Daphne, AL news and local guide

The town itself was named and established on April 9, 1874, when its post office opened. Postmaster and hotel owner William Howard chose the name Daphne, possibly after a shrub his wife admired. Daphne became the Baldwin County seat in 1868, after the Civil War left Blakeley deserted, and kept it until 1901, when the legislature moved the seat to Bay Minette. Daphne leaders were reluctant to give up the county records; one account describes a late-night raid by Bay Minette men, while a 1956 interview said the move was arranged in advance and the records were loaded on the evening of October 11, 1901. Meanwhile, in 1888, the first Italian immigrants arrived on land that Alesandro Mastro Valero had bought as a refuge for them, and land for the Catholic Church of the Assumption was bought in June 1895. Daphne was incorporated on July 8, 1927, on a petition signed by 41 landowners, and held its first election on September 19, 1927, choosing James M. Voltz as mayor. Known as the "Jubilee City" for the rare nights when crabs, shrimp and fish crowd the shallows of the bay, it celebrates with the annual Eastern Shore Jubilee Festival. The Daphne History Museum is housed in the Old Methodist Church, built in 1858. Sources Encyclopedia of Alabama: Daphne Wikipedia: Daphne, Alabama (citing the City of Daphne and Lewis and Outlaw, Images of America: Baldwin County)