About York

Legend has it that York began at a blacksmith shop called Old Anvil, located at a crossroads a few miles northwest of the present city. Circa 1833, early settlers of a site located east of modern-day York on the old Livingston-Gaston stagecoach road named their community New York Station. The railroads expanded and took business from the stagecoach line. The two communities merged in 1838 and gradually grew toward the railroad. Railways passing through York have included the Southern Railway System, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, and the Alabama, Tennessee, and Northern Railroad. In the 1850s, the permanent community of New York Station was established, and a train station and hotel were built to service the railroad. The name was shortened to York Station in 1861 and following the discovery that another community also bore that name, it was further shortened to York when the town was officially incorporated on April 6, 1881. Source