Government

Headland has a Mayor-Council form of government and provides the surrounding area with Fire and Ambulance services. Henry County is governed by an elected board of commissioners and chaired by an elected probate judge. Henry County provides clean water for most of the county not covered by city water, maintenance for all county roads, garbage collection services outside of all city limits and security through the Henry County Sheriff Department.

Headland

• City of Headland, Alabama

  Distance: 5.5 Miles City of Headland City of Headland 9 Park St Headland, AL 36345 (334) 693-3365 Headland has a Mayor-Council form of government and provides the surrounding area with Fire and Ambulance services.

• History of Headland, Alabama

  Distance: 5.5 Miles A Brief History of Headland written by T. Larry Smith Henry County's Official Historian Headland was not established until after the Civil War. The area was covered in standing ponds and virgin long straw pine trees. The countryside was sparsely settled. New settlers began arriving in the area seeking a new life after the war. They began clearing the land for cultivation. Headland began near the crossroads of the Eufaula, Alabama to Marianna, Florida mail road and the Newton, Alabama to Columbia, Alabama road. William Whitehead and wife, Matilda, claimed 160 acres near the crossroads. They were among the few charter members to establish the Church of Christ at Bethlehem on their 160 acres. This church grew into the present First Baptist Church of Headland. The oldest entity in Headland today is the Piney Grove Primitive Baptist Church established in 1849 near the three cornered pond in the West side of town. A Confederate veteran, James Joshua Head, purchased the land claim from William Whitehead in 1869 and then received a patent or first deed from the Federal Land Office. J.J. Head laid out a public square in 1871 for a proposed town and country branch court house. He first platted the south and west sides of the public square and built a storehouse and began selling business and residential lots. He constructed his house beyond the northeast corner of the square. The little place was being called "Head's Land" by locals. On October 10, 1871 a U.S. Post Office opened at "Headland, Alabama" and the town was officially established. Headland had only several dozen citizens. J.J. Head sold his mostly undeveloped village to Hosey C. Powell in 1879 and became a doctor, opening his practice in Headland. Headland's population was still minuscule with only about 100 people, even though the countryside was increasing as new pioneers were moving into the area. An attempt to incorporate the village failed for lack of people in 1879. A young doctor from Abbeville, Dr. Wyatt S. Oates, had opened his practice in Headland in 1875. He soon closed his medical practice to manage his ever enlarging real estate empire. Dr. W.S. Oates purchased the mostly unsold portion of the Town of Headland from H.C. Powell in 1880. Dr. Oates then became the town's promoter, builder and developer and was called the "Father of Headland." Dr. J.J. Head moved from Headland in 1883 to Tampa, Florida where he remained until his death in 1927. Headland incorporated in 1884 with barely enough voters to sign the petition. The population was around 150 with only 32 votes cast in the incorporation election. The railroad came through town in 1893 while the population had not yet reached 500. By 1900, Headland had 602 people. Being surrounded by rich farm lands, Headland's growing agricultural economy boomed. During the first quarter of the 1900's, Headland witnessed an economic explosion with the first new banks, steam cotton gin houses, cotton oil mills, lumber and turpentine operations and built the largest cotton oil mill in Alabama by 1912. Cotton was king. Headland was attracting new residents and businessmen, new hotels, new homes, new churches, new schools; and by 1911, Headland had the most automobiles registered in Henry county, along with the county's first hospital and the new two story brick Henry County High School. Headland's Public Square became surrounded by new brick storehouses for sale or for rent. The population reached 1,500 by 1915. The entrance of the dreaded cotton boll weevil spurred a new crop of peanut farming to emerge on local farms by 1916. By 1927, Headland's population reached 2,000. Alabama's first new agricultural experiment sub-station farm under the present system was built in Headland in 1928. The quality of life was expanding. The Great Economic Depression & Panic of the 1930's slowed the town's growth for the next 50 years; however, the town began to grow slowly after WWII. The population was 2,052 in 1940; 2,091 in 1950 and 3,327 by 1980. By 2000, the population was around 4,000. Henry County became the No. 1 peanut county in Alabama in the 1950's, and Headland is still a peanut and cotton town. A new federal four-lane highway was built near the town in the 1960's. By the early 2000's, Headland once again experienced a growth period, becoming the fastest growing town in Alabama; and excelling as the largest town in Henry County with 5 banks and a credit union. The city limits have recently expanded; new grants have been obtained for improving the Public Square and the downtown area, and upgrading the infrastructure systems, and for preserving the history of the town. Headland is greatly expanding her social, educational, religious, residential, recreational and business facilities for present and future needs. The old mottos in promoting Headland during the 19th and 20th centuries remain true today; Headland is the Gem of the Wiregrass and Headland is a Good Place to Live. The City of Headland is forging ahead into the 21st Century with a vision of hope and prosperity for the well being of her people. Headland and Henry County have so much History; and so much Future!

