Historic Stockton/Old School Park & Marker

Side 1: Modern Stockton is situated on a hill just above the original settlement, which was abandoned around 1840 because of Yellow Fever outbreaks. No verified source for the town name exists. Most likely it was named by the local postmaster. The Indian Mounds located near Stockton are witnesses of a prehistoric Indian population in the area. In the latter 1700s Stockton was the most populous settlement in this area, excepting Mobile. Some records indicate the town was settled by Tory refugees from the Atlantic States during the Revolutionary War. Early Stockton residents included the English Commandant of Mobile, Major Robert Farmer, who was visited in 1778 by William Bartram, the noted botanist. At that time the town was an English trading post. Later Stockton settlers built sawmills, a small church, a school, and a Masonic Hall. The old bell used in the Stockton Presbyterian church is thought to have been cast in Scotland and brought to America. Stockton today is mostly a residential community with some logging and farming occupations. This 11.86 acre site was acquired from A. B. Crosby in 1928 for the sum of $500. Upon it was built Stockton Junior High School, which opened with nine grades in 1929. It was the second Stockton public school site, the first being a three room wooden structure housing 12 grades. That site was less than one mile south of here, the current grounds upon which Stockton Methodist Church is located. An earlier public school was taught in the Masonic Lodge Building. Previous education was private, and schools were held in various locations. Stockton Junior High School was closed by a Federal school desegregation order of 1964 and burned down in the 1970s. The Stockton Civic Club leases this site from the Baldwin County Board of Education for use as a public park. The Civic Club, with public and private donations, built the covered pavilion, the Community Center building, a walking trail, and other recreational facilities.