After the railroad from Tuscumbia to Russellville was built in 1887, Capt. Benjamin F. Little, a former Confederate soldier, opened a store here, and a train station and several houses were soon erected. A rail spur gave access to nearby iron ore mines. In the 1880s and 1890s, Capt. A.H. Keller owned a sandstone quarry and summer resort called Fern Quarry near Keller Springs just north of town, and its stone was used to build a blast furnace and commercial buildings in Sheffield. In 1917, Jackson Highway, U.S. Hwy 43, was constructed along the general route of the old Jackson Military Road. According to local lore, early settler Hezekiah Tharp's wife Nancy was a daughter of Chickasaw Chief George Colbert, for whom the county and his brother Levi were named. Ligon Springs, one and a half miles west, was a popular summer resort in the 1870s, and its water was advertised as a cure for dropsy, dyspepsia, sore eyes, kidney diseases, and other ailments. By 1910, Littleville had a population of 30, with merchants including J.D. Bullington, G.W. Hargett, M.C. Murray, L.O. Breitling, and C.J. Brockaway. The town was incorporated in 1956, and Frank Bullington became the first mayor.