A Monument to a Pest
Have you ever heard of someone saying “thank you” to a bug? In 1919, the people of Enterprise, in Coffee County, Alabama, built a monument to thank a bug called the boll weevil.
During the late 1800s, much of the southern United States was farmland. The main crop grown there was cotton. In 1892, trouble began when the cotton-boll weevil came from Mexico into the state of Texas. These bugs were not welcome because they eat the seeds and buds of cotton plants.
For the next twenty years the boll weevil kept moving east until many cotton crops from Texas to Georgia were destroyed. Farmers called the boll weevil “the meanest bug in America.” Without cotton to sell, farmers could not earn money to make a living.
Boll
weevils first came to Coffee County in 1914. After only
one year, large numbers of them had eaten most of the cotton.
In 1916, a farmer named C.W. Baston decided to plant peanuts instead of cotton. He was able to sell the peanuts for more money than he would have received for a crop of cotton before the boll weevils came.
The next year more farmers planted peanuts instead of cotton. R.C. Conners, the owner of the Enterprise Cotton Seed Oil Company, decided to start making peanut oil. He promised to buy peanuts from the farmers in Coffee County.
The farmers were happy that selling peanuts helped them earn enough money to support their families. Their lives had improved since their cotton-growing days. The boll weevils that they had thought of as the “meanest bugs” caused them to change their lives for the better. The farmers learned that trouble can sometimes bring about good changes.
In December of 1919, the people of Enterprise built the Boll Weevil Monument. They wanted to thank this bug for making life better in Coffee County. Many travelers have come to see this unusual sight—a monument to honor a pest.
