The community was initially known as "Crossroads" for its location at the intersection of two early stage coach roads.

The name was later changed to "Leighton" for town's first postmaster, the Reverend William Leigh.

[4] In 1909, an African-American man named Sam Davenport was lynched by a mob of some two dozen men in Leighton.

[6] The town is concentrated around the intersection of County Line Road (signed as Main Street within town limits) and County Road 22 ("Old Highway 20"), southeast of Muscle Shoals.

U.S. Route 72 passes just to the south, and the Tennessee River lies a few miles to the north.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), all land.

[7] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 665 people, 368 households, and 200 families residing in the town.