Washington County, Alabama
Washington County · Chatom, Alabama · the oldest county’s seat sits here · this is not Maryland
Chatom is the hall. The Autauga ghost town is not this county.
Washington County, Alabama, was created 4 June 1800 as a county of the Mississippi Territory by proclamation of Gov. Winthrop Sargent. Encyclopedia of Alabama calls it the oldest established county in the state. It was named for George Washington. The first seat was McIntosh. The hall moved through Wakefield, Rodney, Millry country, Barryton, and “New” St. Stephens. The county seat moved to Chatom in 1907. Chatom is the seat. Chatom is also the largest town. McIntosh and Millry are towns. St. Stephens was the capital of Alabama Territory. St. Stephens is not the capital now. St. Stephens is not this hall now. This is not the ghost town of Washington in Autauga — that river hamlet was Autauga’s seat until 1830. This is not Washington County, Maryland — that seat is Hagerstown. This is not the State of Washington. This is not Washington, D.C. This is not Washington County, Pennsylvania. Montgomery is the capital of Alabama. It does not sit here.
Places include Chatom, McIntosh, Millry, Fruitdale, Deer Park, Wagarville, Leroy, and St. Stephens. 2020 census: 15,388. This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Tombigbee-road patrol and the Court Street detention house this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Washington County.
Six Commissioners on Court Street. They do not sit in Hagerstown.
Washington is an elected six-member County Commission (Encyclopedia of Alabama). There is no County Executive. Commission and court business sit at the Washington County Courthouse, 45 Court Street, Chatom, AL 36518 — a 1965 house on the site of the 1908 hall. They fund roads, the courthouse, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Chatom Town Council is a town body. Hagerstown is Maryland.
The courthouse is at 45 Court Street (1st Judicial Circuit — Clarke, Choctaw, Washington). Circuit Clerk / Absentee Election Manager, Probate, Board of Registrars, and Sheriff headquarters all list that Court Street door (SOS). A Maryland rumor is not this county. An Autauga ghost-town postcard is not this county.
The Sheriff is four years, Article V § 138, 2026 with the Governor. Take office 18 January 2027. The Mayor of Chatom is a town clock.
U.S. 43, U.S. 45, and the Tombigbee. Washington County, Maryland is Hagerstown.
U.S. 43 runs the Tombigbee side. U.S. 45 cuts the southwest. Alabama 17 and Alabama 56 meet in Chatom. The Tombigbee River is the east water. The Escatawpa rises near the Mississippi line. Choctaw is north — Butler the town is that hall, not this one. Clarke is east across the river. Baldwin is southeast. Mobile is south. Greene County, Mississippi, and Wayne County, Mississippi, are west. Staff who paste a Hagerstown skyline onto Court Street, or treat this as the District, or file “the Autauga ghost town as this county,” are on the wrong county.
How a Chatom public finds the oldest Alabama desk
Courthouse / Commission / Circuit Clerk / Absentee / Probate / Registrars / Sheriff HQ (SOS): 45 Court Street, Chatom, AL 36518. County Jail: 45 Court Street — the Sheriff’s Office lists the jail at that door and as a house for the county and the towns of Chatom, Millry, and McIntosh. Confirm live addresses on wcalabama.com, washcoso.com, and the SOS county lookup. A student who only knows a Maryland photograph, or an Autauga-river hamlet, has not found Chatom.
Court Street still jails. Chatom PD does not.
Crime in unincorporated Washington — Millry country, McIntosh, Fruitdale, the Mississippi-line roads off U.S. 45 — is this Sheriff. Crime in Chatom is often municipal. This Sheriff is not Chatom PD. The SOS lists the Sheriff at 45 Court Street. The jail lists at 45 Court Street. No separate county Department of Corrections turned up on the official doors — do not invent a jailer split. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Chatom Town Hall, to Mobile, or to Hagerstown. Civil process and courthouse security at 45 Court Street are the Sheriff. Rights do not change at the Tombigbee. Remedy for Chatom municipal is the Town. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when Tombigbee water sits is this count first.
Care without inventing a St. Stephens chapel as this county
A peace order served in Millry. A transport from the Court Street jail to the Court Street courtroom without becoming Chatom PD. Do not invent a church. Do not invent the territorial capital as this badge.
What Washington County, Alabama actually watches
Court calendar on Court Street. A wreck on U.S. 43. High water on the Tombigbee. Fog toward the Mississippi line. A night road outside McIntosh. Coordination with Chatom, Millry, and McIntosh municipal and ALEA without becoming those departments. Coordination with Choctaw’s Sheriff or Mobile’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. A Hagerstown photograph does not steal the seat. Montgomery remains the capital.
Chatom snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Chatom, Alabama · largest town: Chatom · Capital of Alabama: Montgomery
- Government: six-member County Commission · courthouse 45 Court Street · 1st Circuit with Clarke and Choctaw
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · patrol and detention this Sheriff still holds · HQ 45 Court Street · jail 45 Court Street
- Neighbors: Choctaw · Clarke · Baldwin · Mobile · Greene County, Mississippi · Wayne County, Mississippi
- Not Washington County, Maryland (Hagerstown) · Not Washington state · Not Washington, D.C. · Not Washington County, Pennsylvania · Not the Autauga ghost town · Not St. Stephens as the hall now
What Chatom is not, as this county
- Not Hagerstown. Not the District. Not the State of Washington. Not Washington County, Pennsylvania.
- Not the Autauga ghost town named Washington. Not Prattville as this hall.
- Not St. Stephens as the county government now. Not Mobile as this county.
- Not Montgomery as this county government — Montgomery is still the state capital.
- Not Chatom PD as this Sheriff.
- Not a campaign flyer.