Guin: The Gold Spike Town

The small city of Guin, in Marion County, grew up around a railroad deal made in the eighteen eighties. The Frisco line was building a route between Memphis and Birmingham, laying track from both ends simultaneously. The two crews met at the farm of a local doctor named Guin, who donated his land to the railroad in exchange for a flagstop.

A gold spike was driven at the meeting point to mark the completion of the line. Within three years, businesses had clustered around the new depot, and on December thirtieth, eighteen eighty-nine, the town incorporated with roughly three hundred fifty residents, thirteen storehouses, four hotels, two cotton yards, and a livery stable. The Frisco line is long gone, but Guin remains, a quiet hill-country town that traces its start back to one doctor's land deal and a ceremonial spike.