Pioneer families of Sneads believed that whoever drank from the town pump would always return. Built for the town by Gabriel Smith in 1899 or 1900, it is believed to have been the second mechanical pump in the area. In Jackson County, 1.5/72 acres of land was deeded to the city of Sneads on 18 February 1899 for $200.00 by F.A. and Mittie Brown. The village was first called Gloucester, and the Sneads post office began in Miss Harriett Pope's parlor-hallway, with mail brought from Chattahoochee on horseback. Sneads was incorporated on 26 October 1894 with 37 citizens, as 30 voted for incorporation and 7 voted against it. Adam White laid out the town plot, and the site was chosen near the river, then the primary means of transportation. Gabriel Smith became the first mayor in 1893, and Lewis Taylor was the first postmaster; Smith and Taylor are credited with the town's development. The present name honored Dr. W.R. Snead, the first dentist to settle in the area. The pump was restored in the summer of 1974 by the Carlisle Rose Garden Club and the town council.