Pine Apple was almost the county seat of a newly proposed Alabama county in the late 1870s

Alabama maps would look very different if a man from Pine Apple had had his way in the late 1870s.

I was looking through some old newspapers the other day and ran across an unusual news item from December 1878. That short news story said that “an effort is being made to form a new county out of portions of Wilcox, Conecuh, Butler and Monroe, and a gentleman of Pine Apple is now in Montgomery with a map of the proposed new county, and is making strenuous exertions to secure legislative action.”

The newspaper never mentioned the name of the “gentleman of Pine Apple” and never gives his reasons for wanting to establish a new county. However, The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville reported that “the proposed new county would cut off beats twelve, eleven, eight and a portion of five in Monroe County. We are opposed to the new county, and believe that nine-tenths of the people of this county are.”

A few weeks later, in January 1879, newspapers reported that “the failure to establish a new county out of portions of Dallas, Wilcox, Perry and other counties dampened the ardor of the promoters of the movement to form a new county from parts of Butler, Wilcox and other counties, making the county seat at Pine Apple.”

The following month, newspapers reported that the “advocates of a new county to be formed from Wilcox, Monroe, Butler and Conecuh have concluded not to push their claims any further for the present.”

All of the above raises many questions. Who was the man for Pine Apple who was trying to create a new county with Pine Apple as its county seat? What would the new county have been called? Who were Wilcox County’s legislative representatives at the time and what did they think of the proposed change?

When it comes to Wilcox County’s borders, the county map has gone through many changes over the years, just not in the 1870s. Wilcox County was created on Dec. 13, 1819 from portions of Dallas, Monroe, Montgomery and a small part of Marengo counties. In December 1822, Wilcox County increased in size when it picked up another portion of Dallas County.

In January 1829, Wilcox lost portions of its territory to Clarke and Marengo counties. The following year, in January 1830, Wilcox picked up a part of Clarke County and lost some territory due to the creation of Lowndes County. One year later, in January 1831, Wilcox lost territory to Clarke County.

Almost a decade later, in December 1840, Wilcox lost a small area to Butler County. Wilcox County’s borders remained the same for the next 61 years and didn’t change until December 1901. At that time, Wilcox again exchanged small areas with Clarke County.

With all of this in mind, if you live on either side of the present-day borders of Wilcox County, chances are that where you live was at one time inside of another county. In the end, if anyone in the reading audience can shed more light on the proposed county border change in the 1870s, please let me hear from you. It would be interesting to know if any additional details can be uncovered.