It is situated atop a cliff composed of the Demopolis Chalk Formation, known locally as White Bluff, on the east bank of the Tombigbee.

Napoleon had sent troops there in a last attempt to regain control of the island, but they were defeated, largely by high mortality due to yellow fever.

Congress granted approval by an act on March 3, 1817, that allowed them to buy four townships in the Alabama Territory at $2 per acre, with the provision that they cultivate grape vines and olive trees.

By July 14, 1817, a small party of pioneers had settled at White Bluff on the Tombigbee River, at the present site of Demopolis, founding the Vine and Olive Colony.

Following a survey in August 1818, they learned that their new properties did not fall under the territories encompassed by the congressional approval, and the Vine and Olive Colony was soon forced to move.

George Strother Gaines was named as the company spokesman, and he bought the town site atop White Bluff as soon as it was offered for sale.

Commissioners for the company were George Strother Gaines, James Childress, Walter Crenshaw, Count Charles Lefebvre Desnouettes, and Dr. Joseph B.

The east–west streets were named for national and local heroes, as well as commissioners, such as Childress, Fulton, Gaines, Lyon, Monroe, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Jackson.

This extended from where Riverside Cemetery is today, to the southwest of the city proper, to the Upper Landing in the north, with Arch Street following the route along the top of the cliff.

[12][18][19][20] By the 1830s Demopolis had developed into a regional commercial river hub, attracting American and European-born craftsmen and merchants, including the Beysiegle, Breitling, Breton, Dupertuis, Foster, Hummell, Kirker, Knapp, Marx, Michael, Mulligan, Oberling, Rhodes, Rudisill, Rosenbaum, Schmidt, Shahan, Stallings, and Zaiser families.

Numerous plantation owners also established townhouses in the community or on its outskirts, including the Allen, Ashe, Curtis, DuBose, Foscue, Glover, Griffin, Lane, Lyon, McAllister, Prout, Reese, Strudwick, Tayloe, Whitfield, and Vaughan families.

The fairgrounds and its buildings covered approximately 20 acres (8.1 ha) and hosted a variety of events until the outbreak of the Civil War.

[21]: 339  The town began to attract new entertainments, such as musical and dramatic performances, concert artists, lecturers, circuses, and carnivals.

[26] Marengo County, with its large number of slaveholders, favored secession from the Union and the formation of the Confederate States of America.

After the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson in July, 1863, several regiments of paroled Confederate troops were sent to a camp at Demopolis to await exchange.

[citation needed] Many hundreds of the soldiers who died in the hospitals during the war were buried in a Confederate cemetery on the south end of Webb's Bend.

Nathan B. Whitfield noted in his journal that those from Mobile had taken every available vacant house, and others were crowded with local people, along with their descendants and relatives.

With the impending fall of Selma in early April, during Wilson's Raid, all of the railroad's rolling stock was sent full of supplies westward through Demopolis and on to Meridian.

Despite the usual unpleasantness associated with the occupation of many defeated Southern towns, two of the Minnesota commanders, Colonel William B. Gere and General Lucius Frederick Hubbard, apparently came to be well-liked by the townspeople.

[29] During Reconstruction, the new authorities in charge of the government decided to move the county seat of Marengo from its central location in Linden to Demopolis by an act approved on December 4, 1868.

The county appointed Richard Jones Jr., Lewis B. McCarty, and Dr. Bryan W. Whitfield to build or buy a new courthouse in Demopolis.

The county built a fireproof brick building next door to the former church in 1869–70 to house the probate and circuit clerk offices.

Linden continued an attempt to persuade the state legislature to move the county seat back to their town, with success in February 1871.

[31] Demopolis had electric lights, water works and a sewerage system, chert-covered streets, paved sidewalks, and a fire department by the second decade of the 20th century.

One of the first large department stores of note in the area, Mayer Brothers, built its three-story brick building across from the public square in 1897 and operated for most of the 20th century.

The Braswell Opera House, with its ornate interior and private box galleries, opened on October 23, 1902, with a performance of Louisiana playwright Epsy William's Unorna, from Francis Marion Crawford's The Witch of Prague.

[34] Following the demise of cotton production, beef cattle farming and, more recently, catfish aquaculture became new major agricultural pursuits.

The mayor is elected at large to a four-year term and functions as the executive officer, appointing department heads and advisory board members and signing off on all motions, resolutions and ordinances passed by the council.

The 1941 film version was directed by William Wyler and starred Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall and Teresa Wright.

He discovers that De Marchand is about to marry a wealthy riverman and a love triangle ensues, with Breen eventually winning out.