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Editor's Notes
The town starting developing in mid-1887 in a swampy bottom where the new Mobile and Birmingham Railway was pushing northward from Mobile to Selma. It wasn't far from the older and bustling community of Choctaw Corner Research in the files of The Clarke County Democrat reveal that there was much discussion as to what the new town would be called as work progressed on the railroad line. A correspondent in June 1887 noted that the line would pass two miles east of Choctaw Corner. The unnamed writer said "Choctaw Town" was the proposed name for the new railroad station. Democrat Editor Isaac Grant didn't like that. "Why not call it Poole, Slade, Davis, Glen or the name of some other old settler or present resident of Choctaw Corner? Choctaw Town is a long, unwiedling name, and not at all euphonious in sound. If not out of order, we would respectfully ask for a a reconsideration of the matter before it is too late. The Choctaw Corner station will, doubtless, be a very important railroad point." W. L. Henderson was credited as having proposed the route that guided the tracks through the hills of northern Clarke County and Grant suggested naming it for him. Grant's suggestion went unheeded and the July 28 issue of The Democrat said the name would likely be "Choctaw." By August, the newspaper noted that a Mr. Durden was putting up "a good size hotel...Some five or six store houses are in the course of construction." The new town was apparently rocking. A correspondent who signed himself "Ubet" in September said that land was being sold for $800 per acre for business purposes. A large number of buildings were under construction and the lack of lumber was a severe problem. By October, Grant reported that there were eight to 10 stores, two hotels and two more projected, three steam mills, two or three blacksmith and wood shops, a restaurant, a barber shop and a telegraph office. The Choctaw Enterprise, the town's first newspaper, started before the end of the year. But the name "Choctaw" was rejected by the postal service because of too many similar names. "Eden City was then proposed and it was rejected by an official with no music or poetry in his soul. Birmile was next proposed, as combing two sounds in the termini of the road [Birmingham and Mobile], and will likely be accepted," Grant wrote. Eureka was another suggestion and former Probate Judge R. J. Woodard wrote to recommend Gilmore in honor of Rev. Stephen Gilmore, a longtime and aged resident of the area. The name was abruptdly settled by late December 1887 or early January 1888 when it was named for General Samuel Thomas, a rich New Yorker and principal financier of the new railroad. How the name came about was a matter of contention even then. One account says that the New Yorker, in recognition of the town being named in his honor, donated $500 toward a new school for the town. A local writer suggested that the name was applied to the town only after the $500 appropriation was received and questioned "the price of the name of a town." The Democrat offered no explanation, only a curt one sentence acknowledgement in its Jan. 5, 1888 edition: "Thomasville, not Choctaw." Ironically, the school that Thomas' money built was destroyed by fire before classes were ever held in it. It was rebuilt and began operating in 1890. The coming of the railroad was a remarkable advancement in Clarke County. Now, Mobile and Selma were only hours away by train, not days by horseback or steamboat. The first passenger train through the county ran Feb. 14, 1888. The train left Thomasville at 5:30 a.m. and arrived in Mobile at 10:25 a.m., a trip of nearly five hours but at a speed that was mind-boggling for the time. The cost for a ticket was $3.75 for Thomasville, $2.95 from Whatley and $2.25 from Jackson. Editor Grant visited Thomasville in May and noted the remarkable growth of the new town. "The first of last August, the ground where the dashing, bustling and ambitious little town of Thomasville now stands was covered by an unbroken pine forest and an undergrowth of bushes. The work of improvement and enlargement still goes on. We noticed that some store houses were being enlarged, while other buildings were in course of construction." Thomasville would survive several early setbacks. A typhus fever struck in 1889 and was termed "Thomasville Fever" and blamed on decaying timbers in water sources. A fire destroyed the downtown business district in 1899 but the town built back. Today, Thomasville is one of southwest Alabama's best success stories. Who would have thought its naming just over 100 years would have raised such a furor.
Jim Cox is editor and publisher of The Clarke County Democrat.
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