Montgomery County AlArchives History .....Montgomery County 1888 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 15, 2011, 11:24 am XI. MONTGOMERY COUNTY. Population: White, 15,000: colored, 30,000. Area, 740 square miles. Woodland, all. Level and hilly prairies, of which 75 square miles have a coating of drift, 640 square miles sandy and pebbly hills, with 100 square miles pine. Acres—In cotton (approximately), 112,100; in corn, 62,300; in oats, 4,800; in wheat, 58; in sugar-cane, 174; in sweet potatoes, 1,720. Approximate number of bales of cotton, 32,000. County Seat—Montgomery; population, 25,000; on Alabama River, 197 miles northeast of Mobile, at the centering point of six railroads. Newspapers published at the County Seat—Advertiser (Democratic), Dispatch (Democratic), Star, Alabama Baptist (Denominational), Herald (Republican), Odd Fellows' Journal. Postoffices in the County—Ada, Arcadia, Barachias, Catoma, Chambers, Devenport, Hope Hull, Legrand, Mathews, Meadville, Montgomery, Mount Carmel, Mount Meigs, Myrtle, Panther, Patterson, Pike Road, Pine Level, Pugh, Raif Branch, Ramer, Snowdoun, Stoddard, Strata, Tharin, Woodley. Montgomery was one of the first counties in the State, being erected by an act of the Legislature of the Territory of Mississippi, bearing date December 6, 1816. Originally this county was formed from Monroe County, and comprised almost the whole of Central Alabama, south of the mountains of Blount County, to the Cahaba River, from the watershed between Tombigbee and Warrior Rivers on the west, to the lands of the Creek Indians on the east. From the original territory of Montgomery the following counties have been wholly taken: Autauga, Bibb, Dallas and Shelby. St. Clair was formed entirely of the latter county. The following counties were formed in portion from the area of Montgomery directly: Bullock, Elmore, Lowndes and Perry, while other counties have been formed from counties which were constituted out of the territory taken from Montgomery County. The principal products of the county are cotton and corn. Of late years considerable attention is being paid to the production of oats and grasses, while stock-raising is noted as growing, and the profits in this branch tends to the belief that it will become more general within the next few years. Fruits and early vegetables do well in this county, and largely increasing quantities of the latter are shipped north every year. The forests are timbered with oak, hickory, short-leaf pine, poplar, gum, magnolia, beech, hawthorn, wild plum and ash. The principal streams which water the county are the Alabama and Tallapoosa Rivers, Lime, Ramer, Catoma, Pintlala and other smaller and unimportant creeks. The county is intersected by the Louisville & Xashville, the Western, the Montgomery & Eufaula, the Selma & Montgomery, the Mobile & Montgomery, and the Montgomery & Florida Railroads. The latter is a narrow-gauge road, which is now being built to the Florida line, through a very rich portion of Southeast Alabama. The following railroads are projected: the Alabama Midland, the Montgomery, Hayneville and Camden, and the Great Northwestern of Alabama, and the Montgomery & Chattanooga. The subject of building a railroad to connect with the Anniston Road at Svlacauga is being discussed. The county is well provided with facilities for religious worship, there being in it churches of all denominations. The schools are the equal of any in the South, and in Montgomery the public schools will compare favorably with any similar institutions in the country. [See Montgomery City, this volume.] Additional Comments: Extracted from: Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land 1888 PART III. HISTORICAL RESUME OF THE VARIOUS COUNTIES IN THE STATE. COTTON BELT. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/montgomery/history/other/montgome399gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.3 Kb