Editing Marion County, Alabama (section)

==History==
The county was created by the Alabama Territorial General Assembly on February 13, 1818, preceding Alabama's statehood by almost two years. It was created from land acquired from the [[Chickasaw]] Indians by the Treaty of 1816. Marion County included all of its current territory and parts of what are now [[Winston County, Alabama|Winston]], [[Walker County, Alabama|Walker]], [[Fayette County, Alabama|Fayette]], and [[Lamar County, Alabama|Lamar]] counties in Alabama as well as portions of present-day [[Lowndes County, Mississippi|Lowndes]], [[Monroe County, Mississippi|Monroe]], and [[Itawamba County, Mississippi|Itawamba]] counties in [[Mississippi]]. The county was named in honor of [[Francis Marion|General Francis Marion (1732–1795)]], an [[American Revolutionary War]] hero from [[South Carolina]] who was known as "The Swamp Fox." Many early settlers of Marion County came from [[Kentucky]] and [[Tennessee]] after [[Andrew Jackson|General Andrew Jackson]] established the [[Jackson's Military Road|Military Road]]. The first towns in the area were [[Pikeville, Marion County, Alabama|Pikeville]], [[Hamilton, Alabama|Hamilton (formerly named Toll Gate)]], [[Winfield, Alabama|Winfield]], and [[Guin, Alabama|Guin]].

The county's first seat was settled in 1818 at [[Cotton Gin Port, Mississippi|Cotton Gin Port]], near present-day [[Amory, Mississippi]]. It was moved in 1819 to the home of Henry Greer along the [[Buttahatchee River]], in 1820, the first permanent county seat was established at Pikeville, now a ghost town, located between present day Hamilton and Guin, along [[U.S. Highway 43]]. Pikeville served as the county seat of Marion County until 1882. Although the town is now abandoned, the home of Judge John Dabney Terrell Sr., which served as the third county courthouse, still stands. In 1882, Hamilton became the county seat. The first courthouse in Hamilton was destroyed by fire on March 30, 1887, and the second courthouse, constructed in the same place, also burned. A new courthouse, constructed of local sandstone opened in 1901. In 1959, the building was significantly remodeled to give the structure its current 1950s "[[international style (architecture)|international style]]" design theme.