Henry County

• Henry County, Abbeville, Alabama - County Seat

  Distance: 16 Miles Henry County, Abbeville, Alabama - County Seat Henry County Courthouse Probate Office 101 W. Court Square, Suite A Abbeville, AL 36310-2135 (334) 585-3257 Henry County Clerk of Probate P.O. Box 337 Abbeville, AL 36310-0337 (334) 585-3257 Honorable Kristie Allums Henry County Revenue Commissioner 101 W. Court Square Suite C Abbeville, AL 36310 (334) 585-3043 Fax (334) 585-3890 Henry County Recorder / Registrar of Deeds - GIS Website Honorable Jo Ann Smith Henry County Probate Office 101 W. Court Square Suite A Abbeville, AL 36310 (334) 585-3257 Henry County Court Records Honorable Shirlene B. Vickers Henry County Circuit Court Clerk 101 West Court Square Abbeville, AL 36310 (334) 585-2753 Henry County Criminal Records Honorable William Maddox Henry County Sheriffs Office 101 W Court Sq Suite G Abbeville, Alabama 36310 (334) 585-3131 Sheriffs Office Henry County Jail 106 East Williams Abbeville, AL 36310 (334) 585-3293 Fax (334) 585-5200

• History of Henry County, Alabama

  Distance: 16 Miles History of Henry County, Alabama Henry County was created on Dec. 13, 1819. It was carved from Conecuh which had been a part of Monroe after it was formed from Washington County, the oldest county in the state, having been created by the proclamation of Governor Winthrop Sergeant of the Mississippi Territory on June 4, 1800. The area of Henry County on December 13, 1819 was vast in area. It embraced the present territory of Covington, Dale, Coffee, Geneva, Henry, Houston, parts of Pike, Crenshaw, Bullock and Barbour. The present area is 565 square miles. After the creation of Covington County from Henry, a part of Conecuh was left south of Henry which was later added to Henry County. Henry County was named for Patrick Henry, the Virginian known as the “Fireball of the Revolution”, by the many first settlers from Virginia who came to this section.

Alabama

• The State of Alabama

  Distance: 1 to 293 Miles The State of Alabama Alabama (formally, the State of Alabama) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland waterways. The state ranks 23rd in population with almost 4.6 million residents in 2006. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern States, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. White rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were underrepresented. In the years following World War II, Alabama experienced significant recovery as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and high technology, as well as the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. Today, the state is heavily invested in aerospace, education, health care, and banking, and various heavy industries including automobile manufacturing, mineral extraction, steel production and fabrication. Alabama is unofficially nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, which is also the name of the state bird. Alabama is also known as the "Heart of Dixie". The state tree is the Longleaf Pine, the state flower is the Camellia. The capital of Alabama is Montgomery, and the largest city by population is Birmingham. The largest city by total land area is Huntsville. The oldest city is Mobile.

United States of America

• United States of America

  Distance: From 1 to 4,582 miles Unites States of America The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories, or insular areas, scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific. At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km) and with about 305 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[7] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US$14.3 trillion (23% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 21% at purchasing power parity). The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[9] A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791. In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, the national economy was the world's largest.[10] The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for approximately 50% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.