This area was the original site of the town of Russellville, then called Russell’s Valley. Major William Russell came here after serving as a scout for Andrew Jackson, and after leaving New Orleans he returned with his family and started a settlement. Local history holds that several of the men who had helped lay out the military road also returned with him, along with their families. Major Russell built a trading post and a cabin for his family two and a half miles east of present-day Russellville. Reports tell of a sickness that moved through the settlement and killed most of the residents, so in early 1818 the town was moved to its present-day site and named in honor of Major Russell. For a time it was known as New Russellville, and it was incorporated on 27 November 1819.