Dadeville is a city in and the county seat of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States.[2] At the 2010 census the population was 3,230, up from 3,212 in 2000.

History

Prior to its incorporation, Dadeville was an Indian trading post and a center of commerce where commodities such as cotton, lumber, tin, asbestos, and livestock were traded. The town was surveyed by John H. Broadnax in 1836,[3] granted a charter in 1837, and first incorporated in 1858. Dadeville was named for Major Francis Langhorne Dade,[4] who was killed in 1835 by Seminole Indians in a battle of the Second Seminole War that came to be known as the "Dade Massacre". Dade had never actually visited Tallapoosa County.[3]

As a stagecoach stop on the Tennessee Road between Montgomery and Georgia, Dadeville was host to a stream of traders whose goods and livestock often crowded the square of the courthouse.[3] Dadeville lost its charter during the Civil War, and was incorporated a second time in 1878. Dadeville has been the Tallapoosa County seat since 1838.[5]

Dadeville was home to the Graefenberg Medical Institute, Alabama's first medical school, which operated from 1852 until the outbreak of the Civil War. Attempts to revive the school after the war failed, and the building burned in 1873.[6]

The completion of the Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River in 1926 and the subsequent creation of Lake Martin had and continues to have a strong economic impact on Dadeville.[6]}

Events and Places of Interest,

Lake MartinDadeville first appeared on the national scene as the home of Johnson Jones Hooper's popular fictional character Simon Suggs, who appeared in a number of Hooper's stories.

The town is also the birthplace of Bozeman Bulger, who became a nationally known sportswriter.

Dadeville is located near Lake Martin, one of the prime recreational lakes in Alabama, with fishing, boating, swimming, and hiking trails.

The Dadeville Parks and Recreation Department has a large indoor recreation center that hosts a number of public programs. The city's parks provide picnic areas, outdoor basketball courts, a softball complex, and tennis courts. The recently added Keebler Park is home to a community-built playground.

The Tallapoosee Historical Museum houses exhibits on the county's early history and economy.