The Town of West Blocton developed in the late nineteenth century; its location was close to mines owned by the Cahaba Coal Company. Incorporated in 1901, the town experienced rapid growth, with many businesses opening to serve the needs of the miners and their families. The West Blocton Commercial Historic District is listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage as an intact early-twentieth-century commercial center in a small coal mining town in central Alabama. The buildings reflect an era when the coal mining industry positively impacted the town economically. When the industry left the area, so did the businesses that once inhabited the buildings. Most buildings have been vacated and have declined over time, mostly due to neglect.

One building on the 2020 Places in Peril list, the Fite & Fite Law Office, was demolished last year. The office, a two-room wooden clapboard structure, was built by lawyer Bus Stanford in 1883 at the same time the county seat for Marion County was relocated to Hamilton. In 1896 lawyer Bloomer Rankin Fite purchased this law office when he moved to Hamilton. In the following years, three generations of Fite lawyers used this building beginning with Bloomer Rankin Fite, followed by his son Ernest Baxter Fite, and finally by his son Ernest Rankin Fite. All were outstanding lawyers and politicians for many years. Ermest Rankin Fite served two terms as speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives. The Fite & Fite Law Office has been moved on three previous occasions over the past 138 years to ensure its preservation. The office remained with family members from 1896 until 2018, when the property was sold and the current owners offered the building back to Ernest A. “Buddy” Fite for preservation. The current property owners agreed that Fite, son of Ernest Rankin Fite, would have the option to relocate the law office before site improvements begin. Sadly, that did not happen, and the building was demolished in December 2020.

​This circa 1859 church building is an excellent and intact example of the Greek Revival style in probably its purest form, the temple-front house of worship. Uchee Church reflects the popularity of the style even in this vernacular setting and testifies to its popularity in the area during the antebellum period. Uchee Methodist Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 3, 1997. The church is constructed of lapped weatherboard and cut square nails and rests on sills about nine inches square, which in turn sit on a brick pier foundation.