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History · Penton

Penton’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Penton. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
0recent photos

The story so far

from Wikipedia & the U.S. Census

Penton is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Chambers County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 163 as of the 2020 census which is down from a population of 201 people at the 2010 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 201 to 163 (-19%). Half of its homes were built before 1942.

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Penton yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.

Be one of the first

Start Penton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penton’s history is told.

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Famous people from Penton

See all 1 →
PTPete TurnhamPolitics & Law
By decade

Penton, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Penton is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Penton has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Ernest McCarty Oliver House in La Fayette, 6.8 miles away.

Penton and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Penton. Tap a dot.
Ernest McCarty Oliver HouseChambers County Courthouse Square Historic DistrictVines Funeral Home and Ambulance ServiceCounty Line Baptist ChurchWadley Railroad DepotRoanoke Downtown Historic District

Closest to Penton

Ernest McCarty Oliver HouseLa Fayette · Victorian6.8miChambers County Courthouse Square Historic DistrictLa Fayette · Romanesque8.8miVines Funeral Home and Ambulance ServiceLa Fayette · Building9.1miCounty Line Baptist ChurchCamp Hill · Built 18909.2miWadley Railroad DepotWadley · Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals9.3mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Ernest McCarty Oliver House’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Penton?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Penton’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Five Points📜 La Fayette📜 Wadley📜 Daviston
The door’s open

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/19 · 2025-01-01
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