Columbia, AL news and local guide

Known as "Old Columbia," the town was a major port of call for steamboats and the largest town in the area through the 19th century, a center of education, commerce and trade. It was incorporated on April 29, 1880. The Old Columbia Jail, built in the early 1860s with interior walls studded every two inches with iron spikes, is one of the last wooden jails still standing in Alabama. When a railroad came in 1889, river trade began to fade, and the Alabama Midland Railway's choice of Dothan as its route left Columbia behind as a trade center. The town still kept up with the times: it got its first cotton mill in 1891, its first electric plant in 1892 and electric street lights in 1900. A branch of the Henry County courthouse operated here from 1889 until Columbia became part of the new Houston County in 1903. The Purcell-Killingsworth House, called "Traveler's Rest," was completed in 1890 by businessman and politician William Henry Purcell. Sources The Historical Marker Database: Columbia, Alabama (Alabama Tourism Department and the Town of Columbia) Wikipedia: Columbia, Alabama