One mile north on the east bank of the Tallapoosa River stood Louina, named for an Indian woman who operated a trading post. Settled in 1834, it became the chief business center in Randolph County, with the county’s first newspaper, schools for boys and girls, Baptist and Methodist churches, a Masonic Lodge, a grist mill, a wool factory, and a cotton gin. A company of Confederate soldiers was organized here on August 1, 1861. The last store closed in 1902, and the post office moved eastward to Concord and was named Viola. Among the outstanding descendants of Louina’s settlers was U.S. Senator J. Tom Heflin.