Elba, Alabama Homes For Sale By Owner

Elba is a city in Coffee County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 4,185. T
Elba is part of the Enterprise–Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area. Elba is also the county seat of Coffee County

Cornelia Wallace (1939-2009), First Lady of Alabama from 1971-1978 and the second wife of Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., was born in Elba.

Located in the Pea River basin at the river's junction with Whitewater Creek, Elba originated with an east-west ferry across the river in the early 1830s, between what is today Claxton and Polka Streets. Originally called Bridgeville, a post office was established in the town by 1841. John Simmons acquired the land on which Elba is located around 1840. In 1851 a lottery to determine a new name for the town was held. Simmons had been reading a biography of Napoleon, and his suggestion of Elba was selected.

Elba became the capital of Coffee County in 1851, and the town was moved back from the river a half-mile to the current location. Incorporated in 1853, Elba saw its fist public school established in 1863. The first marked grave in the Elba's still-active Evergreen cemetery was that of James Ham, who died in 1858. The first church established in Elba was Methodist; the present Methodist church was opened on February 12, 1911, with large stained-glass windows commemorating the Confederate Civil War dead from Coffee County.

The first railroad arrived in Elba on March 20, 1892. Dorsey Trailer was located at the end of the rail line, and the company manufactured the trailers that fueled the piggyback boom of the second half of the 20th century. The railroad line ended in West Elba, where the "New Town" industrial section of the town began. The Seaboard System Railroad discontinued rail service on November 27, 1984.

The Pea River, an essential component of Elba history, was originally called the Talakatchee River by the Creek Indians. Emerging from a swamp in Bullock County, the approximately 120-mile river joins the Choctawatchee River at Geneva. About half of the river's length is contained in Coffee County. Frequent floods of the Pea River have marked Elba history, especially in the month of March. The Lincoln flood of 1865, named for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in the same year, was the first to destroy the town. A particularly devastating flood occurred in 1929. The river crested at a depth of 43.5 feet early on March 15, 1929, and airplanes dropped supplies to the completely inundated town. There was only one death from the flood, an African-American man named "Phoe" Larkins. A child born at the Elba Hotel during the flood was named Noah Tucker after the biblical figure. Vivian Harper received the Theodore N. Vail Silver Medal for her heroic actions during the flood.

Another flood threatened in the summer of 1929. A six-year-old boy, Paul Rowe Brunson, was almost drowned in the Pea River when a footbridge acoss the river collapsed. He escaped death through timely rescue efforts, and the mail bag he was carrying also survived. A levee was built around the town in 1930; flood gates were erected and drainage systems improved. The Simmons Bridge was constructed and raised to its present level. Floods continued, however, with especially severe inundations in 1938, 1959 and 1975. The worst flood ever recorded in Elba occurred in 1990, with a river crest of 48 feet. The levee broke and Whitewater Creek overflowed into the town; Elba was completely flooded for four days and the town was almost totally destroyed.

Elba was the home of James E. "Big Daddy" Folsom, the only Coffee County native to become governor of Alabama. Another memorable resident of the town was "Uncle" Charlie Porter, born in slavery, who lived to be 122 years old. He was a frequent sight on the streets of Folsom with his burlap sack slung across his back. Long-time National Football League linebacker, Ronald McKinnon, who played for the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints, was a member of a state championship winning team at Elba High School.

List your home on the MLS in Elba, Alabama