ATTALLA, Alabama --Attalla's downtown historic district has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The register is an official listing of buildings worthy of preservation for their historical importance. The district was added in December.
The downtown area includes 43 different buildings which were built between 1885 and 1963. That includes a post office, a garage, four warehouses, a theater, several commercial buildings and the highway underpass at the south end of town.
Attalla was founded in 1870 along the recently-completed Alabama Chattanooga Railroad. The town grew once iron ore was discovered nearby, and a hydroelectric dam was built along Big Wills Creek in 1913 by Capt. W.P. Lay, the founder of the Alabama Power Co.
The city also had the first street light in the United States run on hydroelectric power.