Alexander City History

Alexander City was incorporated in 1872 as Youngsville after its founder James Young who established a trading post here in 1835.  In 1873 with the announcement that the Savannah and Memphis Railroad would extend its line through the town, the town was renamed Alexander City in honor of the railroad's President Edward Porter Alexander, hero of the Battle of Gettysburg for the Confederate States.

Alexander City enjoyed steady growth.  In 1900 the Alexander City Cotton Mill was established on the east side of town and later became Avondale Mills (now Parkdale Mills) when purchased by the B.B. Comer family in 1919.  Then in 1902, Ben Russell founded Russell Manufacturing Company beginning in a 50 x 100-foot wooden building with six knitting machines and ten sewing machines.  The company's first garments were ladies’ and children's undergarments produced at the rate of 150 a day. Russell continues to have a presence in Alexander City today.

On Friday, June 13, 1902, at 1 pm, a fire broke out in the Alexander City Machine shop and destroyed much of the town. At the time, Alexander City did not have a water system and all buildings, including the telegraph office, post office and three banks were burned.  The city’s citizens quickly started the process of rebuilding beginning a period of sustained growth lasting into the twenty-first century.    

Natural resources have always been important to the area. In 1926, Alabama Power Company, with the Martin Dam project, created the area’s most recognizable natural asset, Lake Martin. Today, this beautiful, freshwater lake consists of 44,000 acres of crystal clear blue-water with some 750 miles of mostly wooded shoreline. Lake Martin is one of the most beautiful and unspoiled lakes in the Continental USA.