City of Dothan history

In 1878 the U S Government gave this locality a post office under the name of Dothan-spelling it Dothen.

Residents sought a new name and the City of Dothan was incorporated on November 10, 1885.

Grover Cleveland’s first termThe surplus and the tariffThe public domainThe Interstate Commerce ActThe election of 1888

In 1889, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was built through this section.

The Benjamin Harrison administrationThe Sherman Antitrust ActThe silver issueThe McKinley tariffThe agrarian revoltThe PopulistsThe election of 1892

The first automobile appeared in Dothan in 1893 owned by Doctor MIDDLEBROOKS, who lived on South Foster Street.

In 1902 work was begun to make a new county with Dothan the County Seat.

Growth was further spurred by the arrival of the railroad, and that growth led to the creation of Houston County in 1903.

In the Bible, Dothan was a city in Samaria, whose name came from the Hebrew for "two wells." Built in 1915, the Dothan Opera House was emblematic of turn-of-the-century southern elegance.

LEWIS led a group of men and women in 1932 who organized the Dothan Garden Club, the first club of its kind here.

World War IIThe road to warThe United States at warWar productionFinancing the warSocial consequences of the warThe 1944 electionThe new United States role in world affairs

The peak Cold War years, 1945–60The Truman Doctrine and containmentPostwar domestic reorganizationThe Red ScareThe Korean WarPeace, growth, and prosperityEisenhower’s second termDomestic issuesWorld affairsAn assessment of the postwar era

Dothan is served by the Southeast Alabama Medical Center, which opened in 1957.

Though the store was closed in 1975, the Blumbergs remain a prominent family in Dothan.

George HOUSTON, for whom Houston County was named,, passed on leaving $2000 each to the County of Houston to be used in some way as a memorial to their father.