A history of Prattville,
since 1818
Postcards, papers and photographs of Prattville from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Prattville was founded in 1839 by industrialist and architect Daniel Pratt. The area was largely inhabited by Native Americans and a few settlers when Pratt, a native of Temple, New Hampshire, first observed the Autauga Creek in the 1830s. He purchased approximately 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) from Joseph May at $21.00 an acre, and set out to build his manufacturing facilities and the town along the banks of Autauga Creek. The location was chosen because the creek could supply power to the cotton gin manufacturing equipment. The town became an industrial center and rapidly grew. In 1868, it was named the county seat for Autauga County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Prattville’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old view1851 Prattville Alabama Debows Re…, 1851: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Prattville
See all 17 →
Prattville, decade by decade
1920s
1980s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as 1851 Prattville Alabama Debows Review Engraving (1851) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.