Ardmore: A Town Split by a State Line

Ardmore is two towns with one name, divided by a state line that runs straight down Main Street. The community started around nineteen eleven when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad pushed a direct line between Nashville and Decatur, Alabama, and a station was platted right on the Tennessee-Alabama border. The railroad originally called it Austin, for a local landowner, then renamed it Ardmore after a community in Pennsylvania.

Because the state line bisected the townsite, two separate municipalities grew up side by side. Ardmore, Alabama incorporated in nineteen twenty-two; Ardmore, Tennessee followed in nineteen forty-nine. Together they span two states.

Driving through, you cross the state line so quietly that many travelers never notice.