Page Contents for Ohatchee, Alabama

Statistics & Facts

History & History-related items

City Attractions

Historical Events

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Statistics & Facts

The Alabama state capital is Montgomery.
The population of Ohatchee is approximately 1,042 (1990), 1170 (2010).
The approximate number of families is 450 (1990), 474 (2010).
The amount of land area in Ohatchee is 12.679 sq. kilometers.
The amount of surface water is 0.053 sq kilometers.
The distance from Ohatchee to Washington DC is 632 miles.
The distance to the Alabama state capital is 99 miles. (as the crow flies)
Ohatchee is positioned 33.78 degrees north of the equator and 86.01 degrees west of the prime meridian.

History & History Related Items

FOOTSTEPS OF HISTORY home page
Click here for the Civil War trail.
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Attractions

Ohatchee, Alabama is the Home of the creator of "Popeye" the cartoon. His name is Tom Simms.

Ohatchee is located adjacent to beautiful Lake Neely Henry, Neely Henry Dam and the Coosa River

City Park with a walking track along the Coosa River.
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Ohatchee Historical Events

1864, July
Janney Furnace
Ohatchee's location on the bank of the Coosa River led to a minor role in the Civil War, The confederates hoped to use Janney Furnace, built just north of Ohatchee, to provide pig iron for the south. But a 2,300 man Calvary force under Union Gen. Lovell H. Rosseau advanced to Calhoun County in July 1864 and knocked the furnace out of commission.
Janney furnace had been built by Montgomery manufacturer, Alfred Janney, in mid-1863. He was in the area buying iron ore for another of his furnaces when he noticed brown ore on the ground under a ridgeabout a mile north of Ohatchee. There is much speculation as to whether Janney Furnace was ever operational. None of the sandstone lining the circular chimney is blackened from smoke, which should bethe case of a functional furnace. The furnace was constructed with the labor of about 200 slaves, withsandstone for construction quarried in the area. Janney shipped equipment and machinery from his furnace in Montgomery to be used at the site. After Union soldiers burned workers' shacks and demolishedabout 25 feet of the brick chimney that capped the stone furnace, construction was resumed, but was not completed by the end of the Civil War. Janney sold the land and returned to Montgomery, and themachinery that remained rusting around the furnace was sold for scrap.
Written by Katherine R. Dougan and printed in the "Anniston Star" on 5 July 1999. See the website for more information.