January 13, 1832

The Shelby County town of “Columbia” was renamed “Columbiana” by the state Legislature in 1832. Columbiana is the seat of Shelby County. It was founded by C.B. Churchill as the site of his iron foundry, which was destroyed during the Civil War by Wilson’s Raiders in April 1865. The city of Columbiana was incorporated in 1837, with its limits extending a quarter mile in each cardinal direction from the town square. The square is dominated by the Shelby County Courthouse, erected in 1854, which now contains the Shelby County Historical Society Museum.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

An advertising mural in Columbiana, Shelby County, restored by artist Lynn Dodson. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Jimmy Emerson)

Old Shelby County Courthouse. Columbiana, Aug. 8, 2007. (Oakshade, Wikipedia)

City Hall in Columbiana, Feb. 24, 2012. (Rivers Langley, SaveRivers, Wikipedia)

Shelby County Courthouse in Columbiana, Feb. 24, 2012. (Rivers Langley, SaveRivers, Wikipedia)

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