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Battelle

Ghost town · DeKalb County, Alabama

Sulphur Springs quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1936, 1:24,000)
Sulphur Springs quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1936, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Battelle is a ghost town in DeKalb County, Alabama, recorded as human settlement in Alabama, United States of America. It is one of 26 former communities in DeKalb County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 6th among the 53 Alabama counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Battelle as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 34.6494° N, 85.5653° W.

In old newspapers

The earliest digitized newspaper pages printed in Alabama before 1931 that mention “Battelle”, from the Library of Congress. A page may use the name for something else; open it to read the context. 338 pages in all.

Key facts

Elevation911 ft
Nearest living townMentone, AL
Distance to it6.1 miles
Coordinates34.64940, -85.56530

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Battelle today, aerial view
Sulphur Springs quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1936, 1:24,000)

Left: Sulphur Springs quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1936, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Battelle is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Mentone, AL (population 360), about 6.1 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 911 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Battelle?

Battelle is in DeKalb County, Alabama, at 34.6494, -85.5653.

How many ghost towns are in DeKalb County?

DeKalb County, Alabama has 26 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-06.