Alabama Counties: History and Information

Find a brief history of Alabama Counties

Alabama is 330 miles long and 190 miles wide at its most distant points. It covers 52,423 square miles, making it the 30th largest of the 50 states. The State of Alabama is bordered by Florida (south), Georgia and Alabama (north, northwest). Alabama currently has sixty-seven counties. Each county serves as the local level of government within its borders. The land enclosed by the present state borders was joined to the United States of America gradually. Following the American Revolutionary War, West Florida was ceded to Spain by treaty while the remainder was organized primarily as the Mississippi Territory, and later the Alabama Territory.

The oldest county, Washington, was created on June 4, 1800, when what is now Alabama was then part of the Mississippi Territory.  In 1814, the Treaty of Fort Jackson opened the territory to American settlers, which in turn led to a more rapid rate of county creation. Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state in 1819. The Alabama state legislature formed additional counties from former Indian lands as the Indian Removal Act took effect and settlers populated different areas of Alabama. In 1820, Alabama had 29 counties. By 1830 there were 36 and Native Americans still occupied large areas of land in northeast and far western Alabama. By 1840, 49 counties had been created; 52 by 1850; 65 by 1870; and the present 67 counties by 1903. The newest county is Houston, created on February 9, 1903. Alabama was created in 1819.