Early Days
Prattville and Autauga County, Alabama, have a rich heritage dating to when the Creek Indians occupied the territory. The name Autauga is thought to have been derived from the Indian word Atagi which means water. As a result of the War of 1812 and the defeat of the Creek Indian Nation at Horseshoe Bend, the region was opened for peaceful settlement. Autauga County was established by the Second Alabama Territorial Legislature in 1818, a full year before Alabama became a state. Alabama’s first territorial governor and first state governor, William Wyatt Bibb, was a resident of the Autauga County.
Prattville received its name from the early industrialist Daniel Pratt. Born in New Hampshire in 1799, Pratt sailed to Georgia twenty years later and became a builder of homes. He later was associated with the cotton gin manufacturer Samuel Griswold, and became Griswold’s partner. Deciding to expand their gin manufacturing operation into Alabama, in late 1835, Pratt purchased nearly 2000 acres of land in the area that is now downtown Prattville.
Daniel Pratt industrialized the area in less than a dozen years. In addition to the gin factory, he established a sawmill, a gristmill, a cotton factory, and an operation that produced sashes, doors, and blinds. Pratt’s enterprises prospered and so did Prattville.
Pratt once stated that his objective was, “…to give employment to as many operatives as means can justify, and to furnish them with educational and religious advantages.” He was a man of his word. He built small, comfortable homes for his workers and provided them with gardens so that they could grow their own food. He built a Methodist church building at a personal cost of $20,000.00 and was responsible for the 1859 construction of the Prattville Male and Female Academy.
Daniel Pratt was opposed to secession because he believed the South did not possess the resources to sustain the effort to separate and remain separated from the North. However, once Alabama made the decision to secede, Pratt went with his adopted state and became a generous supporter of the Confederacy, and particularly of Autauga County units. He also provided relief to families of the Confederate soldiers during and after the war.
In 1866, after the Civil War, Prattville became the county seat. Because of this new importance, it was concluded that Prattville should have a city government. Daniel Pratt was unanimously elected the town’s first intended (mayor), and he served in that office until his death on 1873.