The seat of Monroe County in south Alabama between Mobile and Montgomery, Monroeville, once known as Centerville, was renamed for James Monroe and incorporated in 1899. As a crossroads community just outside the plantation region of the Black Belt, the community was largely agricultural. In the mid-1930s, a Vanity Fair textile mill opened and, along with wood products, contributed to a dynamic local economy.
Monroeville was designated the Literary Capital of Alabama in 1997 by a joint proclamation of the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate thanks to its unique history producing many famous writers such as Nelle Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Mike Stewart, Cynthia Tucker and Mark Childress. With a population of just over 5,900, the city is home to the Monroeville campus of Coastal Alabama Community College where the Monroeville Literary Festival is held every May. Every spring, the Old Monroe County Courthouse in the Monroeville town square, now a designated national landmark, is the site for an internationally renowned community play based on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird presented by a local group called the Mockingbird Players. The city, Chamber and Monroeville Main Street host additional popular events that attract large crowds to this historic area throughout the year.