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History · Wedowee

Wedowee’s post office opened in 1837, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on and the census since 1870.

1837first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Saverivers at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Quick answers

How Wedowee began

When was Wedowee founded?

1837

The Wedowee post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mc Donald (1840), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 130 in 18702020 census: 737189 years
Founding year: the first Wedowee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wedowee’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Wedowee are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Wedowee.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wedowee’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Wedowee, 1837 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Wedowee post office opens
  3. 1840Post officeThe Mc Donald post office opens
  4. 1843Post officeThe Mc Donald post office closes
  5. 1878Born hereDavid Jackson Davis is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1935Born hereThomas Jack Lee is born here
  8. 1961Born hereAlvin Wright is born here
  9. 1963Born hereJohn Merrill is born here
  10. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Wedowee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wedowee.

Read it all →

Wedowee, which means "old water" in the Creek language, was named after a Muscogee Creek Indian chief. This area was historically occupied by the Muscogee Creek people.

Following Indian Removal of the Creek in the 1830s to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River by the US government, this area was settled by European Americans. The town of Wedowee was designated as the county seat of Randolph County in 1835. The county was developed for the cultivation of cotton as a commodity crop, with labor primarily done by enslaved African Americans, many of whom had been sold to the Deep South from the Upper South in the domestic slave trade.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Wedowee, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Wedowee Alabama Governor William Hugh Smith Historic Marker2011Wedowee Alabama Governor William Hugh Smith Historic …Wedowee Alabama City Hall2011Wedowee Alabama City HallRandolph County Alabama Historic Marker2011Randolph County Alabama Historic MarkerRandolph County Alabama Courthouse2011Randolph County Alabama CourthouseDowntown2011DowntownWedowee2008Wedowee
On the map

Wedowee on the map, 1969 to 1978

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

Wedowee on the 1969 USGS mapWedowee on the 1978 USGS map1969Wedowee 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 Wedowee.

People over time

Wedowee, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 917

Between 130 and 917 people in every census since 1870.

13 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Famous people

5 famous people were born in Wedowee

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

See all →
J
John MerrillAmerican politician, Alabama · b. 1963
Thomas Jack LeeNASA director · b. 1935
A
Alvin WrightAmerican football player · b. 1961
D
David Jackson DavisUnited States federal judge · b. 1878
Samuel Ealy Johnson Sr.Namesake of Johnson City, Texas; grandfather of… · b. 1838
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Wedowee’s post office has been open since 1837. Another post office, Mc Donald, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Wedowee
1837–today
Mc Donald
1840–1843
18301930today

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

Questions about Wedowee’s history

What year was Wedowee founded?

The Wedowee post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.