Photo: Mayor Kenneth Nail chats with patrons at the C Street Café this summer.
HANCEVILLE – As the city of Cullman continues to grow, some of the surrounding municipalities within Cullman County are also seeing growth. One of the cities that is experiencing the most growth is Hanceville.
Wallace State Community College has anchored the southeast Cullman County community since 1966. The college is one of the largest colleges in the Alabama Community College System and serves more than 7,000 students each semester. The school, along with the influx of new shopping opportunities and jobs in Cullman and the surrounding area, has only bolstered the potential for the rise of a college-town atmosphere in Hanceville.
Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail feels like he is finally able to successfully promote Hanceville’s growth.
“When I took over eight years ago there was a lot of work to be done,” Nail said. “Things don’t happen overnight. I had to clean up Hanceville and clean up a lot of the mess that was made before I got here.”
Under Nail’s leadership, 23 dilapidated structures have been torn down and cleaned up in the past three years. These sort of obstructions have prevented the kind of growth that Nail envisions for Hanceville. But, now more than ever, he believes the town is ready for the next step.
“The biggest thing is to get people living in the upstairs of the buildings downtown,” Nail said. “If we have people living downtown, they will be spending their money downtown. That is important. We have to support the downtown area.”
Nail envisions a sidewalk connecting downtown Hanceville – the intersection of U.S. Highway 31 and Alabama Highway 91 – to what he calls “uptown Hanceville,” – which is where Wallace State and the surrounding retail shops are situated.
“The students and residents want and need a way to move between these two areas,” he said. “If we could ensure that they could safely walk, jog and ride their bikes between downtown and uptown, I think it would connect the town together and benefit everyone.”
Nail says he will always support new businesses and not let bureaucracy slow down the issuing of the necessary permits for restaurants and stores to open their doors. This summer, The C Street Café, Marcela’s Salon and Makeup and More all opened up downtown.
“One of the main things I have noticed while studying towns and cities around the country is that the most frustrating thing for businesses and the thing that stifles growth is having to wait around for weeks and months for permits,” he said. “We won’t waste time. We will do what needs to be done and look over everything, of course, but we won’t waste any time.”
Even though the growth of a town is objectively beneficial for multitudinous reasons, there are still some detractors, whom Nail said need to reevaluate their viewpoints.
“I’ll tell you what,” Nail said. “Those people who don’t want their town to grow, those who want to sit on their butts, just stay right there. Sit on your butts and don’t do anything. Don’t help your community grow, and your children and grandchildren will move away from you to find jobs.”
Also located in Hanceville is The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, informally known as OLAM Shrine. It is a prominent Roman Catholic Latin Rite shrine. Adjoining the Shrine is the cloistered Monastery of Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration. The Shrine is situated on a beautiful 400-acre site and has a religious center affiliated with the Eternal Word Television Network, EWTN, in Birmingham. Thousands of people visit the Shrine each year for special events and pilgrimages.
Keep up with the city of Hanceville on Facebook at http://qrne.ws/hanceville.
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