History
Montgomery County has a very colorful background. Settlers first began to populate the area in the early 1800s. The County of Montgomery was created by an Act of the Legislature of the Mississippi Territory on December 6, 1816, one year before Congress passed the enabling act, allowing the creation of the Alabama Territory from the Mississippi Territory. Montgomery County was carved out of Monroe County and originally embraced the majority of central Alabama, east of the ridge dividing the Tuscaloosa and Tombigbee Rivers from the Cahaba River, west of the Okfuskee and Coosa, and south of the mountains of Blount. However, it was soon subdivided and portions were set apart which made up Elmore, Bullock, and Crenshaw counties.
Montgomery County was named in memory of Major Lemuel P. Montgomery of Virginia, who fell at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, becoming the first man to die in the battle. A statue in honor of Major Montgomery graces the entrance of the Montgomery County Courthouse, located at 251 S. Lawrence Street.
The lands of Montgomery County were put up for auction at the Federal Land Office in Milledgeville, Georgia in 1816. Larger parcels were sold to developers who subdivided the land into lots for urban commercial and residential use, predetermining a major city on the banks of the Alabama River at Montgomery.
When the Alabama Lands were offered for sale in 1817, two groups of speculators made their initial payments. One group, a company of Georgians led by General John Scott, bought the area along the river bluff and called it "Alabama Town." Later, a second group, led by Andrew Dexter, bought the area bounded by present day Court, Ripley, Scott, and Jefferson Streets and named it "New Philadelphia." The Georgians abandoned the Alabama Town and built the town of East Alabama, in competition.
A bitter rivalry between the two groups was finally terminated when the two towns were merged under the name Montgomery and incorporated December 3, 1819, eleven days before the State of Alabama was admitted into the Union.
The City of Montgomery, which became the county seat in 1822, was built on the side of the Indian town Ikanatchati (Econachatee), which means red ground, and Towasa on a high red bluff known to Alibamu Indians as Chunnaanaauga Chatty. Hernando DeSoto and his troops, who passed near Montgomery in the autumn of 1540, were the first Europeans to visit this region.
The City of Montgomery remained the sole municipality in the county until the Town of Pike Road incorporated in 1997.
Today, Montgomery County has an estimated population of over 221,000, making it the fourth largest county in the State.
Even though Montgomery County and the City of Montgomery share the same name, it came from two separate namesakes. Montgomery County was named after Major Lemuel P. Montgomery of Virginia, who fell at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. The City of Montgomery was named in honor of Major General Richard Montgomery of Revolutionary War fame, who lost his life in the Arnold expedition against Quebec.

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Montgomery, Alabama was founded in 1819. During the Civil War, Alabama was among the first southern states to secede from the Union. Jefferson Davis became the president of the new Confederate States of America standing on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building and the order to attack Fort Sumter was issued from Montgomery.
Following the Civil War, Montgomery boasts first electric streetcar in the country and the first flight school. Orville and Wilbur conducted their first night flights in Montgomery in 1910 on the site that is now Maxwell Air Force Base.
In 1955, Montgomery again made history when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. The reaction to this incident led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott forcing the city to desegregate its transit system. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began his career as pastor of the Dexter Street Baptist Church and led the Civil Rights Movement. Years of civil unrest followed and in 1965 Dr. King led the famous Civil Rights March for Justice from Selma to Montgomery.
Today, Montgomery is a prosperous and progressive state capital and is one of the largest livestock markets and dairy centers in the southeast. Alabama’s capital city is also dramatically revitalizing its downtown riverfront district to include a state-of-the-art convention center, multi-use baseball stadium and new attractions. Montgomery takes pride in its heritage and dedication to reconciling differences through the years and is committed to leading the way into the future in Alabama.

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While Pike Road has only existed as a municipality since 1997, the Pike Road community has flourished for over 175 years. Beginning with the arrival of the Meriwether, Mathews and Marks families around 1815, people began settling and farming the area in the mid-nineteenth century. As more families moved in, more services were needed, and by the early twentieth century, a booming small town had grown up at the intersection of Pike Road and Meriwether Road. (Pike Road, of course, was so-called because one had to pay a toll, or pike, to travel on it.) The crossroads community was referred to as the Pike Road community because of its location on the heavily traveled highway. The main intersection was home to several businesses, including cotton gins, a hardware store, livestock auction, post office, general store and doctors’ offices. Two of the buildings which once housed these early enterprises still stand near the original town center and across Pike Road from the current Town Hall.

