DeKalb County is located in the northeastern part of Alabama. According to the 2020 census, about 71,608 people live there. The county seat is Fort Payne. The county is named after Major General Baron Johann de Kalb. DeKalb County is also included in the Huntsville–Decatur–Albertville Combined Statistical Area. DeKalb County was created on January 9, 1836, from land the Cherokee were forced to cede to the federal government before their removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. It was named after American Revolution hero Major General Baron Johann de Kalb, and Fort Payne grew around a fort built in the 1830s to detain Cherokee people before their removal. Early in the 1800s, Cherokee leader Sequoyah lived in the area and his writing system helped the Cherokee publish their first Native American newspaper, The Phoenix; today, the county has long had restricted alcohol sales, though Fort Payne and several other towns later allowed legal alcohol sales. On April 29, 2003, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake hit near DeKalb County’s eastern edge along the state line, causing power outages and damage like cracked foundations and a fallen chimney. The shaking was felt across much of the southeastern United States, including strongly in northeastern Alabama and northern Georgia, and also in parts of Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Mississippi. During the massive tornadic system of April 27, 2011 (the 2011 Super Outbreak), DeKalb County had 31 deaths, with 25 linked to the Rainsville tornado, the last EF5 tornado in the outbreak. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, DeKalb County covers a total area of 779 square miles. Most of it is land (777 square miles), with a very small portion being water (1.6 square miles, or about 0.2%). DeKalb County is bordered by Jackson County to the north, Dade County, Georgia to the northeast, and several counties in Georgia to the east, including Walker and Chattooga. To the southeast it borders Cherokee County, to the south it borders Etowah County, and to the west it borders Marshall County.

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