Originally part of the Mississippi Territory purchased from Spain in 1795, the area of Monroeville remained inhabited and controlled by Indian Nations until 1814. After settlers began migrating down the Old Federal Road and westward across the Old Stage Road through Monroeville to Claiborne, and others arrived from Mobile on the Alabama River, the community was known successively as The Crossroads, Walker's Mill and Store, and Centerville until the county seat moved from Claiborne in 1832. Its founding can be traced to Monroe County's purchase of 80 acres in July 1831, including the original three-acre public square. Early economic survival depended on more than 400 small farms across the county, and a turning point came with the opening of the First National Bank in 1904. Industry began with Vanity Fair Mills opening its first sewing plant on Alabama Avenue in 1937, employing 300 people, mostly women, and the plant later became known as the Southern Corporate Headquarters and employed 2,500 at its peak in 1995. Vanity Fair contributed significantly to local infrastructure, including Whitey Lee Park, its five-acre lake, and the Monroeville Community House, and other industries followed, including the Alabama River Company established at Claiborne in 1978. Monroeville also became known for its literary heritage as the home of Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, set in the 1930s town of Maycomb, Alabama, and of her childhood playmate Truman Capote; in 1991 the Monroe County Heritage Museum began its annual spring production of To Kill A Mockingbird, and in 1997 Monroeville was officially designated The Literary Capital of Alabama.