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Coffeeville turns 200 next year Last Thursday I became a tour guide of sorts as I was asked to accompany the Grove Hill United Methodist "Upper Youth" to Coffeeville and tell them about the town and its history prior to the main reason for the trip- a catfish lunch at Bobby's Fish Camp just across the Tombigbee River in Choctaw County. My initial reaction was, "A tour of Coffeeville? You have got to be kidding!" But I pulled out my history books and stories I have collected over the years and put together a few stops for the group in my old hometown. Mayor Faye Cotten and others are making plans now for Coffeeville's 200th anniversary, to be celebrated next year. Coffeeville dates to 1808 when it was known as Murrell's Landing, named for prominent planter William Murrell. Murrell was a state legislator in 1819-1820. That was the first legislative session after Alabama became a state. His gravestone is the only one left in what was once an elaborate family cemetery. A daughter married Captain John Maffitt, commander of the raider, the CSS Florida, the sister ship of the CSS Alabama. We stopped at the Coffeeville Cemetery where the gravestones of some of the earliest settlers have birth dates in the 1700s. The cemetery is on two acres originally set aside for church use in the Nov. 6, 1819 plat of the town, by then known as Coffeeville, so named for Gen. John Coffee, a hero of the Creek Indian War of 1812-13. Coffee was a ally of Gen. Andrew Jackson. The city of Jackson was named for Jackson although neither man apparently ever visited Clarke County. Coffeeville was formally incorporated by the Alabama Legislature on Nov. 23, 1819. Coffeeville's existence is due to its location on the Tombigbee River. It was an important river landing town for years. Businesses were operating there in 1816. Coffeeville had a diverse population, coming from a number of states. I wonder if that had some bearing on the town being the only community in the county to poll a majority vote against secession from the United States in 1860 on the eve of the Civil War. The vote was 84 against and 32 for. The county vote by contrast was 733 for and 170 against. We stopped on River Street- one of the named streets on the 1819 plat- and I told the group about Coffeeville in the early 20th century. The old Robinson Drug Store and Mercantile Store were popular businesses and gathering spots as well. Dr. A. N. Robinson was the town's doctor for a half a century or better and his sons ran the stores. The town had other doctors at different times, too. The Robinsons also ran the movie theaters- one for whites and one for blacks. Charlie Wilson's two-story floor featured my great aunt, Gabrella Cox, as cashier on the second floor. The sales clerk would put money and a ticket into a wire basket that would be pulled upstairs by a wired pulley where my great aunt would make change if needed and send a receipt back downstairs. I pointed out Gin Road, so named for the two cotton gins that once stood at the bottom of the hill. Coffeeville has always had the reputation- sometimes unfairly- of being a tough place where people would fight you at the drop of a hat. I think that is exaggerated a little but I do know the town had its share of fights on Saturday nights. Red Branch behind the drug store is where men would gather to drink and settle their differences- or just fight, I think, for something to do! Ulcanush Baptist Church is the community's oldest church and the oldest on the same site (or within a half mile or so anyway), dating to 1816. The Methodist Church was organized in 1867 and in 1904 a group of Ulcanush Baptist members withdrew from that old church to start the Coffeeville Baptist Church, today the First Baptist Church of Coffeeville. The town has other churches, organized in later years. Coffeeville Academy was organized in 1832, followed by Pendleton Academy in 1833. The current brick high school building was built in 1938 to replace the wooden school that burned in 1937 after a fiddlers convention. The river bridge and lock and dam were built in 1960. When the bridge was opened, U.S. Highway 84 was extended between Grove Hill and Waynesboro, Miss. The list goes on and on. I think the church group was amazed at Coffeeville' s history and I was even impressed once I started compiling the data and reminding myself of my hometown's heritage!
Jim Cox is editor and publisher of The Clarke County Democrat.
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