June 14, 1821
When Morgan County was created by an act of the Alabama Territorial General Assembly in 1818, it preceded Alabama’s statehood by almost two years. The county was created from land acquired from the Cherokee Indians by the 1818 Treaty of Turkeytown. Settlers came mostly from Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas. The county originally was named Cotaco for a creek that flows through it. Some of the early towns were Flint, Danville, Bluff City, Decatur and Hartselle. On June 14, 1821, the name was changed to Morgan County in honor of Gen. Daniel Morgan of Virginia, who fought in the American Revolution. The county seat was at Somerville from 1818 until 1891, when it was moved to Decatur.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Map of Alabama, published in 1820. (John Melish, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division)
Rather-Rice-Gilchrist House, Bluff City Road vicinity, Somerville, built c. 1820. (HABS, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Portrait of Daniel Morgan, c. 1794. (Charles Willson Peale, Independence National Historical Park, Wikipedia)
Map of Alabama, published in 1826. (Fielding Lucas Jr., Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division)
Dancy-Polk House, built in Decatur in 1829, and photographed in 1939. (Photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
This vintage postcard depicts the current headquarters of the Morgan County Archives during its use as the Tennessee Valley Bank in about 1927. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Morgan County Archives)
Old Morgan County Courthouse, Somerville, built in 1837. (HABS, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Old State Bank Building, built c. 1830, and photographed in 1939. (Photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Downtown Decatur, 2017. (Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
