Dutton

James P. Kaetz, Auburn University
Dutton is located in southeast Jackson County in the extreme northeast corner of the state. It has a mayor/city council form of government.
History
Sand Mountain Institute
The first non-Indian settlers arrived in the Dutton area in the early-nineteenth century, but the region remained sparsely populated up to the turn of the twentieth century. The first documented purchase of land in the area occurred in 1851. The town itself was founded in 1888 and underwent several name changes, including Press, Barnes, Callahan, and Fern Hill. In 1896, the U.S. Postal Service ruled that the town had to choose a permanent name, and so it was named for M. M. Dutton, the local businessman who had been instrumental in initiating the establishment of the local post office. The Dutton family owned six stores and a cotton gin, and the post office was located in one of the Dutton stores. The first school in the town, the Briar Patch School, was built in 1886, and a boarding school, the Sand Mountain Institute, opened soon thereafter. The structure burned in 1925, at about the time that a new two-story public high school was being built. Dutton was incorporated in 1963, primarily so that it would be eligible for federal grants and loans for constructing a water system.
Demographics
According to 2016 Census estimates, Dutton recorded a population of 342. Of that number, 98.2 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 3.2 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 0.6 percent as two or more races, and 0.3 percent as American Indian or Alaska Native. The town's median household income, according to 2010 estimates, was $47,500, and the per capita income was $19,859.
Employment
According to 2016 Census estimates, the workforce in Dutton was divided among the following industrial categories:
  • Manufacturing (28.3 percent)
  • Educational services, and health care and social assistance (20.0 percent)
  • Retail trade (17.9 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (9.7 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing and utilities (6.2 percent)
  • Public administration (4.8 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (4.1 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (2.8 percent)
  • Construction (2.1 percent)
  • Wholesale trade (2.1 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste management services (1.4 percent)
  • Information (0.7 percent)
Education
Schools in Dutton are part of the Jackson County school system; the town has one multiyear school (grades K-8).
Transportation
State Highway 71 runs through town traveling northeast-southwest.
Events and Places of Interest
Dutton is located about two miles east of Lake Guntersville and the Tennessee River.

Additional Resources

Jackson County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Jackson County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998.
Kennamer, John Robert Sr. History of Jackson County, Alabama. 1935. Reprint, Scottsboro, Ala.: Jackson County Historical Society, 1993.
Smalley, Jewell D. Tigue. Town of Dutton. Columbus, Ga.: Brentwood Academic, 1998.
Published:  July 23, 2014   |   Last updated:  February 19, 2019