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In 1816, the legislature of the Mississippi Territory established the county of Montgomery, so named in honor
of Major Lemuel P. Montgomery, the first soldier to die at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814.
In 1817, upon the announcement of the Alabama Lands being offered for sale, two groups were quick to invest in
this new venture. One was a group fronted by General John Scott, which purchased an area on the Alabama River
Bluff. They named their settlement Alabama Town. The other, led by Andrew Dexter, founded “New Philadelphia” nearby.
There was a bitter rivalry between the two towns over which would be the county seat. It was finally resolved in
late 1819 when they merged and incorporated as Montgomery, in honor of a different war hero, Major Richard
Montgomery, hero of the Revolutionary War.
This story is archetypal of Montgomery. From the Civil War to Civil Rights, we have a long history of diverse
groups struggling to reconcile their differences…and being all the stronger for it, in the end.
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