[4] Located near the Tombigbee River in the southwestern part of the state and 67 miles north of Mobile, it is composed of two distinct sites: Old St. Stephens and New St.

It was located at the fall line of the Tombigbee River, where rocky shoals ended navigation for boats traveling north from Mobile, 67 miles to the south.

As early as 1772, British surveyor Bernard Romans noted that "sloops and schooners may come up to this rapid; therefore, I judge some considerable settlement will take place.

Under the Treaty of San Lorenzo following the American Revolutionary War, Spain transferred the fort to the United States on February 5, 1799.

[6][12] The Choctaw Federal Trading House was established in 1803 at St. Stephens, named for the dominant Native American tribe in the area.

In a letter to the president, Kirby described the residents of St. Stephens as "illiterate, wild and savage, of depraved morals, unworthy of public confidence or private esteems, litigious, disunited, and knowing each other, universally distrustful of each other."

Dow, in a dramatic manner, prophesied the town's demise within a century, that it would become a "roosting place for bats and owls" and a ruin in which "no stone would lie upon another.

[6][12] Among the prominent citizens of St. Stephens was Henry Hitchcock, first attorney general of Alabama and later chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

[6][12] When the first state assembly adjourned at St. Stephens on February 14, 1818, many Alabama residents thought the capital should be moved to a more central location.

Tuscaloosa was under consideration when Governor William Wyatt Bibb made the announcement in 1819 that the capital would be moved to Cahaba.

In addition, the development of shallow draft boats permitted travelers to pass over the shoals and venture further upriver past the town.

[7][14] Additionally, the St. Stephens Methodist Church building, completed in 1857, was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on March 25, 1976.