Coffee

Formed December 29, 1841 (50^th county)

Coffee County (53,460), Elba (3,511), Enterprise (28,695)

The Elba courthouse dates from 1903 and was built in Romanesque Revival style.  It was designed by Andrew J. Bryan.  The dark red brick facility is on a square surrounded by Court, Simmons, Factory, and Davis streets.  The facility features a working clock tower and the grounds have a fountain.  The dark red brick Enterprise courthouse augments the Elba facility.  A consolidated office complex uses a 1972 structure in New Brockton.  General John Coffee was the namesake for the county.  Coffee County was the birthplace of 1 Alabama Governor, James E. Folsom, Sr.  Elba was named for the Italian island.  Coffee County was created on December 29, 1841 from Dale County as the 50^th county.  Welburn was the first county seat (1841) followed by Elba (1852). 

Coffee County government consists of a sheriff, revenue commissioner, and coroner (executive).  It has 7 commissioners (legislative.)  Three Circuit Judges serve Coffee and Pike counties and a District Judge, a Probate Judge, a District Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Coffee County (judicial.)  This county is located in the southeast part of the state west of Dothan, Alabama.  The center of the county is 7.7 miles East-Southeast of Elba nearer New Brockton.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Pike, Dale, Geneva, Covington, and Crenshaw counties.  Elba is in the western half and Enterprise is near the eastern border of the county and extends into Dale County.  Elba and Enterprise both have county courthouses.  Enterprise is the largest city.  Elba is 6.6% of the county population while Enterprise is 53.7% of the county population. 

The county has an area of 679.0 square miles.  It ranks 34 out of 67 in size.  It ranks 26 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 80.7 persons per square mile making it 27 out of 67 in the state.  Coffee County has 62.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 84 enters the county from Dale County to the east and exits into Covington County to the west.  The county is a rectangle with a notch cut out of the northwest corner.  The county is in the Enterprise-Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Enterprise