Historic photo display brings Autauga County history to Prattville office

Old Autauga Historical Society has moved Autauga County history into one of Prattville’s busiest public buildings, with historic-photo panels going up inside the Autauga Administrative/Revenue Building at 135 N. Court Street.

The display is being installed in stages, and the final set of panels was scheduled to go up during the week of publication. Residents are invited to stop by during business hours and look through the photos while handling routine county business.

That location gives the project immediate reach. The Autauga Administrative/Revenue Building is where many people already go for public services, including the revenue department, property appraisal, tax assessor, mapping, storage, filing and workrooms. By placing the exhibit there, the county and the historical society are putting old images in front of visitors who might not plan a separate museum trip.

The photos also connect to a broader preservation effort in the county. The Autauga County Heritage Association, which operates the Prattaugan Museum and Archives, says its collections include photographs and other historical materials and that its purpose is to educate the public about Autauga County history. The museum has also been described as serving the history of Prattville, the county seat and the long-standing center of county government.

The current display fits that mission in a direct way. Rather than being confined to an archival room or stand-alone museum, the photos are on view in a public office where residents already come for taxes, tags and other services. That makes the county’s past part of an ordinary errand in downtown Prattville.

The project also reflects a pattern of local history being presented in civic spaces. In 2022, the Old Autauga Historical Society mounted a courthouse exhibit that used four panels to show the history of each of Autauga County’s courthouses, with the county’s history traced back to 1818, before Alabama became a state. That exhibit underscored that Autauga County has had more than two courthouse buildings over time and that preservation work here has focused on the buildings and institutions residents still use today.

The society itself was filed as an Alabama nonprofit on Aug. 31, 2020, and the new office display extends that work into another high-traffic county building. For anyone passing through 135 N. Court Street, the panels offer a quick look at the county’s past before the next tag renewal, appraisal appointment or tax payment.