Page 8 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Although land was being fought over, it was, in reality, still almost uninhabited by Europeans. After McQueen’s arrival, few followed. Abraham Mordecai of Pennsylvania arrived in 1785, set up a trading post, and brought the first cotton gin to Alabama. In 1814 the Creek Native Americans were forced to leave the land, and it was at this point that white settlers began to venture into the region, including Arthur Moore, who built a cabin near the current location of Union Station.
The first group of settlers to come
to the Montgomery area was headed by General John Scott. This group founded Alabama Town about 2 miles (3 km) downstream from present-day downtown. In June 1818, county courts were moved from Fort Jackson to Alabama Town. Then Andrew Dexter, Jr. founded New Philadelphia, the present-day eastern part of downtown. He reserved a hilltop
known as “Goat Hill” as the future location for the state capitol building. The towns merged on December 3, 1819, and were incorporated as the city of Montgomery. The new city was named for General Richard Montgomery, who died in the American Revolutionary War attempting to capture Quebec City, Canada. The heritage of the twin founding towns can still be seen in the road plan: streets to the east of Court Street are aligned in
a north-south and east-west grid, while streets to the west are aligned parallel and perpendicular to the Alabama River.
Montgomery soon grew quickly based on the cotton trade and became
a major merchant center. By 1821 there was a steamboat service to Mobile. In 1832, the Montgomery Railroad opened, and was extended to Georgia by 1851. These rapidly improving communications persuaded the state government to
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