The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-17


today is in a manner totally obliterated
Its buildings have fallen down and de-
cayed. It's once beautiful and we'll paved
streets are now a Jungle of vines and
bushes, while portion of the former
town site is cultivated in cotton and
corn. Only recently much of the stone
which was In the builing used for state
house and other buildings was shipped
| down the river to Mobile and then taken
to Fort Morgan, down where the Gulf of
Mexico meets the waters of Mobile bay,
and used In the mason work about the
fort.
The history of ST. Stephens is of i'm
portanee not only to the state of Ala
bama, but to the nation as well, for its
| history of those early days has a strong
bearing upon the history of the union On
| March 1, 1877 the Congress of the Uni
| ted States divided the territory of Mis-
sissppl and two days later, or March 8,
another act of Congress divided this new
| territory, and the western part was made
tine territory of Alabama" with its pres
! ent boundaries President Monroe appoint
/ ed William Wyatt Bibb of Georgia as
governor of Alabama, Governor Bibb
! called the first session of the Legislature
| together on January 10, 1918, at st. Steph-
ems, where the act Of Congress had fixed
| the seat of government of the new terri
| tory of Alabama.
One of the peculiar features of this first
| Legislature of Alabama was that James
| Titus of Madison county alone composed
| the senate, he being the only one elected
entitled to a seat, as the others did not
reside within the confines of the new ter
ritory of Alabama He was the senate,
its president, its clerk, its all. He held
regular sessions of the senate; opened and
adjourned in due form. He ratified or
| rejected as he saw fit the actions of the
lower house
The second and last session of the leg
islation held in st. Stephens was in No
vember, 1878. The most important act OF
this session was to make Cahaba the per-
manent seat OF government and Hunts
vile the temporary seat, until a govern
ment building could be erected at Cahaba.
Mai. Jack Ferrill Ross was tine first
treasurer OF ALABAMA and conducted
ing those days. He was an officer in the
United States army and served through
| the war of 1872 He was quite a noted
character. Alabama was poor in those
days. There was only 5000 in the state
| treasury at the time.
| The most striking object that greets the
visitor to old st. Stephens today is
stately shaft of italian marble marking
| the resting place Of the fair Caroline
! Crawford the daughter of William Craw-
! ford, the second United States Judge OF
Alabama She married Samuel T. Brown
! and died Short. afterwards in her nine
, teenth year The marble shaft marking
| her tomb was transported from Italy ana
! cost $1,000. The monument, at the time
| Of It's erection, was looked upon as
! masterful work of art.
! Old st. Stephens is a difficult place to
reach except by steamer, No railroad
ever entered its confines, and the beauty
! Of the place was never married by the
locomotives smoke. The nearest railroad
| is the Southern. some twelve miles away,
at Carson station The little town Of
| new st. Stephens is three miles from the
| old town Like the old town II has po
railroad. 1t Is but a mere village. Ac-
cording to the last United States census
new ST. Stephens had population OF
only 3S7. There is in the new town OF st.
Stephens a society known as the st.
Stephens Historical Society and Its ar
chlves contain many interesting docu-
ments and relics of the old historical
town of st. Stephens the older.
] The old ST. Stephens has but rev VS.
itors to-day due partly no doubt to the