Rocket Scientist Set Stage For Alabama Success Story

The German contribution to Alabama’s economic development didn’t start with Daimler-Benz, an official with that state’s Development Office said Friday.

The maker of Mercedes autmobiles trailed by almost 50 years the maker of the Redstone, Saturn and other rockets that gave the U.S. the lead in the space race, said David Echols, who spoke to an Inland Northwest Partnership meeting at Eastern Washington University.

He said rocket scientist Werner Von Braun brought a vision with him to Huntsville that transformed the area from one with little industry into a high-tech and manufacturing mecca.

A recent survey that assesses regions by generation and retention of businesses ranked Huntsville - population 160,000 - No. 1 among small metropolitan areas, Echols noted. Montgomery and Mobile were also in the top ten, as was Tuscaloosa-Birmingham for larger metropolitan areas.

Alabama ranked fourth among the states.

Echols said Northern Alabama had little with which to promote itself in the 1940s besides climate and cheap labor. But with the coming of the U.S. military’s infant rocket-development effort, he said, defense contractors began to move in.

As the sophistication of the technology increased, so did the array of businesses that could provide the needed expertise.

Von Braun, Echols said, helped make sure the process continued by insisting Alabama provide the educational facilities that could generate engineers and technicians.

Meanwhile, established companies and their employees spun off more businesses.

Echols said development was nurtured by public and private officials who maintained continuity and stability. Huntsville’s mayor, for example, served for 28 years, and George Wallace was elected governor four times.

Echols said part of the secret of Northern Alabama’s success was the cooperation among communities in the area which could have squabbled over new development.

After attending a meeting of the partnership, a combine of Eastern Washington and North Idaho economic development groups, he said they appear to be working together well.

Ultimately, Echols said, “Industries don’t locate in states or regions; they locate in communities.”

, DataTimes