In 1860, commerce in Baldwin County centered along the rivers, while most of the rest of the county remained wilderness. After secession was declared in 1861, the Alabama Legislature allocated funds to complete the stalled Mobile and Great Northern Railroad from Pollard to Tensaw Landing, and it was finished on November 15, 1861. Settlers on Minette Bay, south of Bay Minette's current location, recognized the railroad's importance and moved to a high level spot near the county's center, where the land promised agriculture and the railroad offered prospects for industry. Minette Bay and Bay Minette were named for the French surveyor Minette. On October 1, 1901, the Alabama Legislature made Bay Minette the county seat because of its centralized location, and when Daphne refused to surrender the county records, men from Bay Minette took them during the night. Although Bay Minette was the county seat, it was not incorporated until 1907. That same year, the Fort Morgan Railroad was completed from Bay Minette to Foley, then soon sold to the L&N Railroad and operated until 1984. The railroads opened the center and eastern parts of the county, with Bay Minette as the nexus of rail operations, and the town became Baldwin County's center of industry and transportation and North Baldwin County's center of agriculture. It remains a center of industry and agriculture in Baldwin County and, with a nearby interstate highway and roads leading in every direction from the county courthouse, continues as a transportation leader.