Guin, AL

Guin is a Marion County city that began as a railroad stop on Dr. Jeremiah Guin’s farm. The Frisco Railroad was building between Memphis and Birmingham in the 1880s when Guin donated land for a flagstop; the railroad named the stop for him, and the town incorporated in December 1889. Before the tracks, the area had been Haley’s Trading Post, a stagecoach stop with a gristmill, sawmill, cotton gin, and blacksmith shop. U.S. Routes 43 and 278 now meet in the center of town, while the Buttahatchee River lies in the surrounding watershed. Guin is a northwest Alabama city whose map still shows the order of arrival: trading post, railroad, then town.