Greenville is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Alabama. The name change from Buttsville to Greenville in 1822 when the county seat was moved from Fort Dale to Greenville.

At the 2010 census, the population was 8,135. The city is the county seat of Butler County and is known as the Camellia City.

Emigrants from South Carolina

It was first settled in 1819, when some emigrants from Greenville, SC, encamped for the night. Eight families and several other men with 12 wagons and 52 horses composed the party. They were so pleased with the location that they decided to make their homes near Routan’s creek. Each selected a spot for a home and built a log cabin.

A few weeks later another party of emigrants arrived and later in the year, still another. Thus the town had its beginning. In 1820 a committee appointed by the legislature selected Greenville as the county seat of Butler County.

Tavern & Stage Inn, County Road 58, Greenville, Butler County, AL

Joseph Hartley House

W. N. Manning, Photographer, June 12, 1935. Front & Side View, S. E.

Tavern & Stage Inn, County Road 58, Greenville, Butler County, AL

Joseph Hartley House

W. N. Manning, Photographer, June 12, 1935. Rear and Side View

Tavern & Stage Inn, County Road 58, Greenville, Butler County, AL

Joseph Hartley House

W. N. Manning, Photographer, June 12, 1935. Fireplace 1st Floor

Tavern & Stage Inn, County Road 58, Greenville, Butler County, AL

Joseph Hartley House

W. N. Manning, Photographer, June 12, 1935. SW room upstairs

W. N. Manning Photographer, June 13, 1935. Front & side view , S. W.

(OLD GUS WOMACK HOUSE) – T. Augustus (Gus) Womack House, County Road 54, Greenville, Butler County, AL

Named for Indian Fighter

The town was laid out in May 1822. It was first called Buttsville for a Georgia Indian fighter of the War of 1813-13 but later named Greenville because the dense forests of oak trees reminded the immigrants of their home in Greenville, SC.

The name was formally changed by an act of December 28, 1822. A substantial courthouse was built and was used until 1852, when it was destroyed by fire, together with all the records. A temporary structure was erected and served until 1871 when a brick building was completed.

The first county seat was at Fort Dale, a fortification that was named for Sam Dale, who fought to defend the area during the Creek War. The site of Fort Dale lies on the north of the city near the Fort Dale Cemetery, along what is now Alabama Highway 185.

W. N. Manning, Photographer, June 12, 1935. Old Crenshaw House, (used before plantation house) County Road 54, Greenville, Butler County, AL

First store was a log structure

About 1822, James Johnson built the first store, a log structure. The store was occupied by Caulfield & Bell, who hauled their goods from Claiborne on the Alabama River, 75 miles away.

Ward Nicholson Corner Store, Greenville, Alabama

Movement to change state flower started in Greenville

The first Methodist Church was erected in 1822, on a spot that later enclosed the cemetery. Its first pastor was Rev. James Dulaney. This church was used by other denominations for some years.

The first Presbyterian Church was built in 1830 and used by the Baptists also until 1854. In 1860 the Protestant Episcopal Church was established by Rev. James Jarrett, of Montgomery. In 1881, Samuel J. Boiling gave a site to the Primitive Baptists for a church building.

The first school of high grade was the Greenville Female Academy, established in 1846, which later existed as The Institute. It was founded by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Herbert, of South Carolina. The male high school was established in 1876, and the “Collegiate Institute” in 1872, by Rev. J. Dunklin. The old stagecoach road from Montgomery to Mobile passed through Greenville. The railroad was afterward built on the same route. Within. 3 miles of the city are the Roper mineral wells.

Among the pioneer settlers and prominent residents were Dunklin, Boiling, Stallings, Camp, Manning, Steiner, Herbert, Coleman, Graydon. Gafford, Burnett, Caldwell, Bell, Caulfield, Pickens, Gilbert, Thigpen, Palmer and Hutchinson families, Judge Anderson Crenshaw, Judge Benjamin F. Porter, Judge J. C. Richardson, Gov. Thomas Hill Watts, John K. Henry, Rev. John Duncan, Rev. Dr. J. B. Hawthorne, Rev. B. H. Crumpton, Dr. W. B. Crumpton, W. W. Wilkinson, J. F. Thames, A. B. Dulin, Col. Hilary A. Herbert, Col. J. B. Stanley, Col. Thomas J. Judge, Mrs. Ina Porter Henry-Ockenden, Dr. Urquhart, Thomas Herbert, Prof. Mack, Prof. George Thigpen, L. A. Graham, Thomas W. Peagler, Rev. W. A. J. Briggs, Joseph Steiner, Professors Dyer, Hughes, Holmes, Butt, Rice, and Mustin, and Mrs. M. E. Garrett, educator, R. A. Beeland, A. G. Winkler, the Powell, Hamilton, Lane, Reynolds, and Herlong families.

The old stagecoach road from Montgomery to Mobile passed through Greenville. During WW II, a satellite camp for German prisoners was based in Greenville.

Movement to change state flower started in Greenville

The movement to change the official Alabama state flower from the goldenrod to the camellia originated in Greenville.

The namesake of the county, Captain William Butler, was killed during the Creek War. He is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery, which is across from the oldest church in Butler County, the First United Methodist Church of Greenville.

Pioneer Cemetery, Butler County, Alabama

Butler County High School junior class 1938-1939 Greenville, Alabama

SOURCES

Acts, 1822-23, pp. 25-26;

Ibid, 1870-71, pp. 121-129;

Brewer, Alabama (1872), pp. 145-150

Little, Butler County (1885);

Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

Polk’s Alabama gazetteer, 1888-9, p. 395;

Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

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