Ragland, AL

Ragland is a St. Clair County town in east-central Alabama, southeast of Ashville, where County Road 26 crosses the north-south route of State Highway 144. The settlement began as Trout Creek and took the name Ragland when it incorporated in 1899. Coal and timber built the early economy, followed by a cement plant and brick manufacturer; those materials industries still matter to the town’s working map. The industrial story gives Ragland a different shape from a purely farm-based crossroads, even though the surrounding rural roads remain part of the setting.

Railroad history and water access fill in the rest. The Ragland Depot Museum holds railroad and town artifacts, and Harkey’s Chapel Methodist Church, dating to about 1829, sits west of town on the Alabama Register. Ten Island Park near H. Neely Henry Dam provides fishing, boating, and swimming. St. Clair County schools, including Ragland High School, serve local students, while Interstate 59 is roughly ten miles northwest. Ragland’s clearest identifiers are the brick-and-cement plants, the preserved depot, and the old chapel: industry and community history sharing one Alabama map.