August 9, 1923

Phenix City is Russell County’s seat of government and is built along the west bank of the Chattahoochee River, which separates the town from Columbus, Georgia. After Columbus was established in 1828, traders and other settlers who wanted a less-regulated frontier culture chose to live on the other side of the river among Creek towns. The Alabama Legislature in 1883 officially incorporated the town of Brownville. Fourteen years later, lawmakers changed its name to Phenix City. By 1922, Phenix City was part of both Russell and Lee counties, but that year a boundary line change located the city entirely within Russell County. On Aug. 9, 1923, the city of Girard merged into Phenix City, giving the town a population of 10,374.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Phenix City is located on the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama-Georgia border, the county seat of Russell County. Its history is marked with crime and corruption, including the assassination of attorney general candidate Albert Patterson in 1954. The Phenix City sign includes a symbol of the phoenix, a mythological creature symbolizing resurrection that might be the origin of the city’s name. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Jimmy Emerson)

Street scene, Phenix City, 1941. (Photograph by Jack Delano, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Street scene, Phenix City, 1941. (Photograph by Jack Delano, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Phenix City – Russell County Library, 2011. (Rivers A. Langley; Save Rivers, Wikipedia)

The Russell County Courthouse in Phenix City is a Classical Revival structure built in 1938. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Jimmy Emerson)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.