Collinsville burned twice, first on December 24, 1884, when the Collinsville Depot, Hall-Mackey Store, and other businesses were destroyed, and again on February 2, 1900, when a fire that began at the B.A. Nowlin store damaged and destroyed businesses and homes including J.W. Collins Grocery, Morris and Morris Music House, The Oliver Hotel, the residence of Postmaster J.H. Collins, Hall’s Dry Goods Co., I.Q. Melton, the Nicholson and McWhorter building, R.L. Wright, Jeweler, Boston Killian Furniture and Livery, J.L. Ford Harness and Shoemaker, the J.E. Smith building, the A.B. Tidmore building, the G.W. Roberts Warehouse, R.A. Burt Livery, the W.H. Appleton residence, Charles Roberts Groceries, G.W. Keener General Merchandise, the J.W. Lackey building, W.A. Wilbanks General Merchandise, the Collinsville Post Office, and Dr. J.A. Hall, Dentist; the town rebuilt after both fires. In the mid-nineteenth century, Collinsville’s location in a valley once home of the Cherokee helped its growth because it stood on a well established trade route from Rome to Gunter’s Landing and from Tuscaloosa to Ross’s Landing, but the town also suffered annual flooding when heavy rains rushed down Lookout Mountain and caused Little Wills Creek to overflow onto Main Street and into businesses, houses, and Collinsville School, with flood waters frequently peaking at 30 inches and causing considerable loss in the creek area until a U.S. Congress-approved flood control project was completed in 1939. Collinsville was incorporated on May 5, 1887, with James C. Tiner elected first mayor and James Coker, Therlin M. Fearing, T.G. Mackey, B.H. Nicholson, and Bonner Heard elected as alderman.