Greenville Alabama

Location of Greenville in Butler County, Alabama.

Greenville Alabama is a city in Butler County, Alabama. At the 2010 census, the population was 8,135. The city is the county seat of Butler County and is known as the Camellia City. Located just half an hour south of Montgomery – where I-65, U.S. 31 and Alabama’s Highway 10 converge – Greenville is the county seat of picturesque Butler County. Montgomery Regional Airport is just minutes away, and CSX rail serves the city.

Greenville Alabama History

Up Town’ Greenville, Alabama – The original photograph was taken in 1867, and this reproduction was made in 1933

Greenville Alabama was first settled in 1819. Its original name was Buttsville, but after becoming the county seat in 1822, its name was changed to Greenville, in remembrance of the former locale in South Carolina of many of the original settlers. The first county seat was at Fort Dale, a A Militia Fort established in 1818 near Greenville, Butler County, Alabama that was named for Sam Dale, who fought to defend the area during the Creek War. Alabama Territorial Governor William Bibb directed Colonel Samuel Dale to establish a new fort on the Federal Road to strengthen the local defenses against hostile Indians. The site of Fort Dale, abandoned as a fortification in 1818 when hostilities ceased, lies on the north of the city near the Fort Dale Cemetery, along what is now Alabama Highway 185.

The namesake of the county, Captain William Butler, was killed during the Creek War. He is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery, which is across from the oldest church in Butler County, the First United Methodist Church of Greenville.

During World War II, a satellite camp for German prisoners was based in Greenville.