Chilton County Alabama

 

Chilton County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,643. The county seat is Clanton, Alabama.

The county is known for its peaches and its unique landscape. It is home to swamps, prairies and mountains due to the foothills of the Appalachians which end in the county, the Coosa River basin, and its proximity to the Black Belt Prairie.

Chilton County Alabama History

Baker County was established on December 30, 1868, named for Alfred Baker, with its county seat at Grantville.

Residents of the county petitioned the Alabama legislature for the renaming of their county. On December 17, 1874, the petitioners accepted the suggestion of Chilton County.

The foremost strike of gold occurred in 1830 along the tributaries of Blue and Chestnut Creeks in Chilton County. This discovery made Alabama one of the prolific gold-producing states east of the Mississippi River, with almost 80,000 ounces of gold from 1830 to 1990. The Southwestern part of the Alabama gold belt includes portions of Chilton County. Nuggets weighing up to 4 ounces have been reported from Blue Creek, a short tributary of the Coosa River in the southeastern part of the county.

In 1870, the county seat was moved after the courthouse burned to what is now Clanton.

In 2010, the center of population of Alabama was located in Chilton County, near the city of Jemison, Alabama, an area known as Jemison Division – The Jemison Division is a County Subdivision of Chilton County. The subdivision has a Z5 Census Class Code which indicates that the Jemison Division is a statistical county subdivision.

Chilton County Historical Destinations

Confederate Memorial Park – Marbury Alabama

Maplesville Railroad Depot – Maplesville Alabama

Chilton County  Alabama Cities

Calera Alabama

Calera is a city in Shelby and Chilton counties. The city limits extend southward into Chilton County along U.S. Route 31, the main highway through the city. Interstate 65 passes through the eastern side of the city, with access from exits 228, 231, and 234. It is the location of the Shelby County Airport. Calera’s population in 2010 was 11,620. As of the 2010 census Calera had a population of 11,620, more than tripling its total in 2000, making it the fastest-growing city in Alabama.

Clanton Alabama

Clanton is a city in Chilton County, Alabama.  At the 2010 census the population was 8,619. The city is the county seat of Chilton County. Clanton is the site of the geographic center of Alabama.

Nearby Lay Lake Dam and Mitchell Dam became Alabama Power’s first two dams in the state. 

Jemison Alabama

Jemison is a city in Chilton County, Alabama. At the 2010 census the population was 2,585. The center of population of Alabama is located outside of Jemison, an area known as Jemison Division.

Jemison, is located at the geological end of the Appalachians and was originally inhabited by the Creek Indians for the springs located in the area. In 1869, R.J. Langston built the first house in area and it was made famous by stagecoach drivers who would stop to rest on their travels between North and South Alabama, calling the area Langston Station, or Langstonville, later known as “Jemison Springs,” and finally, Jemison, Alabama.

Chilton County Alabama Towns

Maplesville Alabama

Maplesville is a town in Chilton County. At the 2010 census the population was 708.The town of Maplesville first began to grow in a location 3 miles east of its present location, near Mulberry Creek. European settlers migrated to the area from Georgia and the Carolinas following the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, after the Native Americans who had been living there were defeated.

The town was located at the crossroads of two important trading routes: the Elyton Road from Selma to Birmingham, and the Fort Jackson Road from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery. 

Thorsby Alabama

Thorsby is a town in Chilton County, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 1,980.   Thorsby was first settled in 1895 and incorporated in 1901 by Scandinavian immigrants who had originally settled in the midwestern United States. The town grew quickly, with two hotels, a sawmill and lumber company, and two wineries being built within the first couple of years.

Chilton County Alabama Communities

Isabella Alabama

Isabella, also known as Benson or Bensen, is an unincorporated community in Chilton County, Alabama.

Jumbo Alabama

Jumbo is an unincorporated community in Chilton County. A post office called Jumbo was established in 1882, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1904.

Mountain Creek Alabama

Mountain Creek is an unincorporated community in southeastern Chilton County, Alabama. Mountain Creek was the site of the Alabama Confederate Soldiers Home from 1902 to 1939, which is now the Confederate Memorial Park. The 102-acre park has a museum, research facility, historic structures, ruins and two cemeteries with the graves of over 300 Confederate soldiers.

Stanton, Alabama

Stanton is an unincorporated community in Chilton County, Alabama. 

Verbena Alabama

Verbena, also known as Summerfield, is an unincorporated community in southeastern Chilton County, Alabama. Named for the indigenous flower, Verbena developed into a popular resort location for the more affluent citizenry of Montgomery, the state’s capital, during the yellow fever outbreaks of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Chilton County  Alabama Ghost Towns

Adams Alabama

Barwell Alabama

Bessie Alabama

Lomax Alabama

Ocampo Alabama

Pletcher Alabama

Stanton Alabama

Strasburg Alabama

Chilton County Alabama Weblinks

Chilton County Alabama Sites of Interest

Return to Alabama Counties Index