Place:Baldwin, Alabama, United States

Watchers
NameBaldwin
Alt namesAbraham Baldwinsource: Wikipedia
Baldwinsource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeCounty
Coordinates30.75°N 87.767°W
Located inAlabama, United States     (1809 - )
See alsoEscambia, Alabama, United StatesChild county (source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990)
Washington, Alabama, United StatesParent county (source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990)
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Baldwin County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama, on the Gulf coast. As of the 2020 census, the population was 231,767. The county seat is Bay Minette. The county is named in honor of Senator Abraham Baldwin, though he never lived in what is now Alabama.

Baldwin was Alabama's fastest growing county from 2010 to 2020, with 4 of the top 10 fastest growing cities in the state in recent years.

The U.S. federal government designates Baldwin County as the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

It is the largest county in Alabama by area and is located on the eastern side of Mobile Bay. Part of its western border with Mobile County is formed by the Spanish River, a brackish distributary river.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

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 was included in the separate Alabama Territory. Statehood was gained by Alabama in 1819.

There have been numerous border changes to the county as population grew and other counties were formed. Numerous armies have invaded during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War.

In the first days of Baldwin County, the town of McIntosh Bluff on the Tombigbee River was the county seat. (It is now included in Mobile County, west of Baldwin County.) The county seat was transferred to the town of Blakeley in 1820, and then 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 this relocation.

To achieve the relocation, the men of Bay Minette devised a scheme. They fabricated a murder to lure the Sheriff and his deputy out of the city of Daphne. While the law was chasing down the fictitious killer during the late hours, the group of Bay Minette men stealthily traveled the seventeen miles (27 km) to Daphne, stole the Baldwin County Courthouse records, and delivered them to the city of Bay Minette, where Baldwin County's county seat remains. A New Deal mural, completed by WPA artists during the Great Depression, depicts these events. It hangs in the Bay Minette United States Post Office.

Due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, Baldwin County frequently endures tropical weather systems, including hurricanes. Since the late 20th century, the county has been declared a disaster area multiple times. This was due to heavy damages in September 1979 from Hurricane Frederic, July 1997 from Hurricane Danny, September 1998 from Hurricane Georges, September 2004 from Hurricane Ivan, and August 2005 from Hurricane Katrina.

2016 flag controversy

Baldwin County attracted national attention after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting as the only county in the United States to refuse to lower its flags to half-staff. Both President Obama and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley had ordered all flags to be lowered immediately following the attack, which was believed to have specifically targeted the LGBTQ community. Citing the U.S. Flag Code, Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey stated that while his "heart certainly goes out to the victims and their families," the incident "doesn't meet the test of the reason for the flag to be lowered."

Timeline

Date Event Source
1809 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1809 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1809 Probate records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1810 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1810 Marriage records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1870 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1886 Birth records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1810 1,427
1820 1,713
1830 2,324
1840 2,951
1850 4,414
1860 7,530
1870 6,004
1880 8,603
1890 8,941
1900 13,194
1910 18,178
1920 20,730
1930 28,289
1940 32,324
1950 40,997
1960 49,088
1970 59,382
1980 78,556
1990 98,280


Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Baldwin County, Alabama, United States

Research Tips


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Baldwin County, Alabama. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.