Wiregrass patent holders, such as TROY alumnus Travis Perry, right, reveal a tradition of modern-day innovation.
Part 1 of this series, covering 1855 through World War II, is available at https://today.troy.edu/news/it-came-from-the-archives-the-inventiveness-of-wiregrass-residents-is-recorded-in-the-u-s-patent-office/
From the end of World War II through 2024, an imperfect search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s online database identified 337 patents awarded to inventors from Alabama’s Wiregrass region.
The most famous American inventor before World War 2 was…
The inventiveness of Wiregrass residents are shown through official patents.
The Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition, SPARK! Places of Innovation, is touring Alabama in 2025-2026. Its recent visit to Dothan’s Landmark Park inspired this look at the inventiveness of Wiregrass residents as recorded by the US Patent Office.
Although the “basic search” function on the Patent Public Search website is ill-suited for geographical searches, I uncovered at least 370…
Georgia Congressman John Lewis waves at the National Action to Realize the Dream march and rally for the 50th Anniversary of the march on Washington.
John R. Lewis – recently deceased Congressman from Atlanta, Freedom Rider, leader of SNCC, speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, antagonist-then-ally of Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the 1965 Bloody Sunday march in Selma – was born near Dunn’s Chapel AME Church a few miles east of Troy in 1940. He was educated…
Dothan native Johnny Mack Brown starred on the Alabama football team before starring on the silver screen for MGM.
Dothan native Johnny Mack Brown is memorialized by a mural and historical marker on Dothan’s S. St. Andrews Street as well as by a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, but he is not well-remembered today. His career in the limelight as a football legend and movie star spanned from the 1920s into the 1960s.
Born…
