Gainestown is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

on the

Alabama River The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about north of Montgomery, near the town of Wetumpka. The river flows west to Selma, then southwest until, about from Mobile, it un ...

Clarke County Clarke County may refer to: ;Places *One of five counties in the United States: **Clarke County, Alabama **Clarke County, Georgia **Clarke County, Iowa **Clarke County, Mississippi **Clarke County, Virginia Clarke County is a county in the Com ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, United States. It was named for

George Strother Gaines George Strother Gaines (1 May 1784 – 21 January 1873) was a federal Indian agent in the Mississippi Territory (today's Alabama and Mississippi). He began as the US Indian agent to the Choctaw, explored the country west of the Mississippi R ...

, who was the senior United States Indian agent in the region; he established a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

here in 1809 for business with the

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

, the predominant tribe. The exact date for the founding of the town is unclear. However, the community was being referred to as Gainestown by 1815, following the end of the

Creek War The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...

and closure of the trading post in 1814. Gainestown grew to be a large town during the heyday of river-based transport, but a slow decline began after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. A tornado on March 26, 1911, destroyed at least 12 homes and much of the town. A contemporaneous account of the storm said that a

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...

store in the town was destroyed, with fragments of its products found as far away as to the east, in

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

. Gainestown has three sites listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

: the Gainestown Methodist Church and Cemetery, Gainestown Schoolhouse, and the Wilson-Finlay House.

Geography

Gainestown is located at and has an elevation of .

References

Unincorporated communities in Alabama Unincorporated communities in Clarke County, Alabama {{ClarkeCountyAL-geo-stub