Dixons Mills, Alabama
Encyclopedia
Dixons Mills is an unincorporated community
in Marengo County
, Alabama
, United States
. The community was named for a group of mills operated by Joel B. Dixon in the 19th century. Dixons Mills has a post office
utilizing the 36736 ZIP code
.
gristmill
at a dam that he and his sons built on Mill Creek along the old Linden
-to-Choctaw Corner
Road. The modern U.S. Route 43
bridge over Mill Creek now stands at the location. Dixon (January 11, 1777–December 23, 1861), a native of Edgecombe County, North Carolina
, was one of the early settlers of Marengo County. His business grew and eventually included a steam engine
-driven sawmill
and two steam-powered cotton gin
s. The mills remained in use into the first years of the 20th century. They were still standing in 1923, when they were demolished during the construction of Route 43.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Marengo County
Marengo County, Alabama
Marengo County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is named in honor of a battlefield near Turin, Italy, where the French defeated the Austrians on June 14, 1800. As of 2010 the population was 21,027...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The community was named for a group of mills operated by Joel B. Dixon in the 19th century. Dixons Mills has a post office
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
utilizing the 36736 ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
.
History
Beginning in the late 1820s, Joel B. Dixon, Sr. operated a water-poweredWatermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
at a dam that he and his sons built on Mill Creek along the old Linden
Linden, Alabama
Linden is a city in and the county seat of Marengo County, Alabama, United States.. The population was 2,424 at the 2000 census.-History:Originally known as the Town of Marengo, it was changed to Hohenlinden in 1823 to honor the county's earliest European settlers, French Bonapartist refugees to...
-to-Choctaw Corner
Choctaw Corner, Alabama
Choctaw Corner is a former town in Clarke County, Alabama, United States. It gained its name from the nearby Choctaw Corner, which helped mark the border between the native Choctaw and Creek peoples prior to the Indian removal. The community was one of the earliest settlements in the...
Road. The modern U.S. Route 43
U.S. Route 43
U.S. Route 43 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 410 miles from central Tennessee to Mobile, Alabama. The highway's southern terminus is in Mobile, Alabama, at U.S. Route 45. Its northern terminus is Columbia, Tennessee, at U.S. Route 31.-Alabama:Between Mobile and Fayette...
bridge over Mill Creek now stands at the location. Dixon (January 11, 1777–December 23, 1861), a native of Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Edgecombe County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 55,606 people, 20,392 households, and 14,804 families residing in the county. The population density was 110 people per square mile . There were 24,002 housing units at an average density of 48 per square mile...
, was one of the early settlers of Marengo County. His business grew and eventually included a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
-driven sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
and two steam-powered cotton gin
Cotton gin
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job formerly performed painstakingly by hand...
s. The mills remained in use into the first years of the 20th century. They were still standing in 1923, when they were demolished during the construction of Route 43.