Heflin, Alabama

Heflin owes its existence to the Georgia Pacific Railway, which arrived in eighteen eighty-two and needed a station stop between Atlanta and Birmingham. The town is said to be named for Wilson L. Heflin, a physician and the father of James Thomas Heflin, a man who would later serve as United States senator from Alabama for more than a decade.

The town incorporated in eighteen eighty-six. For years Cleburne County's seat remained at Edwardsville, but Heflin, with its railroad connection and growing commerce, challenged that arrangement. In nineteen oh five, county voters elected to move the seat to Heflin. A courthouse cornerstone was laid on July Fourth, nineteen oh seven, and Heflin has been the heart of Cleburne County ever since.