Lockhart, Alabama

Lockhart is a town in Covington County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 516.GeographyLockhart is located in southern Covington County at, 1mi north of the Florida state line. Lockhart is bordered by the town of Florala to the east.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.9km2, of which 2.8km2 is land and 0.1km2, or 3.53%, is water.HistoryLockhart came into being about 1904 when the Jackson Lumber Company mill was constructed there, the community being a company town. Many streets were named for Native American tribes. The mill was erected to handle the dense forests of yellow pine in what was known as the "Jackson Tract". The town was named for Standard Oil magnate and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania financier, Charles Lockhart. In 1912, the mill employed around a thousand workers and ran 24/7. At that time Lockhart was the largest lumber mill in the United States. Flooring for the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City came from Lockhart.In 1903 the mill was the center of a peonage scandal. More than a hundred immigrant laborers recruited in cities in the North were held against their will in a walled compound on the site. Company officials were sentenced to as much as eighteen months in jail when convicted but were able to have their sentences reduced by political friends.