Brief History of Brantley

In 1890 a Central of Georgia railroad right-of-way was surveyed from Troy to Searight, Alabama. A group of businessmen from Roy led by T.K. Brantley was interested in a town site somewhere along this right-of-way. After studying several locations the most desirable site was selected for the town and is known today as Brantley, Alabama.

The town of Brantley was founded June 22, 1891. The two buildings on the original land plot was a two room building occupied by Buster Wyatt and a one room log building with a stick and mud chimney which was used as a school in the summer. These buildings were located directly behind the current Big/Little Store on Main Street.

Some of the original businesses were: Tisdale’s Gizzard, a bar owned by Frank and Bob Tisdale; T.K. Brantley opened a furnishing house and owned the first trade stables; Hyram Sacks, a peddler from Troy, established a business of dry goods; first livery stables were owned by a Mr. Ziegler; first barber shop was operated by a Mr. Simmons; first restaurant was operated by a man named Bogan; a Merchants Hotel operated by a Mr. Chapman; first printers were Marvin Dodson and a Mr. Terry; first jeweler was a Mr. Adams; first plumber was O.P. Smith; law offices of H.C. Wiley and J.D. Gardner; first Postmaster was Hyram Moody; first depot agent was Frank Hinton; first night watchman was Nathan Morgan; first cotton gin owned by Bob and Fern Tisdale; first steam grist mill owned by Byrd Sasser; first bank established by Joe Raines; first Marshall was Ples Tisdale; first telephone exchange owned by Gid Tisdale; first Mayor was Buster Wyatt; just to name a few.

Here are some “first” information: first person to be buried (Tisdale Cemetery) was the daughter of Mr. Ziegler who owned the livery stables; first couple to be married in Brantley was Donie Lynn and John Payne; first child born was Beckie Sasser; first school superintendent was Mr. Bradwell; first church to be established was the Brantley Baptist Church.

The first airplane seen by the people of Brantley came in 1912. The pilot had engine trouble and was forced to land. People came from miles around to see the airplane. Because of slow transportation and communications, the airplane stayed for two weeks. The airplane’s pilot was Robert G. Fowler. It was an open-cockpit bi-plane on a cross-country flight from San Francisco, California to St. Augustine, Florida. Fowler covered his expenses by flying low over some towns and landing in others. Towns would pay him as much as $20.00 for this service.

This brief history of the town of Brantley, Alabama was through information gained from memories of persons who helped build the town. The collected data from memory may raise a question of how authentic it may be.

The data was collected by Brantley Elementary School students in the fifth grade class of 1950-51 under the direction of class teacher Maye V. Wyatt, and has been compiled and updated in 1992 by Larene Carnes Wyatt. Ms. Wyatt was a member of the fifth grade class of 1950-51.