Ashville: The Town That Wouldn't Give Up Its Seat

When Alabama carved Saint Clair County out of Shelby County in eighteen eighteen, it needed a county seat. John Ash was one of the first white settlers in the area, arriving in eighteen seventeen, and when five county commissioners bought land to establish a courthouse town in eighteen twenty-one, they named it for him. The original name had been Saint Clairsville, but Ash's name stuck.

For nearly ninety years Ashville held the county seat alone. Then geography became a problem. Backbone Mountain cuts Saint Clair County nearly in half, and southern residents had a hard time reaching Ashville for court business. In nineteen oh one the state constitution created a judicial seat for the south end, and by nineteen oh seven Pell City became a full second county seat. Alabama may be the only state with a county governed from two different courthouses simultaneously, and Ashville, the original, still holds its title after more than two hundred years.