Rehobeth

Rehobeth is located just southwest of Dothan in west-central Houston County in the extreme southeastern corner of the state. It has a mayor/city council form of government.

History

Rehobeth began as a crossroads community in the 1890s on the routes from Cottonwood to Geneva and Dothan to Graceville. Originally, it was dubbed Sanders after one of the first two settlers to build a house at the crossroads; the first post office also was called Sanders.

Early businesses in the area included a grist mill, a sawmill, a hatchery, and a cotton gin. The saw mill closed during the Great Depression. The earliest school in the area was built sometime in the 1860s, but it wasn’t until 1903 that one was built in the town. Associated with the Rehobeth Baptist Church, the school also took the name Rehobeth. It is unclear when the town itself became known as Rehobeth, which is actually a misspelling of the Biblical name Rehoboth.

A high school was built in 1929 and new buildings were added throughout the 1960s. The town was incorporated, according to one source, in 1996.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Rehoboth recorded a population of 1,917. Of that number, 91.3 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 6.8 percent as African American, 5.4 percent as Hispanic, and 1.7 percent as two or more races. The town’s median household income was $59,000, and the per capita income was $24,913.

Employment

According to 2020 Census estimates, the workforce in Rehoboth was divided among the following industrial categories:

  • Educational services and health care and social assistance (30.8 percent)
  • Retail trade (16.9 percent)
  • Construction (10.8 percent)
  • Manufacturing (7.0 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (6.1 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (5.9 percent)
  • Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (5.4 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (4.9 percent)
  • Public administration (4.0 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (3.6 percent)
  • Wholesale trade (2.6 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extraction (1.4 percent)
  • Information (0.6 percent)

Education

Schools in Rehobeth are part of the Houston County Schools; the town has one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school.

Transportation

County Road 203 runs northeast-south through Rehobeth, and County Road 59 runs roughly north from town.

Additional Resources

Houston County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Houston County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2003.

Watson, Fred S. Hub of the Wiregrass: A History of Houston County, Alabama, 1903-1972. Anniston, Ala.: Higginbotham, Inc., 1972.

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