportunities through the new companies, Jo-Ann Stores, Maxforma Plastics and Gambro Renal Products will add an addtional 750 jobs to Opelika. On the commercial and retail front, TigerTown, the latest Opelika retail development has recently completed Phase III and is already at work on Phase IV bringing more commercial opportunity to the citizens of Opelika. Residentially, Opelika is realizing a boom in new home construction with the addition of new home developments throughout the city. Opelika is at an all time high for building permit fees which gives an accurate reflection of the continued growth and development Opelika is currently enjoying.
The first white settlers in the area now known as Opelika arrived in the late 1830s after the removal of native peoples by force in 1836-37. The name "Opelika" was taken from a Creek village south of the current downtown, and in Muskogee means "large swamp". It is unclear why this name was chosen, since Opelika is at a relatively high elevation and the local terrain is not swampy. Settlement was sporadic until the late 1840s, when Opelika quickly became a commercial center with the coming of the railroad.
In 1848, the Montgomery & West Point Railroad Company extended a rail line from Montgomery, Alabama to Opelika, and in 1851 completed a connection to West Point, Georgia, thus connecting Opelika with Atlanta, Georgia. This line was the only direct rail route between New Orleans and the Eastern Seaboard, and rapidly became one of the primary trade lines for shipments of raw cotton from Southern plantations to the North. The Montgomery & West Point was soon joined by a rail connection to Columbus, Georgia in 1855, and a connection to Birmingham, Alabama in 1869. Almost overnight, Opelika became a regional hub for commerce.
To manage this rapid growth, Opelika was incorporated as a town on February 9, 1854. As a result of Opelika's transportation infrastructure, many warehouses for storing cotton and other goods were built. With the onset of the Civil War these warehouses were converted to Confederate supply depots. In 1864 and 1865, Union raids commanded by Lovell Rousseau and James H Wilson attacked Opelika, tearing up the railroads and destroying all government property, including Opelika's warehouses.
Soon after the end of the war, the Alabama state legislature created a new county out of parts of Macon, Russell, Chambers, and Tallapoosa counties to be named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee. In 1866, citizens of the new "Lee County" voted Opelika as the county seat, despite the fact that Opelika was technically unincorporated after having its charter revoked for abetting the rebellion against the United States.
After Opelika received a new charter in 1870, rapid growth resumed. The town nearly doubled in size between 1870 and 1900. During this time, Opelika began to gain its reputation as a wild, lawless town. Soon after receiving the new charter, city officials attempted to scam outside investors by issuing fake railroad bonds. For this, the town's charter was revoked again in 1872, and the town was administered as a police district by the state legislature for the following year. Opelika's downtown was packed with saloons, and frequent gunfire in the streets led to railroads ordering passengers passing through Opelika to duck beneath the windows to avoid being shot.
In 1882, voters dismissed the incumbent city government. Unwilling to give up power, the city council nullified the election until the courts ruled against them. When the state yet again revoked Opelika's charter, the city leaders took up arms against those that opposed them, and the governor was forced to send in the militia to restore order. Opelika remained under unelected military rule for the sixteen years until 1899, when Opelika's charter was again restored.
In 1900, local investors founded the Opelika Cotton Mill as the first textile plant in the city, employing 125. Attempts to expand the textile industry in Opelika continued for the next three decades, and in 1925 city officials were able to use a $62,500 bribe to induce the executives of the Pepperell Manufacturing Co. (now WestPoint International) to construct a large mill just outside of the Opelika city limits. The period between 1930 and 1970 would turn out to be Opelika's heyday, as industrial growth turned Opelika into a regional economic powerhouse.
Opelika continued to add factories and other industry throughout the middle years of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, Opelika attracted the nation's first and largest magnetic tape manufacturing plant. In 1963, tire manufacturer Uniroyal constructed a massive plant in Opelika, and around the same time Diversified Products revolutionized the physical fitness equipment industry with products produced their Opelika plant. By the early 1970s, Opelika's industries employed nearly 10,000.
Changes in the national and local economy in the 1970s, though, Opelika, like many Alabama communities saw a period of decline. Developments in the last 10 years have helped Opelika rebound and see the economic forecast trend on the upswing.
In the late 1990's the Opelika Industrial Development Authority purchased land to form the North East Opelika Industrial Park. The first tenant in the park was a Wal-Mart Distribution Center with over 700 employees and average wages well above minimum wage. This nationally recognized industrial park is consistently touted by site selection consultants and trade magazines as one of the premier industrial sites in the Southeast due to the availability of 1,900 acres along Interstate I-85 easily accessed by two existing Interstate Exits. Following Wal-Mart, world class companies such as Benteler Automotive, Mando America, Jo-Ann Stores (Distribution Center) and Maxforma Plastics after extensive searches have chosen to locate in Opelika. The North East Opelika Industrial Park is not the only location in Opelika that has attracted economic success. The Fox Run Industrial Park has seen the location of AFNI, a national call center and was selected in 2005 by the Swedish Company, Gambro Renal Products, to be the location of their first US Manufacturing Facility. Gambro will invest more than $110 Million to build this high tech facility. Opelika's Industrial Economy continues to boom with the new companies that have chosen to build and locate as well as existing industries undergoing additional expansions.
Source:
OpelikaAlabama.com
HOTELS • REAL ESTATE • JOBS