St. Stephens is an unincorporated census-designated place in Washington County, Alabama, United States. Its population is 580. Located near the Tombigbee River in the southwestern part of the state and 67 miles north of Mobile, it is composed of two distinct sites: Old St. Stephens and New St. Stephens. The Old St. Stephens site lies directly on the river and is no longer inhabited. It was the territorial capital of the Alabama Territory. Now encompassed by the Old St. Stephens Historical Park, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Changes in the territorial capital and transportation resulted in the Old St. Stephens site being bypassed by development. "New" St. Stephens developed two miles inland around a railway station, but adjacent to the old site. It is the location of the post office, Baptist and Methodist churches, and residences. It has one building listed on the National Register and another on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage. Demographics St. Stephens first appeared on the 1890 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It did not reappear again until 2010 when it was classified as a census-designated place (CDP). History Old St. Stephens was situated on a limestone bluff that the Native Americans called Hobucakintopa. It was located at the fall line of the Tombigbee River, where rocky shoals ended navigation for boats traveling north from Mobile, 67 miles to the south. The fall line marked the piedmont and uplands of the state. As early as 1772, British surveyor Bernard Romans noted that "sloops and schooners may come up to this rapid; therefore, I judge some considerable settlement will take place." By 1789, when the territory was again under Spanish control, the governor of Mobile, Juan Vincente Folch, established a fort and outpost here. By 1796 over 190 white residents, mostly settlers from the United States, and their 97 or so enslaved African-American workers, were living around the fort. Under the Treaty of San Lorenzo following the American Revolutionary War, Spain transferred the fort to the United States on February 5, 1799. This region was included in the Mississippi Territory. The Choctaw Federal Trading House was established in 1803 at St. Stephens, named for the dominant Native American tribe in the area. Americans traded manufactured goods such as tools and cloth for deerskins. George Strother Gaines was appointed by the federal government to head the Choctaw Agency in 1805