On this site, inventor and early aviation pioneer William Lafayette Quick and his sons designed and built the first airplane to be flown in the State of Alabama. Construction began in 1900, and while awaiting an engine it took nearly eight years to complete. Quick’s Flying Machine was among the first monoplanes flown in the United States when it went airborne on its first and only flight in April 1908 in a pasture one-half mile northwest of here across the Flint River. Quick’s mid-wing monoplane was made of wood harvested on the homeplace and cut in his sawmill and of metal forged in his blacksmith shop. Its design included an upright pilot position, a fuselage-mounted engine, a direct-drive propeller, three-wheel landing gear, and a steerable tail wheel. On its only flight it sustained damage to its right wing and gear upon landing. Quick then designed an Improved Flying Machine, patented in 1912, with features including retractable landing gear, folding wings, ornithopter method of thrust propulsion, wing warp, and pitch control. Restored, the original aircraft is now on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.