Dollars and Diversity
I am asked quite often why Enterprise is growing and prospering at such a rapid rate. My response always begins with Ft. Rucker.
A recent economic study found that Enterprise, once solely a farming community, now has 5 equal spokes in its economic wheel, adding business, industry, service jobs, and the military to agriculture & agribusiness. Much of the added growth in business, industry, and the service sector can be credited to the presence of a vital military base as our neighbor.
Ft. Rucker has given us so much more than a strong spoke in our economic wheel. It has become an integral part of who we are.
As a native of Enterprise, and a Baby Boomer, I cannot remember an Enterprise without Ft. Rucker. Like so many others, the base provided an opportunity for my father to find work and support his growing family. One of his first jobs was as a carpenter employed to help construct wood-frame barracks on the rapidly growing Camp Rucker. After World War II, he secured a civil service job that he kept until retirement.
Ft. Rucker has not only improved the quality of life of our area, it has improved the quality of our community. So many military families have come through her gates and into our community that several generations now call Enterprise home. They have brought with them a diversity of culture and ethnicity that has remade a small agricultural town like so many others, into a multi-faceted, multi-cultural community.
Just this week, the city was recognized by the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials with its NBC LEO Cultural Diversity Award. This is not the first time our city has been honored for its active efforts to welcome and celebrate the many cultures that have been drawn to Enterprise by Ft. Rucker.
So many military families stationed at Ft. Rucker have chosen to make Enterprise their home because of our fine school system. In just the last 10 years, the student population of our school system has increased 24%. That means our school population is outgrowing our general population, which itself has grown almost 20% in the last decade, making Enterprise one of the fastest growing cities in the area and the state.
We used to think of Ft. Rucker as a neighboring community. We now consider it and its people part of our community.
April 5, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Great piece. This is the 3rd time since my return on 3/7 that I’ve heard folks expressing gratitude for Fort Rucker and all that it brings to the area.
This is also the 2nd time in your recent posting, I think, that you’ve mentioned this young population growth. That strikes me as interesting given the uber-focus on the community of retirees here. Curious. Will the focus then begin to change or expand now?