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The
Alabama Territorial Legislature established Marengo
County in 1818. The "Town of Marengo" was then
surveyed near the center of the county to serve as
county seat. In 1824 lots were sold, and early
French immigrants named the town Hohenlinden for
Napoleon’s victory in Bavaria in 1800. Everyday
usage shortened the name to Linden.
Lodging houses, stores, homes and
churches surrounded a two-story log courthouse built
in 1827. While courts were in session, the town
became so rowdy that it earned the unofficial name
of "Screamersville." During the 1840’s Linden had
160 residents, a wooden jail, two small stores and a
barbershop. In 1848 the log courthouse burned, and
the brick, federal style courthouse was built on the
main thoroughfare of Cahaba Avenue. A stagecoach
regularly passed through town en route from Mobile
to Huntsville. "The Linden Jeffersonian" newspaper
began publication in 1853; "The Democrat Reporter"
weekly newspaper has served the surrounding area
since 1879. The City of Linden, incorporated March
1, 1870, remained the county seat except for a few
months during Reconstruction. Citizens witnessed a
gun fight between Deputy Sheriff Jeff "Dixie" Carter
and notorious train robber Rube Burrows in front of
the courthouse in 1890.
The
Louisville and Nashville Railroad track, nine-tenths
of a mile south of "old town," was completed in
1902. A "new town" grew near the depot as businesses
relocated to serve railroad customers.
Linden’s "middle town" grew near a Gothic style
courthouse constructed in 1903 at the corner of Main
Street and Coats Avenue. That courthouse with its
chiming clock tower was destroyed by fire and
replaced in 1968 by a new structure built on the
same site. This area continues to be the Linden
Downtown Business District,
and center for county government services into the
twenty-first century.
"The
History of Linden"
~Provided by the
Linden Historical Society
Notable
Natives
*
Ralph Abernathy,
civil rights leader
* Roy Rogers, professional basketball player
and coach
* Lucy Hannah,
fourth oldest person, oldest American at her
death, second oldest American, and oldest
verified African American
*William
J. Alston, United States
Representative to the Thirty-first Congress
Notable
Non-natives
*Rube
Burrow
Main Source for
names: Wikipedia |
