Stapleton, Alabama

Stapleton
Stapleton
Unincorporated community
	Location of Stapleton in Baldwin County, Alabama.
	Stapleton Location within the state of Alabama Stapleton Stapleton (the United States)
	Coordinates: 30°44′34″N 87°47′36″W / 30.74278°N 87.79333°W
Country	United States
State	Alabama
County	Baldwin
Area
• Total	10.92 sq mi (28.29 km2)
• Land	10.91 sq mi (28.27 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Population (2020)
• Total	2,213
• Density	202.77/sq mi (78.29/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	36578
Area code	251
FIPS code	01-72816
GNIS feature ID	127311

Stapleton is a small unincorporated community in northern Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, with a population of 519.[1]. It is part of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area. Stapleton lies along U.S. Route 31 and State Route 59 and has been considered for incorporation within the cities of Loxley and Bay Minette. There is a bluegrass music festival held at Stapleton Elementary School every fall. There are about 250 students at the school that runs from Pre-K to the 6th grade.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
2020	2,213		—
U.S. Decennial Census^[3]

History

The first post office in the town of Canby, as Stapleton was then known, was established in 1895. Later, the Hamm brothers of Chicago, IL convinced the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) to build a subsidiary line between Bay Minette and Foley.^[4] By 1905 this spur called the Bay Minette & Fort Morgan Railroad had penetrated the thirty-seven miles of dense Baldwin County pine forests with the town of Canby lying along the route.^[5] Shortly afterwards the town's name was changed to honor W. D. Stapleton, the man who was instrumental in getting a railroad depot for their town. The railroad was important to the local economy and early on the trains passed through Stapleton several times a day as they made their way to the southern end of the county and back. Highway traffic also picked up as of 1936 when the only paved road in Baldwin County, other than a small strip in Bay Minette going from the courthouse to the railroad, was the stretch of US 31 coming in from Atmore and ending at Stapleton.^[6] By the 1970s the train traffic had slowed to at most one train making the down and back trip each day. Now the train tracks are completely gone.

Education

Stapleton is zoned to schools in the Baldwin County Public Schools. Stapleton Elementary School serves Pre-K through 6th grade. Grades 7 through 8 attend Bay Minette Middle School. Grades 9 through 12 are zoned to Baldwin County High School. The students can participate in band starting in sixth grade, but are also exposed to many other opportunities at their after school program.

References

^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
^ "Stapleton AL ZIP Code". zipdatamaps.com. 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
^ John C. Lewis and Harriet Brill Outlaw. Images of America: Baldwin County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-7385-6834-8.
^ Wayne Cline. Alabama Railroads. The University of Alabama Press. p. 234. ISBN 0-8173-0812-1.
^ Elvin Stanton. Faith and Works. New South Books, Montgomery. p. 195. ISBN 1-58838-092-0.