Dallas County Courthouse
The grassed over mound of brick before you was once Dallas County's courthouse. This courthouse was built in 1834. It was dismantled prior to 1905 by brick salvagers.
Cahawba was the county seat from 1818 to 1866. This brought a lot of people, business and money into town. When the county seat was moved to Selma in 1866, most of Cahaba's residents moved also.
After the Civil War, the abandoned courthouse became a meeting hall for freedman seeking new political power. Cahaba was known as the "Mecca of the Radical Republican Party." This was shortlived, and by 1879 a steam-powered cotton gin was being operated in this structure.
Marker is on Vine Street, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
