St. Clair County, Alabama
St. Clair County · Ashville · the traditional seat sits here · Pell City is not a second county
Ashville is the hall. Pell City is the large city. This is not a second county.
St. Clair County, Alabama, was erected 20 November 1818 and named for General Arthur St. Clair. Ashville (first St. Clairsville) was the sole seat from 1821 to 1907. Backbone Mountain made the southern trip hard. A 1901 constitution provided a southern judicial seat; a 1907 amendment added Pell City as a second courthouse campus. Ashville is the traditional seat. Ashville is this hall. Pell City is the large city. Pell City is not a second county. Two courthouses do not split the oval. This is not St. Clair County, Illinois (Belleville). This is not St. Clair County, Michigan or Missouri. Montgomery is the capital of Alabama. It does not sit here. Ashville is not the capital. Pell City is not the capital.
Places include Ashville, Pell City, Moody, Springville, Odenville, Ragland, Steele, Riverside, Argo, and Margaret. 2020 census: about 91,000. This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — two-courthouse remainder patrol and the 18th Street jail — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — St. Clair County.
A chair and four districts. Second Tuesday in Ashville. Fourth Tuesday in Pell City. They do not hire this badge.
St. Clair is a five-member County Commission: a chair and four district Commissioners. There is no County Executive. Work sessions sit at 165 5th Avenue, Suite 100, Ashville. Regular meetings: second Tuesday at that Ashville annex; fourth Tuesday at 1815 Cogswell Avenue, Pell City. They fund roads, the jail, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Pell City Council is a city body.
The Ashville courthouse is at 100 6th Avenue (30th Judicial Circuit). The Pell City courthouse is at 1815 Cogswell Avenue, Suite 217. The Circuit Clerk lists both. Absentee lists the Ashville door at 100 6th Avenue, Suite 400. A city hall in Pell City is not this county.
The Sheriff is four years, Article V § 138, 2026 with the Governor. Take office 18 January 2027. The Mayor of Pell City is a city clock.
Backbone Mountain, I-20, I-59. Montgomery is still the capital.
I-59 runs the north. I-20 runs the south. The Coosa is the east water. Jefferson is west. Blount is northwest. Etowah is north. Calhoun is northeast. Talladega is southeast. Shelby is south. Staff who paste Belleville onto 6th Avenue, or treat Pell City as a second county, or file “St. Clair Correctional Facility as this jail,” are on the wrong county.
How an Ashville public finds two courthouses and one jail
Ashville court / Circuit Clerk / Absentee: 100 6th Avenue, Suite 400, Ashville. Pell City court: 1815 Cogswell Avenue, Suite 217. Commission annex: 165 5th Avenue, Ashville. Sheriff headquarters (SOS): 48 6th Street, Suite 300, Ashville. Pell City operations: 1610 Cogswell Avenue, Suite 206. Jail: 100 18th Street North, Pell City. Confirm live addresses on stclairco.com and stclairsheriff.org. A student who only knows a Pell City photograph as if it were a second county has not found this hall. A student who only knows Belleville has not found Alabama.
100 18th Street still jails. Pell City PD does not. Springville ADOC is not this jail.
Crime in unincorporated St. Clair — Odenville country, Ragland, Steele, the mountain roads off I-59 and I-20 outside city limits — is this Sheriff. Crime in Pell City is often Pell City Police. This Sheriff is not Pell City PD. Jail listings for this badge use 100 18th Street North. The Sheriff’s own site says the office operates one jail. That is not a separate county Department of Corrections standing in for the Sheriff’s house. St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville is ADOC — not this jail. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Pell City Police or to Illinois. Civil process and courthouse security at both campuses are the Sheriff. Rights do not change at Backbone Mountain. Remedy for Pell City Police is the City. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when a Coosa storm sits is this count first.
Care without inventing a clock-tower chapel as this county
A peace order served in Odenville. A transport from 100 18th Street North to 100 6th Avenue without becoming Pell City Police. Do not invent a church. Do not invent Pell City as a second badge.
What St. Clair actually watches
Court calendars on 6th Avenue and on Cogswell. A wreck on I-20. Fog on I-59. A night road outside Ragland. Coordination with Pell City PD, Moody PD, and ALEA without becoming those departments. Coordination with Jefferson’s Sheriff or Shelby’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. An Illinois photograph does not steal the seat. A Pell City photograph does not steal this hall.
Ashville snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Ashville · Large city (not the hall as a second county): Pell City · Capital of Alabama: Montgomery
- Government: chair plus four district Commissioners · annex 165 5th Avenue, Ashville · courts 100 6th Avenue and 1815 Cogswell
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · patrol and jail at 100 18th Street North, Pell City
- Court / Absentee: 100 6th Avenue, Suite 400, Ashville · HQ (SOS): 48 6th Street, Suite 300, Ashville
- Neighbors: Jefferson · Blount · Etowah · Calhoun · Talladega · Shelby
- Not St. Clair County, Illinois · Not Pell City as a second county · Not ADOC Springville as this jail · Not Pell City PD as this Sheriff
What Ashville is not, as this county
- Not St. Clair County, Illinois. Not St. Clair County, Michigan. Not St. Clair County, Missouri.
- Not Pell City as a second county. Not a second Sheriff on Cogswell.
- Not St. Clair Correctional Facility as this jailer.
- Not the capital — Montgomery is still the capital.
- Not a campaign flyer.