Autauga County was established on November 21, 1818, by an act of the
Alabama Territorial Legislature (one year before Alabama was
admitted as a State). As established, the county included present-day Autauga County, as well as
Elmore County and
Chilton County. At the time,
Autauga (aka,
Tawasa)
Indians lived here. They were concentrated at
Atagi (meaning "pure water") village situated on the banks of a creek by the same name (called "Pearl Water Creek" by settlers); it is a tributary of the
Alabama River. Other scholars suggest the
Creek word
atigi, meaning "border," as the source of the name Autauga. The Autauga were a band of the
Alibamu tribe, and named after their geographic location. The Alibamu eventually were absorbed into the Creek Confederacy. During
Andrew Jackson's invasion of the area during the
Creek War, as part of the War of 1812, the Autaga sent many warriors to resist. The county was part of the territory ceded in 1814 by the Creek Confederacy in the
Treaty of Fort Jackson. The territorial legislature designated the first county seat as
Jackson's Mill, but the court met there only briefly, choosing to select a permanent seat at
Washington. The new county seat was built on the former site of Atagi village in the southeast corner of the county. With population growth more in the west of the county, the county seat was moved to a more central location at
Kingston in 1830. Losing business and residents to the new county seat, the town of Washington dwindled until it was completely deserted by the late 1830s.
Daniel Pratt arrived in Autauga County in 1833 and founded the new town of Prattville, north of Atagi on the fall line of Autauga Creek. His
cotton gin factory quickly became the largest manufacturer of gins in the world; it was the first major industry in Alabama. Pratt financially backed the recruitment at his factory of men for the
Prattville Dragoons, a fighting unit for the
Confederacy. It was organized in anticipation of the
Civil War. Other units formed in Autauga County included the Autauga Rifles (Autaugaville), The John Steele Guards (western Autauga Co.) and the Varina Rifles (northern Autauga Co.). None of the fighting of the Civil War reached Autauga County. Pratt was able to secure payment of debts from Northern accounts soon after the war, lessening the disabling effects of the
Reconstruction period in the county. Immediately after
emancipation in early 1863,
Charles Atwood, a freedman who had formerly been enslaved by Daniel Pratt, bought a house in the center of Prattville. He became one of the founding investors in Pratt's
South and North Railroad. It was exceptional for an
African American to become so economically successful and prominent, and to own land in an Alabama city in this period. In 1866 and 1868, the legislature established
Elmore and
Chilton counties from Autauga County. The county seat was newly designated as Prattville, which was the population center of the redefined jurisdiction. A new courthouse was completed there in 1870 by local builder George L. Smith. In 1906, a new and larger courthouse was erected a block north; it was designed in a modified
Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building was designed by Bruce Architectural Co. of
Birmingham and built by Dobson & Bynum of
Montgomery. ==Geography==