Jasper Is A Jewel Being Polished In Alabama

By Chuck Chandler

There was a time when Jasper was home to some of America’s most famous people. The Bankheads, Carl Elliot, Tom Bevill and George “Goober” Lindsey all lived in this town of about 14,000 people amidst one of the world’s largest coalfields.

Those stars are all gone as Walker County’s seat of government is undergoing a revolution that has nothing to do with the black rock that first brought workers and entrepreneurs here nearly 200 years ago. It has everything to do with making downtown a diamond.

The sound of sledgehammers, dump trucks, backhoes, concrete mixers and other industrial equipment is constant around the county courthouse, city hall and law offices that occupy much of downtown. As Jasper spreads out toward the massive new six-lane Interstate Highway 22 that skirts the city and reaches Memphis, it also is enticing people back to the old sections of town.Rather than meeting at one of the familiar fast food joints, Jasperites are frequently heading downtown to Warehouse 3 Nineteen, Los Reyes or Black Rock Bistro, which was lauded by New York magazine as a must-see restaurant in Alabama, and the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association says has “Bama’s Best Burger.”

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