Dothan Alabama

Dothan is a city located in extreme southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Alabama. It is the seat of Houston County, and portions of the city are in Dale County and Henry County. The city's name derives from a town mentioned in a Bible verse, Genesis 37:17 - "For I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. " As of the 2000 census, the city's population was 57,737. All information contained herein ©2001 Dothan Regional Airport. It is the principal city of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Geneva, Henry, and Houston counties.

History

In the late 1700s and 1800s, horse and ox-drawn covered wagons from Charleston, Savannah, and Jacksonville, creaked and groaned across the South as pioneer families searched for a place to build new homes and to start a new life. Those pioneers who passed through the vast pine forests in the southeast corner of the territory that was to later become the state of Alabama would often stop at a spring known as Poplar Head, where they would camp for a while and rest. Most of those early travelers believed that the sandy soil which nurtured the thick pine forests would not be suitable for farming, so they moved on.

Poplar Head, named for the poplar trees that encircled the glade where the cool water, or "head" (as springs were often called) welled from the earth, was where ancient Indian trails met, crossed, and then continued on. The glade where the spring was located was often used by Indians from the various tribes of the Creek Confederacy as a meeting place and as a campground. 638 Dothan, Alabama 36302 It is my goal to make Dothan a city that they will be.