Alabama ALABAMA

Alabama

ALABAMA

Poarch Creek Reservation

Federal reservation Creek Escambia County, Alabama

Poarch Creek Indians Route 3, Box 243-A Atmore, AL 36504 (334) 368-9136 Fax: 368-1026

Total area Federal trust Total labor force High school graduate or higher

Total reservation population Tribal enrollment

229.51 acres 229.51 acres 32/923 27.6%

190 1,850

LOCATION AND LAND STATUS The Poarch Creek Reservation is in southwestern Alabama, 56 miles northeast of Mobile. It was established upon a 1984 BIA recommendation by the federal government in 1985, with 229.51 acres of federal trust land in Escambia County, Alabama. It also has land holdings in other counties in Alabama and Florida.

CULTURE AND HISTORY

The Poarch Creek Band is descended from Creek Indians who have lived in the locality since the 1700s. Many Creeks remained in their homeland in southwestern Alabama after the Creek Removal of 1836, some with their own land allotments. The town of Poarch served as a focal point for the Indian community, which remained cohesive and kept its identity through many decades without federal recognition and in spite of overt discrimination and segregation. From the 1940s through the 1970s, volunteer political action accomplished very broad legal and moral gains for the Poarch Creek Band, which have led to its present status as a federally recognized Indian tribe with a steadily building tribal economy. The reservation provides services to band members living in five counties in Alabama and Florida.

GOVERNMENT

The reservation is governed by a nine-member tribal council. A constitution and by-laws were adopted in 1985 pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The tribe is a member of the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET).

ECONOMY

Up until the mid?1970s the annual Thanksgiving Day Pow Wow was the tribe's principal source of revenue; there has been steadily increasing economic activity on the reservation since then. The tribe owns companies manufacturing specialty paints and stainless steel

Lauderdale 72

Limestone

Madison

Jackson

2

Florence 20

Colbert

Decatur

43

Franklin

Lawrence

Huntsville 565

Morgan Marshall

72 59

231

De Kalb

431

Marion

78

Winston

5

Cullman

31

Blount

Cherokee

Etowah Gadsden

Lamar

82

Pickens

65

Walker Fayette

Jefferson

Birmingham Bessemer

Tuscaloosa

59

St. Clair

20

Calhoun

Anniston

Cleburne

Talladega

Tuscaloosa

Shelby

Clay

Randolph

Greene

20

Hale

Sumter

80

Marengo

Bibb

Perry

Chilton

82

65

Autauga

Selma

Dallas

280

Coosa Tallapoosa

Chambers

Elmore

Auburn

Lee

85 Phenix City

MontgomeMraycon

Russell

Choctaw

43 84 Clarke

Washington

45 65

Mobile

Wilcox

Lowndes Montgomery

Bullock

82

65

231

Monroe

Pike Butler

Crenshaw

Barbour

431

331

84

Henry

Conecuh

31

Escambia

POARCH CREEK

Covington

84 Dale

Coffee

Dothan

Geneva

52

Houston

98

Mobile

10

Baldwin

plates and tags. There is also a tribally owned motel and restaurant. The bingo palace, opened in 1985, has significantly affected the tribe's economy; it became wholly owned by the tribe in 1990.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS In 1989 the tribe established by ordinance a Creek Indian Arts Council to further the development of arts and crafts and a museum and tourist attraction at Wetumpka, in Elmore County, Alabama. The tribe also is studying a quilting and sewing operation.

GAMING A tribal bingo hall was opened in 1985.

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Alabama

Poarch Creek

GOVERNMENT AS EMPLOYER By the early 1990s the tribe was employing approximately 350 persons.

Highway 21 six miles south of U.S. Interstate 80. Atmore, the principal town of the reservation, is at the junction of U.S. Highway 31 and State Highway 21.

SERVICES A bingo hall, motel and restaurant cater to tourists.

TOURISM AND RECREATION The annual Thanksgiving Day Pow Wow is recognized as one of the top tourist attractions in the Southeast.

INFRASTRUCTURE The reservation is located 56 miles northeast of Mobile on State

COMMUNITY FACILITIES

The tribe owns a tribal center, a senior center and a fire station. It has its own tribal police and court. Eighty housing units were completed by 1989. There is an Indian Health Service clinic on the reservation. The reservation provides services such as medical care to band members in a five-county "tribal service area" in Alabama and Florida.

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