James Houston Jones Historic Park

n the museums, you'll find a random collection of bits and pieces of the town's past. There are photos of prominent people, of logging and sawmill scenes, a roster of long-term employees of the mill and drawings of the original mill layout. Odd pieces of memorabilia range from tie clips to cannonballs. There isn't enough room here to explain every item, but feel free to ask your guide if something sparks your interest.

Alger Sullivan Historical Society

n the mid-to-late 1800s, and even all the way into the mid 1900s, the pine forests of South Alabama were prime sources of lumber for the booming economy of the United States and much of the rest of the world. Lumber producing mills seemed to spring up all over. Two of the larger mills in South Alabama were the W.T. Smith mill, in Chapman, Alabama, now defunct, and the T.R. Miller mill in Brewton, Alabama, still in operation.

The Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company, located in Century, was built at the turn of the twentieth century (hence the town’s name) by Yankee (northern) speculators General R.A. Alger of Detroit and Martin Sullivan, residing in Pensacola, but originally from New York State.

Sullivan and his brother had bought up large tracts of timber during the previous decades and after a small mill at Foshee, near Brewton, Escambia County, Ala., proved profitable, this larger mill just across the state line in Florida was built.

The original notion was that the timber would only last about ten years or so. But the mill's manager, E.A. Hauss, also from Detroit, planned for and allowed creative cutting and replanting in the forests, thus the mill in Century ran for almost 50 additional years! It produced more southern pine board feet per year than any other mill in the south. The mill has now been closed for many years.

Town of Century