Pell City was chartered in 1887 and named for George Hamilton Pell, a prominent New York industrialist and president of the East and West Railroad. In 1901, the town was almost deserted when Sumter Cogswell passed through the area, saw its potential for growth, and set out to rebuild it. In 1902, he secured a cotton mill, the Pell City Manufacturing Company, later purchased by Avondale Mills. That same year, as the young town began to prosper, an election established Pell City as a county seat along with Ashville. The town soon gained a post office, a saloon, and the Maxwell Brick buildings, and as the mill prospered a mill village was established and the population grew by 1500 people. Steady growth continued over the years. A second period of great growth began during the 1960s, when Alabama Power Company built a dam on the Coosa River and created Lake Logan Martin, bringing recreational opportunities near Birmingham and sparking a residential and business building boom throughout the area. Also during the 1960s, Interstate 20 was built to connect Birmingham and Atlanta. The lake, I-20, and the existing railroad established Pell City as a premier location for new business and industry in the Birmingham-Atlanta corridor. In 2006, the State of Board of Education approved the request of Mayor Guin Robinson and Dr. Judy Merritt to establish a campus of Jefferson State Community College in Pell City.