TO FOSTER THE QUINTESSENTIAL SOUTHERN CHARM EUFAULA DISPLAYS TODAY, THE TOWN TRAVELED A VERY COLORFUL HISTORY. THE TALE BEGINS AS THE STORY OF AMERICA DOES – WITH THE INDIANS – AND A VERY PECULIAR NAME. FEW SEE “EUFAULA” AND SAY “YOU-FALL-UH,” AS THEY SHOULD. ONE CAN IMAGINE THIS WAS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN 1823 WHEN A GROUP OF GEORGIA MEN IN SEARCH OF FERTILE LAND FOR CROPS, DESCENDED UPON A CREEK INDIAN TRIBE CALLED “THE EUFAULAS.” THE “EUFAULAS,” ONE OF THREE TRIBES OF THE MUSCOGEE NATION LIVING AMONG THE BLUFFS, HAD BEEN INHABITING THE AREA NOW KNOWN AS ST. FRANCIS POINT FOR NEARLY 100 YEARS. SOON, HOWEVER, THEY WERE SHARING THE LAND WITH THE MEN FROM GEORGIA, WHO ORGANIZED A SETTLEMENT ON THE BLUFFS AND ADOPTED THE INDIAN NAME, “EUFAULA.”

AROUND THIS SAME TIME, GENERAL WILLIAM IRWINTON, WHO SERVED WITH AN ALABAMA MILITIA UNIT DURING THE CREEK WAR OF 1836-37, WAS GRANTED SEVERAL THOUSAND ACRES OF LAND IN NEIGHBORING HENRY COUNTY. THROUGH HIS POLITICAL CONNECTIONS, IRWINTON ESTABLISHED THE FIRST STEAMBOAT WHARF ALONG THE BLUFFS OF EUFAULA, AS WELL AS THE FIRST POST OFFICE, WHICH SET THE FOUNDATION FOR THE TOWN’S RISE TO PROMINENCE AS A CENTER OF TRADE. IN APPRECIATION, THE TOWN WAS RENAMED “IRWINTON” IN 1833.