On Feb. 9, 1903, Alabama’s last county, Houston County, was created

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Alabama’s last county, Houston County, was created by an Act of the legislature on February 9, 1903. Its territory was taken from Dale, Geneva and Henry Counties in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, it was named for former Gov. George S. Houston.

Map of Houston County, Alabama (World Atlas.com)

Dothan, Alabama – county seat

The county seat is the large metropolis of Dothan, Alabama. The county was established with less than the constitutional requirement of 600 square miles, in obedience to a proviso in sec. 39 of the Constitution of 1901, viz.:

“Provided, that out of the counties of Henry, Dale, and Geneva a new county of less than six hundred square miles may be formed under the provisions of this article, so as to leave said counties of Henry, Dale and Geneva with not less than five hundred square miles each.”

S. M. Dunwoody House, Abbeville Highway, Columbia, Houston County, AL, December 1934, W. N. Manning, photographer (Library of Congress)

S. M. Dunwoody House rear, Abbeville Highway, Columbia, Houston County, AL, December 1934, W. N. Manning, photographer (Library of Congress)

S. M. Dunwoody House fireplace, Abbeville Highway, Columbia, Houston County, AL, December 1934, W. N. Manning, photographer (Library of Congress)

Bounded by Georgia

Houston County is bounded on the east by the Chattahoochee River and the State of Georgia, on the north by Henry County, on the east by Geneva and Dale and on the south by the State of Florida.

The country is level and gently rolling. In the eastern section of the county, the drainage is into the Chattahoochee River, and the Chipola River and its several branches drain the lower section. The Atlantic Coast Line runs along the dividing ridge between the headwaters of the Chipola and the waters of Omussee and Hurricane Creeks.

Tom Bowden House, Greenwood Street, Columbia, Also known as Sam Bowden hotel, Houston County, AL 1934 (Library of Congress)

“On Chattahoochee River are found the remains of the villages which branched out from the Seminole towns of southwest Georgia and the Flint River region. On the Cay Thompson property near Fullmore’s Upper Landing is found a burial mound from which Clarence B. Moore secured some characteristic earthenware.

On the Green Pate place in the Choctawhatchee Swamp east of the river is a large burial mound 15 feet high by 60 feet in diameter, from which pottery has been secured. Six miles northeast of Dothan on Omussee Creek, on the farm of T. J. Watson, is a mound evidencing a village site. This site is hardly the main town of Omussee but may have been a branch. At and near Neal’s Landing, Jackson County, Florida, are found many pieces of evidence of aboriginal life and these extend up into Houston County. This is probably the site of Otchisi, a Seminole town. One and a half miles below Columbia, on the property of W. L. Crawford, is a large domiciliary mound.”

Post Offices and Towns – Revised to July 1, 1919, from U. S. Official Postal Guide. Figures indicate the number of rural routes from that office.

• Alaga
• Dothan (ch)—8
• Ardila
• Gordon—1
• Ashford—4
• Grangeburg
• Columbia—4
• Madrid
• Cottonwood—2
• Pansey—1
• Cowarts
• Taylor
• Crosby—2
• Webb—1

Senators

• 1903—William Oates Long.
• 1907—B. A. Forester.
• 1907 (Spec.)—B. A. Forester.
• 1909 (Spec.)—B. A. Forester.
• 1911—J. J. Espy.
• 1915—W. T. Hall.
• 1919—J. B. Espy.

Representatives

• 1907—W. L. Lee.
• 1907 (Spec.)—W. L. Lee.
• 1909 (Spec.)—W. L. Lee.
• 1911—T. J. Whatley.
• 1915—T. E. Kelly.
• 1919—O. L. Tompkins.

SOURCES

1. Code of Alabama, 1907, Voi. 3, p. 40;
2. General Acts, 1903; p. 44;
3. Alabama, 1909 (Ala. Dept. of Ar. and Ind., Bulletin 27), p. 136;
4. Alabama land book (1916), p. 77; Ala. official and Statistical Register, 1903-1915, 5 vols.;
5. Ala. Anthropological Society, Handbook(1910); Geol. Survey of Ala., Agricultural features of the State (1883);
6. The Valley regions of Alabama, parts 1 and 2 (1896, 1897), and Underground Water resources of Alabama (1907.).

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