Baldwin County , Alabama

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Baldwin County was established on December 21, 1809 ten years before Alabama became a state. Previously, the county had been a part of the Mississippi territory until 1817 when the area passed into the Alabama territory. Statehood was gained by Alabama in 1819.

In the first days of Baldwin County, the Town of McIntosh Bluff (now in Mobile County, Alabama, West of Baldwin County) on the Tombigbee River was the County Seat. After being transferred to the Town of Blakeley in 1810, the County Seat was later moved to the City of Daphne in 1868. In 1900, by an Act of the Legislature of Alabama, the County Seat was authorized for relocation to the City of Bay Minette, however, the City of Daphne resisted relocation. In order to relocate the County Seat to the City of Bay Minette, the men of Bay Minette devised a scheme. To lure the Sheriff and his Deputy out of the City of Daphne, the men prefabricated a murder. While the law was chasing down the fictitious killer during the late hours, the group of Bay Minette men stealthily traveled the seventeen miles to the City of Daphne, retrieved the Baldwin County Courthouse records, and delivered them to the City of Bay Minette where Baldwin County's County Seat remains to this day. A New Deal mural hanging in the Bay Minette post office depicts the removal of the county seat.

To see over 600 old photographs of Baldwin County towns go to www.baldwinexpress.org