Our History

The First County in Alabama

Washington County, the oldest county in Alabama, has a colorful history. Its dynamic role in the development of the western frontier after the Revolutionary War through the Territorial Period is unequaled in American history. After those tumultuous years, the county took its place in the new state of Alabama and has continued to serve its citizens well.

Washington County, in the Tombigbee District, was created by proclamation of Governor Winthrop Sargent of the Mississippi Territory on June 4, 1800. The county was named in honor of General George Washington. Its original boundaries extended from the Pearl River eastward to the Chattahoochee River and from latitude 32 28′ on the north to latitude 31 on the south. The county measured 300 miles east to west and 88 miles from north to south. Out of the area between these original boundaries sixteen counties in Mississippi and twenty-nine counties in Alabama have since been formed in whole or in part. Now located in the southwestern part of the state, Washington County is bounded by Choctaw County to the north, the Tombigbee River to the east (across which are Clarke and Baldwin Counties), by Mobile County to the south, and by the state of Mississippi to the west.

The History of Washington County
– Jacqueline Anderson Matte

Volume 1 (200 MB)

Volume 2 (152 MB)