The twentieth century brought continued population growth to Pike Road. While children’s education had been handled by the individual families up to this point, the need for a consolidated public school was imminent. By 1918, the people of the community had raised the money and procured the land for the schoolhouse, and the Pike Road Consolidated School opened in 1919. The school became a center for community activities and remained so until its close in 1970.

The close of the Pike Road School was just one of many changes that took place in the Pike Road area in the 1970s. With the growth of the City of Montgomery came new challenges for the quiet, peaceful farming community. Residents realized that without local control over zoning regulations, their pristine surroundings and way of life might be lost forever if the area were annexed.

Reacting to the effects of the expanding neighbor city, the residents of Pike Road first considered incorporation during this decade. Though this first consideration of independence was given up, the idea was revived in 1986. The obstacle to the second attempt was the prohibitive cost of the legal work involved in establishing a municipality. However, residents continued to grow increasingly aware of the threat the encroaching city posed to the Pike Road way of life.

At the same time that these early discussions of incorporation were taking place, new construction was booming in the Pike Road community. All of the new homes brought residents to the area in droves, and the population of Pike Road doubled during the 80s. The population growth added more voices to the strengthening outcry for incorporation.

After years of discussion and pressured by a proposed plan to run the Outer Loop, an interstate bypass, through the heart of Pike Road, citizens organized the final, successful incorporation effort in 1997. In order to make the vision a reality, a Pike Road attorney volunteered his time and legal services to the effort. At the time, 209 voters from the Glynlakes, Bean, Barnes and Meriwether Road neighborhoods were asked to vote on whether or not a city should be formed to protect the Pike Road community. Proponents of the idea spent countless hours going door-to-door, “selling” the idea to everyone they could reach and convincing them to go to the polls. On October 10, 1997, 151 of those voters cast their ballots in the referendum. 147 of them, or 97%, voted “yes” for independence. With the passing of the referendum, the Pike Road community became the Town of Pike Road, a Class 8 municipality.

Incorporation was not the end of the battle to preserve Pike Road. In the ten years since the initial vote was cast, the town has faced the challenges of raising revenue, maintaining roads, providing public services to citizens and staying ahead of the neighboring city’s efforts to annex as much land as possible. During the town’s first years, council and planning commission meetings were held at Peace Baptist Church, the location where the vote to incorporate took place. It was at the Peace Baptist Church that discussions were had over how to best supply services such as water, sewer, road maintenance, fire and police protection to the citizens. Many hours were also spent making decisions regarding the many annexations that took place in the years before the current town hall facilities were obtained in the spring of 2005.

The location of the current town hall building, at 4902 Pike Road, is symbolic of the city leader’s commitment to preserving the heart of Pike Road, both literally and metaphorically. The former home is near the intersection of Meriwether and Pike Roads, at the original center of the Pike Road community. Town council and other committee meetings are now held in the front portion of the building, which, in a salute to the town’s commitment to independence, was dedicated on July 4, 2005.

One of the central commitments Pike Road leaders made in the early days of incorporation was to grow wisely and with careful planning. To accomplish this purpose, the town’s planning commission embraced the idea of “smart growth,” and Smart Code development. Smart Code, as opposed to traditional zoning regulations, places value on creating town centers, preserving green spaces and making cities more friendly to pedestrians and recreation. The first municipality in Alabama to adopt Smart Code, Pike Road boasts the most innovative planning system in the Southeast.

This innovative, intentional way of handling growth and preparing for the future has attracted many people to the Pike Road area. Officials from The Waters, currently Pike Road’s largest single development, point to the commitment to smart growth as one of the reasons the community is excited to be part of the town.

Like The Waters, most Pike Road residents, old and new, are excited to be connected to a place as unique as this one. With great opportunities like a public school system, nature trails and more quality retail options on the horizon, the reasons to be thrilled about Pike Road are endless! Call Town Hall today to find out how you can turn your enthusiasm into progress. Welcome Home to Pike Road!

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