Dallas County, Alabama
Dallas County · Selma, Alabama · the river seat sits here · this is not Texas
Selma is the hall. Cahaba was the first capital. This is not Dallas, Texas.
Dallas County, Alabama, was erected 9 February 1818 by the Territorial Legislature and named for Alexander J. Dallas, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. The first seat was Cahaba, at the meeting of the Cahaba River and the Alabama River. Cahaba was also Alabama’s first capital. The capital moved to Tuscaloosa in 1825. The county seat moved to Selma in 1865. Selma is the seat. Selma is also the large city. Valley Grande is a city — it is not the hall. Orrville is a town. This is not Dallas County, Texas. This is not Dallas, Georgia. Montgomery is still the capital of Alabama. It does not sit here. Cahaba is not the capital now.
Places include Selma, Valley Grande, Orrville, Plantersville, and Selmont-West Selmont. 2020 census: 38,462. This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Black Belt river patrol and county detention this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Dallas County.
Four districts. Probate chairs. They do not sit in a Texas City Hall as this county.
Dallas is a four-member County Commission with the Judge of Probate as ex-officio chair. There is no County Executive. Commission and court business sit at 105 Lauderdale Street, Selma. They fund roads, the jail, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Selma City Council is a city body. Valley Grande is a city.
The courthouse is at 105 Lauderdale Street (4th Judicial Circuit). The Circuit Clerk and Absentee Election Manager list that Lauderdale door (SOS). A Texas rumor is not this county.
The Sheriff is four years, Article V § 138, 2026 with the Governor. Take office 18 January 2027. The Mayor of Selma is a city clock.
The Alabama River and U.S. 80. Montgomery is still the capital.
The Alabama River cuts the county. U.S. 80 is the through road — part of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. The Edmund Pettus Bridge is a river crossing in Selma, Alabama. It is not a Texas postcard. Chilton is north. Autauga is northeast. Lowndes is southeast. Wilcox is south. Marengo is west. Perry is northwest. Staff who paste a Dallas, Texas skyline onto Lauderdale, or treat Selma as the state capital, or file “Cahaba as the capital now,” are on the wrong county.
How a Selma public finds the Dallas desk
Courthouse / Circuit Clerk / Absentee: 105 Lauderdale Street, Selma. Board of Registrars: 105 Lauderdale Street, Room 122. Probate: same Lauderdale campus. Sheriff headquarters (SOS): 102 Church Street, Selma. Jail (county site, temporary): 4805 US-80. The Church Street jail house took an EF-2 tornado in January 2023 and remains closed as of early 2026 reporting; this Sheriff’s Department still maintains detention. Confirm live addresses on dallascounty-al.org and the SOS county lookup. A student who only knows a Texas photograph has not found Selma.
US-80 still jails for this badge. Selma PD does not.
Crime in unincorporated Dallas — Orrville country, Plantersville, the Black Belt roads off U.S. 80 — is this Sheriff. Crime in Selma is often Selma Police. Crime in Valley Grande is often municipal. This Sheriff is not Selma PD. The county’s own jail page says the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department maintains the County Jail. A Warden title here is Sheriff’s staff, not a separate ADOC house. Fountain Correctional Facility is ADOC in Escambia County (Atmore). Craig Field is an airport in Selma — not this jail. Do not paste Fountain onto US-80. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Selma Police or to Texas. Civil process and courthouse security at 105 Lauderdale are the Sheriff. Rights do not change at the river. Remedy for Selma Police is the City. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when the Alabama comes up is this count first.
Care without inventing a bridge chapel as this county
A peace order served in Orrville. A transport from the US-80 house to 105 Lauderdale without becoming Selma Police. Do not invent a church. Do not invent the bridge as this badge.
What Dallas actually watches
Court calendar on Lauderdale. A wreck on U.S. 80. High water on the Alabama River. Fog toward Orrville. A night road outside Valley Grande. Coordination with Selma PD and ALEA without becoming those departments. Coordination with Lowndes’s Sheriff or Perry’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. A Texas photograph does not steal the seat. Montgomery remains the capital.
Dallas snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Selma, Alabama · Large city (also the hall): Selma · Old seat / first capital: Cahaba (not the capital now) · Capital of Alabama: Montgomery
- Government: four Commissioners · Probate as ex-officio chair · courthouse 105 Lauderdale Street
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · patrol and detention this Sheriff still holds · HQ 102 Church Street · temporary jail 4805 US-80
- Court / Absentee: 105 Lauderdale Street
- Neighbors: Chilton · Autauga · Lowndes · Wilcox · Marengo · Perry
- Not Dallas County, Texas · Not Dallas, Georgia · Not Selma as the capital · Not Fountain (Escambia) as this jail
What Selma is not, as this county
- Not Dallas, Texas. Not Dallas, Georgia. Not Cahaba as the capital now.
- Not Montgomery as this county government — Montgomery is still the state capital.
- Not Selma Police as this Sheriff. Not ADOC Fountain as this jailer.
- Not a campaign flyer.