Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Uniontown

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B+History
History · Uniontown

Uniontown dates to 1818, and 4 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Uniontown was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 114 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.

1818founded
4on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Uniontown’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Uniontown began

When was Uniontown founded?

1818

Uniontown dates its founding to 1818 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 290 in 18502020 census: 2,107208 years

How historic is Uniontown?

B+

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1833.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Uniontown’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Uniontown is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Uniontown’s overall grade.
Founding era1818, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19400.4% of homes (±0.8) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register4 listings, 122 historic buildings, 679 per 10,000 residents · typical AL town 2.7 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 66%
NewerOlder

Alabama towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Alabama town has 2.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Uniontown’s 679 sits above most of its state (98% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 122 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1818.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Uniontown’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Uniontown Historic District takes in 104 historic buildings.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1870 and 1880, then more than doubled.Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1910, drew every building in Uniontown.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Uniontown, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

4 listings protect 122 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
122
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Westwood
WestwoodPitts' FollyWestwood PlantationFairhope Plantation, built 1857Uniontown Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Gothic Revival1
Queen Anne1
Tudor Revival1
WestwoodBuilding
Pitts' FollyGreek Revival
Westwood PlantationDistrict
Fairhope PlantationGothic Revival · Built 1857
Uniontown Historic DistrictGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Uniontown, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018501900195020001,444 in 1870Low: 810

Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1880, then more than doubled.

17 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Uniontown’s Wikipedia page.

Every building

Uniontown, building by building, 1884–1910

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Uniontown fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Uniontown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Uniontown.

Read it all →

First settled in 1818, the area that would become Uniontown was initially called Woodville after the first family settling there; the town was incorporated on December 23, 1836. Woodville was the terminus of one of the earliest plank roads (a road paved with wooden planks) in the state, which was constructed in 1848 and connected Woodville with Demopolis. The Alabama and Mississippi Railroad came through the town in 1857.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Uniontown, 1818 to 1981

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1818
    FoundingUniontown is established
  3. 1833Post officeThe Uniontown post office opens
  4. 1857BuiltFairhope Plantation is built
  5. 20th century
  6. 1906Post officeThe Ellawhite post office opens
  7. 1911Post officeThe Ellawhite post office closes
  8. 1929Born hereJuanita Abernathy is born here
  9. 1932Born hereAugusta Clark is born here
  10. 1941In the archiveHerding cattle in Hale county. Near Uniontown, Alabama
  11. 1958Born hereTony Cox is born here
  12. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 2,133
  14. 1981Born hereErwin Dudley is born here
By decade

Uniontown, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Herding cattle in Hale county. Near Uniontown, Alabama1941Herding cattle in Hale county. Near Uniontown, Alabama
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown4 to date
Historic American Buildings Survey Alex Bush, Photographer, April 11, 1935 FRONT VIEW (WEST) - Masonic Hall, Water Aven…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Alex Bush, Photogr…Masonic Hall, Water Avenue & North StreetDate?Masonic Hall, Water Avenue & North StreetWestwood, Water Avenue (State Highway 61)Date?Westwood, Water Avenue (State Highway 61)Pitts' Folly, House & Outbuildings, State Highway 21Date?Pitts' Folly, House & Outbuildings, State Highway 21
Today1 recent
City of2021City of
On the map

Uniontown on the map, 1968 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Uniontown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Uniontown on the 1968 USGS mapUniontown on the 1979 USGS mapUniontown on the 1986 USGS map1968Uniontown West sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Uniontown.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Herding cattle in Hale county. Near Uniontown, Alabama
Retake this viewHerding cattle in Hale county. Near Uniontown, Alabama, 1941

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Uniontown’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

6 famous people were born in Uniontown

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
T
Tony CoxAmerican actor · b. 1958
Erwin DudleyTurkish-American basketball player · b. 1981
A
Augusta ClarkAmerican politician · b. 1932
J
Juanita AbernathyAmerican civil rights activist · b. 1929
Eugene LipscombAmerican football player · b. 1931
Morris ErnstAmerican attorney · b. 1888
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Uniontown’s post office has been open since 1833. Another post office, Ellawhite, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Uniontown
1833–today
Ellawhite
1906–1911
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
EllawhiteHillcrestRabbityardThe Village
Gone or out of use
Canebrake Agricultural Experimental StationlocaleCedar Lawn PlantationlocaleCoffee Springs Cumberland Presbyterian ChurchchurchEllawhite Elementary SchoolschoolFairhope PlantationlocaleFoot Washing Baptist ChurchchurchHopewell Presbyterian ChurchchurchLewis SchoolschoolOak Lawn PlantationlocalePerry County Training SchoolschoolTemple SchoolschoolThe CedarslocaleUniontown District AcademyschoolUniontown Female AcademyschoolUniontown Male AcademyschoolUniontown Municipal AirportairportWares GrovelocaleWeaver Plantationlocale
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Uniontown
EllawhiteGoldmanGreenlawn GardensHoly CrossPickensRosemontWinfield

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Uniontown’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Uniontown’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo4 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHerding cattle in Hale county. Near Uni…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Uniontown’s history

What year was Uniontown founded?

In 1818, according to Wikidata. Uniontown’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1850 counted 290 people here.

How does Uniontown rank for history?

Uniontown is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Uniontown?

4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Westwood (listed 1974, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Westwood Plantation, the Fairhope Plantation and the Uniontown Historic District, with 114 contributing buildings. 122 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Uniontown?

0.4% of Uniontown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1981.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.