Alabama Bicentennial Park
The Alabama Bicentennial Park was created to honor the Alabama Bicentennial and was unveiled at noon on December 14, 2019 during the finale of the bicentennial celebration in Montgomery. The park is located at 600 Dexter Avenue and includes 16 bronze relief sculptured panels depicting the state's history and prehistory. There are eight panels on each side of Dexter Avenue that are displayed in a semicircle in front of the Capitol, atop stands made of Alabama granite.
The panels tell the story of Alabama's history through vignettes from various time periods and locales around the state. One image is of slaves being unloaded from a steam ship in an antebellum Monroe County. Another shows an iron pour at Sloss Furnaces in 1882. Others highlight agricultural and industrialization advances.
The sculptures were created by Caleb O'Conner, of O'Conner Arts Studio in Tuscaloosa. Jonathan Cumberland, an assistant professor of art at the University of Alabama, did the graphic design work on the text panels. They were fabricated by Craig Wedderspon of the University of Alabama. The text was written by Jonathan Cumberland and Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood served as landscape architects. Burton Mac was the contractor for the project.
Sculptured Panels
- Ancient Sea; Basilosauras cetoides, 34 million years ago, Choctaw County
- Native American Society; Alabama's First People – Moundville, ca. 1100-1200, Hale County
- Creek War; Resistance and War – Battle of Horseshoe Bend, 1814, Tallapoosa County
- Path to Statehood; Alabama Territory – Huntsville Citizens Read New Constitution, 1818, Huntsville
- Cotton State; Steamboat Landing, 1840s, Claiborne, Alabama River
- Civil War; Secession & Confederacy – Battle of Mobile Bay, 1864
- Reconstruction; Colored Citizens of Florence, 1867, Florence
- Industrialization; Sloss Furnaces, 1882, Birmingham
- 1901 Constitutional Convention; Populism – 1901 Constitutional Convention, Montgomery
- Agricultural Economy; Rural Life – First peanut crop at C. W. Baston's farm, 1916, Enterprise
- Electrification; Great Depression & New Deal – TVA/Electrification, 1939, Guntersville area
- World War II; Defense Economy – USS Tule Canyon Launched, 1944, ADDSCO Shipyards, Mobile
- Civil Rights Movement; Segregation – Bloody Sunday, 1965, Selma
- Space Race; Made in Alabama – Saturn V Rocket test, 1965, Huntsville
- 21st Century Economy; Globalization – Robotics, Mercedes-Benz, 1997, Vance
- Alabama's Third Century; International Space Station – Alabama Voices
References
- Cason, Mike (November 28, 2019) "Alabama Bicentennial commemoration nears grand finale" AL.com
- Washington, Dennis (December 16, 2019) "New bicentennial park kicks off Alabama’s third century" Alabama News Center
- Cason, Mike (December 31, 2019) "Walk through 200 years of Alabama history at Bicentennial Park" AL.com