Bibb County


Located in central Alabama and bordered by many Black Belt counties, Bibb County is known for its outdoor attractions, the Cahaba River and the Talladega National Forest. During the nineteenth century, Bibb County was a noted iron, coal, and lumber center. The county is governed by an elected five-member commission and includes four incorporated communities each governed by a mayor and city council.

· Founding Date: February 7, 1818
· Area: 625 square miles
· Population: 21,482 (2006 Census Bureau estimate)
· Major Waterways: Cahaba River, Little Cahaba River
· Major Highways: U.S. 82
· County Seat: Centreville
· Largest City: Brent

History 

William Wyatt Bibb (1781-1820) was a U.S. senator William Wyatt Bibb Bibb County was created by an act of the Alabama Territorial Legislature on February 7, 1818, a year before Alabama became a state. Originally called Cahaba County, for the river that runs through it, the county was renamed Bibb County in 1820 to honor of the first governor of Alabama, William Wyatt Bibb. Before settlers moved to the area, it was populated by the Creeks of the Upper Towns, who lived along the banks of the Cahaba and its tributaries. In 1815, non-Indian squatters began moving into the area, and Centreville was made the county seat of government.

Bibb County was extremely rich in ore, coal, clay, and timber, and during the antebellum period, local entrepreneurs established several small iron forges in the north and northeastern areas of the county. By the antebellum period, Bibb County ranked third in the state in iron production, which made the region extremely valuable to the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1863, the Confederate government purchased the Brierfield Ironworks, which was later burned by the Union Army. After the Civil War Bibb County experienced significant economic and social turmoil, as almost half the population in 1865 consisted of former slaves. The Reconstruction years were characterized by increasing violence against blacks, poverty, and lawlessness.

The Bibb County Courthouse in Centreville was built Bibb County CourthouseIn the late nineteenth century, the area experienced a boom in the lumber and coal mining industries, and a number of immigrant families from Belgium, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria moved to the area. Dangerous conditions in the mines drew workers'-rights advocates from the United Mine Workers, who led Bibb County miners in strikes in 1894, 1904, 1908, and 1920. The plight of the miners attracted the attention of national labor leader Eugene V. Debs, who spoke to crowds in Blocton in 1896. The area received an economic boost in 1898 when a branch of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad was completed in the southeastern part of the county.

Major Cities and Demographics 

At the time of the 2000 census Bibb County recorded a population of 20,826, a 25.6-percent increase from the 1990 census. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the 2006 population was 21,482, with 76.8 percent White, 22.5 percent African American, and 1.4 percent Hispanic. The county seat, Centreville, had an estimated population of 2,507 in 2005, an increase of 1.7 percent from 2000. The largest city, Brent, recorded a population of 4,129 in 2005. Other towns include Blocton, West Blocton, Woodstock, Brierfield, and Randolph. In 2004 the median household income was $34,055, compared with $37,062 for the remainder of the state. The per capita income was $14,105 in 1999, compared with $18,189 for the state.

Economy 

Josiah Gorgas (1818-1883) served in the military, was Josiah Gorgas, ca. 1878During the nineteenth century, farming and iron manufacturing were the prevailing industries in Bibb County. The abundance of minerals in the northern section of the county made it an important manufacturing center during the antebellum period, and the Confederacy purchased Brierfield Iron works in 1863 to aid the southern war effort. After it was burned by Union forces in 1865, Josiah Gorgas became one of many who tried in vain to revive the iron industry in the county. By 1900 the booming industries of Birmingham eclipsed the area. Given the county's heavily forested areas, which include pine, especially loblolly, as well as oak, hickory, walnut, tulip poplar, gum, cedar, and dogwood, the lumber business rapidly became highly profitable.

Most nineteenth-century residents earned their living from agricultural products, including corn, wheat, rye, and especially cotton. In 1860, the county reported production of 8,303 bales of cotton, or approximately three million pounds. Cotton production declined during the post war years, but railroads helped spur the lumber and coal industries, which would become the principal industry in the town in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

The Bibb Furnace at Brierfield was an important Bibb FurnaceThe workforce in present-day Bibb County is made up of the following occupations: 22.1 percent service industry, 11.9 percent sales and office, 21.3 percent construction, extraction, and maintenance, 15.8 percent production, transportation, and material moving, and less than 3 percent fishing and agriculture. Given the county's proximity to the Birmingham-Hoover metro area, many Bibb County residents are commuters. The Bibb County School System currently employs about 240 teachers and administrators who serve approximately 3,500 students in 10 public schools. In addition, the area contains two private schools, Cahaba Christian Acadamy and McCully Hill Christian School.

Geography 

Bibb County is 44th in size among Alabama Bibb County MapComprising approximately 625 square miles, Bibb County lies in the central area of the state. It is bounded to the south by Perry County, to the west by Hale and Tuscaloosa Counties, to the north by Jefferson and Shelby Counties, and to the east by Chilton County.

The Cahaba River runs through the entirety of Bibb County from north to south, and its tributaries, the Little Cahaba, Sixmile Creek, and Shultz Creek, flow through the eastern and western parts of the county. Numerous other creeks, such as Affonee, Blue Girth, and Haysop, intersect the southwestern part of the area. U.S. 82 is Bibb County's major transportation route, running east-west through the southern part of the county. Bibb County Airport is the county's only public airport.

Events and Places of Interest 

The proximity of the Cahaba River and the Talladega National Forest make Bibb County one of Alabama's most sought-after recreational destinations. Once considered a fisherman's paradise, the Cahaba River is best known for its scenic wildlife and canoeing. Except for a single location in Tennessee, the Alabama croton, one of the rarest shrubs in the United States, grows only along the banks of the Cahaba. The endangered Cahaba lily, found along the Cahaba and Little Cahaba, attracts nature enthusiasts Cahaba lilies grow in the fast-moving rivers of Cahaba Liliesduring May and June, its traditional blooming period. Every May, thousands flock to the town of West Blocton, in northern Bibb County, to the Cahaba Lily Festival. Activities include presentations on the lily and other local wildflowers, the crowning of the Cahaba Lily Queen, and canoe trips along the river to view the lilies in their natural habitat.

Talladega National Forest, located in the southern and southwest areas of Bibb County, attracts thousands of hikers and campers. Heavily logged in the early twentieth century, the forest was bought by the federal government in the 1930s and now hosts a diverse ecosystem. Bibb County is home to the Oakmulgee section of the forest, which is characterized by level and moderately sloping, broad ridges with terraced streams. Historic attractions in the county include Brierfield Ironworks, an iron furnace constructed in 1862 to aid the Confederate war effort.

Additional Resources

Bibb County Heritage Book Committee. Heritage of Bibb County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998.

Ellison, Rhoda Coleman. Bibb County, Alabama: The First Hundred Years, 1818-1918. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1984.

Patricia Hoskins Morton
Auburn University


Published June 28, 2007
Last updated December 10, 2009