Dothan, Alabama

Dothan is a city located in extreme southeastern Alabama. It is the seat of Houston County, and portions of the city are located in Dale County and Henry County. The city's name derives from a town mentioned in a Bible verse, Genesis 37:17 - "For I heard them say, let us go to Dothan." As of the 2000 census, the city's population was 57,737.

History

Original inhabitants were the Alabama and Creek Native American tribes. The area's first English settlers called the community "Poplar Head."

Related Topics:
Alabama - Creek - Native American - English

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Hyman Blumberg settled in Dothan in 1892 and started a retail apparel business. He married his sweethart from Baltimore, Esther Blumberg, and together they had six sons and one daughter, all of whom were active in building the largest department store in southeast Alabama. It was the first store in Dothan to install a moving escalator; people would come from many miles away just to ride this new innovation. Blumberg's and Sons was the first full line department store in Dothan and drew customers from as far away as Georgia and Florida. The store was closed in 1975, but the Blumbergs remain a prominient family in Dothan.

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In 1902 Dothan resident W. M. Cooper released a revision of B. F. White's popular tune book, The Sacred Harp.

Related Topics:
1902 - W. M. Cooper - The Sacred Harp

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Dothan also took part in the 1939 New York World's Fair.

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Dothan is the birthplace of Johnny Mack Brown (1904-1974), an All-American college football player and successful film actor. Actors William Gray Espy (the original Snapper of long-running CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless), Brandy Brown, and Donna D'Errico were also born in Dothan. Singer Bobby Goldsboro, famous for his 1968 Top 40 #1 hit "Honey" as well as many other Top 40 releases of the late 1960s and early 1970s, grew up in Dothan and graduated from Dothan High School, though he was born in Marianna, Florida. Former Miss America Heather Whitestone also was born and raised in Dothan.

Related Topics:
Johnny Mack Brown - 1904 - 1974 - All-America - College football - Actor - William Gray Espy - Snapper - CBS - Soap opera - The Young and the Restless - Brandy Brown - Donna D'Errico - Bobby Goldsboro - 1968 - 1960s - 1970s - Marianna - Florida - Miss America - Heather Whitestone

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Another Dothan native is "The Wrestling Pro" Leon Baxter, who was a legendary professional wrestler who got his start in the 1960s wrestling all over the South as "Tarzan Baxter." He feuded with wrestling legend Danny Hodge and teamed with Juan Sebastian as The Masked Guachos, then hit it big in the Gulf Coast area as "The Wrestling Pro" in the 1970s. Baxter went on to have a short feud with legendary world heavyweight champion

Related Topics:
1960s - 1970s

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Lou Thesz and a rookie named Terry "The Hulk" Boulder, who later became known as Hulk Hogan.

Related Topics:
Lou Thesz - Hulk Hogan

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Published authors Justin Murphy and Charlotte Boyett-Compo are also from Dothan.

Related Topics:
Justin Murphy - Charlotte Boyett-Compo

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