Jefferson, Alabama

Not to be confused with Jefferson County, Alabama.

Jefferson, Alabama
Unincorporated community
Jefferson Location within the state of Alabama Show map of Alabama Jefferson Jefferson (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 32°23′8.88″N 87°53′53.41″W
Country	United States
State	Alabama
County	Marengo
Elevation	233 ft (71 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	36745
Area code	334

Jefferson is an unincorporated community in Marengo County, Alabama, United States.^[1] It is the birthplace of sculptor Geneva Mercer.^[2]

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1870	233		—
1880	204		−12.4%
U.S. Decennial Census[3]

Jefferson appeared on the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Censuses. In 1870, it reported 233 residents. Of those, 143 (61%) were black and 90 (39%) were white.^[4] Racial demographics in 1880 were not reported. These were the only two occasions on which it appeared on census records.

History

It was founded in 1810, before Marengo was a county or Alabama was a state. Most of the original settlers were veterans of the American Revolution, including John Sample, John Gilmore, and Reuben Hildreth.^[5] The village was named Jefferson in 1820, after Thomas Jefferson, and that year saw the first church established.^[5] The population had reached 200 people by 1860 and the village contained two dry goods stores, one drugstore, a male and a female academy, a Masonic Lodge, a hotel, two tanneries, a wagon shop, and a blacksmith shop.^[5]

Geography

Jefferson is located at 32.38580°N 87.89817°W / 32.38580; -87.89817 and has an elevation of 233 feet (71 m).

Historic sites

• Jefferson Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places on 13 December 1976.

Further reading

• Angela McMillan Howell. Raised Up Down Yonder: Growing Up Black in Rural Alabama (University Press of Mississippi; 2013) 224 pages; an ethnographic study of high school students in fictional Hamilton a pseudonym for the community near Jefferson and John Essex High School.

References

1. "Jefferson, Alabama". ePodunk Community Profiles. Retrieved January 16, 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. Marengo County Heritage Book Committee (2000). The Heritage of Marengo County, Alabama. Clanton, Alabama: Heritage Pub. Consultants. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-891647-58-1.
3. "U.S. Decennial Census". Census.gov. Archived from the original on May 7, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
4. "Population of Civil Divisions less than counties - Table III. - State of Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1870. p. 80.
5. Marengo County Heritage Book Committee: The heritage of Marengo County, Alabama, page 7. Clanton, Alabama: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2000. ISBN 1-891647-58-X