Choctaw

Formed December 29, 1847 (51^st county)

Choctaw County (12,663), Butler (1,866)                

The large white columns on the light tan brick 1906 building provide the courthouse appearance.  It is in the center of the city square at Mulberry, Hamburg, Church and Pushmataha streets.  Alabama State Highway 17 is Mulberry Street.  L. L. Brasfield is the architect for this Classical Revival courthouse.  It was remodeled in 1955.  Choctaw County is named for the Native American tribe.  The county seat is named for Mexican War hero Colonel Pierce Butler.  Barrytown was the original county seat and replaced in 1848 by Butler.  The county was formed on December 29, 1847 from parts of Sumter and Washington counties as the 51^st county. 

Choctaw County government consists of a sheriff, revenue commissioner, and coroner (executive).  It has 5 commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Judges serve Choctaw, Clarke, and Washington counties and a District Judge, a Probate Judge, a District Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Choctaw County (judicial.)  The county is located on the border with Mississippi in the southwest part of the state.  The center of the county is 6.7 miles South-Southwest of Butler.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Sumter, Marengo, and Clarke counties and Mississippi.  Mobile, Alabama is south and Meridian, Mississippi is west of the county.  Butler is in the northern third of the county.  Butler is the county seat and the largest city.  Butler is 14.7% of the county population.  The county is pronounced CHAWK-TAW.

The county has an area of 913.5 square miles.  It ranks 14 out of 67 in size.  It ranks 59 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 13.6 persons per square mile making it 62 out of 67 in the state.  Choctaw County has 31.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  The Tombigbee River is its eastern border.  United States Highway 84 crosses the southern part of the county coming in from the east, Clarke County, and going out west into Mississippi.  The county is shaped like a rectangle with a bulge on the river border. 

Silas