Dekalb County Timeline
Some of the events that shaped DeKalb County into what it is today:
Land that was originally occupied by the
Cherokee Nation.
- 1780 - The area now known as Fort Payne and DeKalb County was Willstown and Wills County, named for Cherokee Chief "Red-Head" Will Weber.
- 1820's - Sequoyah, a Cherokee Indian known for creating a syllabary that taught an illiterate tribe to read and write, moves to Willstown.
- 1823 - The Wills Towne Mission established. A roadside historical marker commemorates the event.
- 1835 - Treaty of New Echota signed which brought about the forced removal of Indians and the tragic era of the Trail of Tears.
- 1836 - County officially named DeKalb County for American Revolutionary War hero Johann Sebastian DeKalb.
- October 21, 1836 - The old fort site, Fort Payne, commissioned.
- February 1838 - Captain John Payne is commissioned by the Federal Government to command the local garrison of soldiers and see to the construction of a stockade to hold Indians before their march West.
- 1838 - Stockade was constructed and named in honor of its commander, Fort Payne.
- October 1838 - Last group to depart on Trail of Tears.
- 1840 - Lebanon becomes the fifth County Seat in four years and the first permanent County Courthouse is built. It served as County Seat for 38 years.
- 1860's and 1870's - The railroad comes to DeKalb County.
- 1869 - Fort Payne becomes official city name.
- May 5, 1878 - Fort Payne becomes County Seat. The current courthouse is one of three in Fort Payne to have been built since 1878.
- 1884 - Mineral Springs are found in Mentone, touted as healing agent. Mentone Springs Hotel is built nearby the springs as a health spa.
- 1885 - Coal and Iron Ore are discovered.
- 1888 - The Fort Payne Coal and Iron Company is organized and the Boom begins.
- February 28, 1889 - The City of Fort Payne is incorporated.
- 1889 - the Fort Payne Opera House and the Hardware Manufacturing Company's 3-story brick building is built.
- 1891 - The Fort Payne Depot is built.
- 1893 - Coal and iron deposits play out and a larger vein is discovered in Birmingham's Red Mountain. Investors pack up and move South. Boom ends.
- 1903 - The Council Bluff School was erected.
- 1900's - Hosiery industry is born in DeKalb County. Today - over 100 plants, employing over 5,000, shipping out over 3-million dozen pairs of socks each week. We are the "Sock Capital of the World!"