December 22, 1824

Dale County, in southeastern Alabama, is home to the largest section of Fort Rucker, the primary U.S. Army flight-training base. Dale County was established by an act of the Alabama Legislature on Dec. 22, 1824. The county was named for Samuel Dale, an early pioneer who led a group of settlers to Alabama. The county seat was originally Daleville but was moved to Newton and finally to Ozark in 1870. The Farm Security Administration bought land in 1936 on the western border of Dale County to create a wilderness reservation. In 1942, that land was transferred to the War Department to use as a training facility for soldiers during World War II and was called Camp Rucker for Confederate Col. Edmund Rucker. Renamed Fort Rucker in 1955, the facility became home to the U.S. Army’s aviation programs. Flight training was consolidated at the base in 1973. The Air Force has also trained its helicopter pilots at the base since 1971. Dale County consists of eight incorporated communities and, according to the 2016 Census, has a population of 49,607.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Map of Georgia & Alabama, published in 1839. (David H. Burr, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division)

Samuel Dale (1772-1841) was a frontiersman who became famous during the Colonial-era wars with Native Americans over land. This sketch depicts his most famous exploit, the Canoe Fight. Dale County is named in his honor. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

A marble statue of Samuel Dale, pioneer and military hero of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, stands as a monument over his grave in Daleville, Mississippi. The figure was sculpted by Harry Reeks and dedicated in 1968. Dale County in southeast Alabama is named in his honor. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Nathan Culpepper)

Photograph of Daleville, Dale County, 2015. (Michael Rivera, Wikipedia)

Dale County was created in 1824 and named for famed frontiersman Samuel Dale. The first county seat was Daleville, in southwestern Dale County, until 1843, when it was moved to Newton. In 1870, the county seat was moved to the centrally located Ozark, where it remains today. The current courthouse was built in 1968. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Jimmy Emerson)

A view of the intersection of North Court Square and Union Avenue in downtown Ozark, Dale County, from the rooftop of the Dale County Courthouse. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Glenn Baird)

The headquarters at Camp Rucker in Coffee and Dale counties, ca. 1940s. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of US Army Aviation Museum)

Fort Rucker is the U.S. Army’s combat aviation center, as well as the helicopter maintenance facility and pilot training ground for all branches of service. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Birmingham News)

Lake Tholocco covers more than 600 acres at Fort Rucker in southwestern Dale County. The lake was created when the Federal Works Project Administration dammed Claybank Creek in the Choctawhatchee-Pea River Basin in the 1930s. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Ken Holder)

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