— DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — With only $38 in his pocket, Elias Thomas Saliba came to Dothan from his native Lebanon through Ellis Island in New York in 1898.

At first, Elias Saliba sold fruit he’d picked up in Miami at the corner of St. Andrews and Main streets in front of what is now Moe’s Southwest Grill. He later started the family business, E.T. Saliba grocery, just off Main Street on South St. Andrews Street.

Alfred Saliba and Wade Baxley both recently spoke about each of their familes’ roles in the early years of Dothan, which was celebrating its 125th anniversary on Wednesday.

Saliba recalled how his grandfather, Elias Saliba, sent for his brothers in Lebanon and helped set them up with their own businesses in Dothan. His three brothers, Mose, Abe and Mike started cafes all located in downtown, including Abe’s Place and a pool room and cafe called Elite Cafe. Elias Saliba continued to expand his business, but later moved back to Lebanon where he served as a town mayor. He received an award from a Russian czar for starting several schools while he was back in Lebanon.

“While he was serving as mayor, he was assassinated,” Saliba said.

Elias Saliba’s wife and children came back to Dothan, including Alfred Saliba’s father, Joseph Saliba. Joseph Saliba later started a heating and air conditioning business in the old grocery building. Alfred’s Saliba’s uncle, E.T. Saliba Jr., ran an optometry business out of the old E.T. Saliba grocery building for about 10 years. Later one of Joseph Saliba’s children, Norma Saliba Hanson, ran an advertising and marketing business in the old grocery building.

Saliba recalled playing in one of Dothan’s earliest elevators at a doctor’s office next to his family’s grocery.

“We’d go over to see the doctor and go in the elevator, and that was a real treat,” Saliba said.

Saliba also recalled getting a dime as a child for the double feature at the movies in downtown Dothan on Saturday mornings. A nickel paid for a drink and the double feature, which would sometimes feature a childhood favorite -- Western films starring Johnnie Mack Brown, an actor and former University of Alabama football star who Saliba got to meet.

“He would have his horse with him, and he was in the peanut festival parade,” Saliba recalled. “We all got to talk to him, and he was very friendly.”

Saliba also recalled regular visits to a popular hangout spot for Dothan teenagers at what was then known as Porters Fairyland, located about three miles east of Dothan off U.S. 84 East. He said a season ticket could be purchased to Porters for the chance to swim all year long.

“It was a swimming pool and it had a dance area,” Saliba said. “That’s where all the kids go and hang out.”

Saliba said Dothan has always been a good place to raise a family. He said all of his brothers and his sister stayed in Dothan to do just that.

Saliba, the former mayor of Dothan, earned an engineering degree from the University of Alabama, and served two years in the Air Force.

“With an engineering degree there was no position for engineers so I started a home building business,” Saliba said. “It’s important to look back at the history, and how Dothan grew. It’s a good sized community, and it has a healthy business climate and a lot of churches. I think we have a great future ahead. Dothan has a lot of good assets that will enable it to continue to build for the future. It has industry, agriculture and businesses. It’s like a three legged stool, if one isn’t doing well the others prop it up and support it.”

Not far from where the Saliba family started a grocery, Baxley said his great grandparents, J.P. and Mary Frances Folkes, came to Dothan in the late 1870’s, and opened a blacksmith shop in the Foster Street area. His grandparents also helped start what he called Dothan’s first church, then known as the Foster Street Methodist Church. He said services were held in the blacksmith shop.

In its early days, Baxley said Dothan started as a crossroads community with trading between the Creek Indians near what’s now called Poplar Head Park in downtown Dothan.

“The Creek Indians were living here. People don’t realize Dothan was a frontier town. It was just an Indian crossing, and it’s where the Indians and traders would meet,” Baxley said. “Dothan was a small town, but it bid and got the railroad, and as a result it grew.”

Baxley’s grandfather William J. Baxley also worked at the blacksmith shop, but later earned a license to practice law. He said his grandfather became the third mayor of Dothan. William J. Baxley had six children, including Keener Baxley in 1899, who later had a son named Wade Baxley. Keener Baxley served as a lawyer in Dothan and later as the circuit solicitor, or district attorney, for Houston/Henry County. Keener Baxley was later appointed to serve as a Houston County circuit court judge. Wade Baxley, 67, works as a Dothan attorney and is a fourth generation Dothan resident. His son, Hamp Baxley, is the fifth generation.