Boll Weevil Monument

The Boll Weevil Monument is a monument, erected in 1919, the citizens of Enterprise, Alabama, to commemorate the boll weevil. It is the only monument that was erected an agricultural pest. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1973.

The boll weevil ( Anthonomus grandis, Eng. Boll Weevil ) was originally native to Mexico, but it showed up on 1915 in Alabama. Already in 1918 lost some cotton farmers their entire cotton crop of the insect. H. M. Sessions saw this agricultural disaster as a way to switch the field on the cultivation of peanuts. In 1916, he convinced the indebted farmer C. W. Baston, implement his proposal. The first harvest brought enough in order to pay the debts, and other farmers followed the changeover. It was later re- grown cotton, but farmers learned that diversification benefits brought. This practice brought new capital into the Coffee County.

The local businessman Bon Fleming brought the idea to build the monument, and participated in the financing. As a tribute to the fact that a disaster can have a catalytic effect for a change for the better, the monument was unveiled on 11 December 1919 at the middle of the junction of College and Main Street, in the heart of the financial center of the city. The original statue - a woman wearing a robe fluttering and arms stretched high above his head - was made ​​for 1,800 U.S. dollars in Italy, was added to the wells. It was not until thirty years later a representation of the boll weevil has been added, as Luther said Baker that a boll weevil monument should also have a boll weevil. He made the beetles figure and she added the monument. The monument has a total height of more than four meters.

The boll weevil figure and sometimes the entire monument was stolen several times over the years, but was rediscovered every time and repaired. On 11 July 1998, however, vandals tore the boll weevil figure from the hands of the statue and damaged by it permanently. The city administration planned to repair the original statue and put back on their base, but the measure proved to be too complicated and too expensive. A replica of plastic instead was erected and brought the original to the museum. A security camera monitors the monument to prevent future vandalism.