Dale

Formed December 22, 1824 (35^th county)

Dale County (49,319), Ozark (14,364)                

The Modern tan brick and concrete 1966 courthouse is located on a square at Merrick, Union, Broad, and Reynolds streets.  Broad Street is Alabama State Highway 27 in the city.  Wald & Holmes are the architects for this courthouse.  The grounds feature veteran memorials and a Liberty Bell replica.  There was a 1901 courthouse in Ozark.  Dale’s Court House, Newton, and Ozark have all been the county seat.  Dale County was created on December 22, 1824 from parts of Covington and Henry counties as the 35^th county.  It later provided the land for Coffee and Geneva counties.  General Samuel Dale provided the source for the county’s name.  Ozark’s name source is the Ozark Mountains. 

Dale County government consists of a sheriff, revenue commissioner, and coroner (executive).  It has 4 commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Judge serve Dale and Geneva counties and two District Judges, a Probate Judge, a District Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Dale County (judicial.)  The county is located in the southeast part of the state just northwest of Dothan, Alabama.  The center of the county is 5 miles South-Southeast of Ozark.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Barbour, Henry, Houston, Geneva, Coffee, and Pike counties.  Ozark is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 29.1% of the county population. 

The county has an area of 561.2 square miles.  It ranks 63 out of 67 in size.  It ranks 28 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 88.3 persons per square mile making it 25 out of 67 in the state.  Dale County has 60.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States. Highways 84 cuts the bottom corner of the county from Houston County, east, to Coffee County, west.  United States. Highway 231 diagonally crosses from northwest to southeast going from Pike County into Houston County.  It is shaped like a rectangle with a foot on the southwest corner.  Ozark is near the center of the county.  The county is in the Enterprise-Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area.